17-08-2017
Mauro Uliassi
Our dinner at Uliassi in the photos from Tanio Liotta. Meanwhile, the protagonists: chef Mauro with his sister Catia and son Filippo
The appetizers: Seaweed wafer, Hazelnut wafer and foie gras (a super classic, always delicious), Fake beef and almond olive, Crostino with anchovy and truffle, fabulous, paired with Kir Royal. The the first dish, in the photo: Raw scampi, juice of raw scampi head and finger lime. Great balance with the finger lime adding complexity
Pancotto, almonds and sea urchins from his friend Roberto Petza
Benvenuti al mare, that is to say hot stock made with clams, anemones, processed mussels and seaweed. A voluptuous blow, a sea to shake with the right whisk
Sogliola alla Maître d’Hotel: nostalgic, a reassuring, elegant the-way-we-were
Il mare dentro, a superb dish made with fish entrails: salted cod and monkfish tripe, heart of turbot, squid liver... They’re cooked separately, each mouthful giving a different elegance. Uliassi uses scraps, waste products
Another masterpiece: Acqua di insalata, pane e lumache. We move to the countryside. Uliassi describes it perfectly: in the palate, the damp taste of the earth in Romagna. Snails, broad bean gelato, bread, salad water, made very powerful by pressing and maceration
Turbot neck in potacchio, alla moda dei contadini di Senigallia: this dish recalls a local tradition. The neck, in fact it’s the mandible, is seasoned with lard, tomato sauce, white wine, wild fennel and garlic
Mezze maniche “au beurre blanc”, boccaincava fish and boccaincava liver: French echoes, Escoffier comes to the mind, but the plus is given by the stargazer fish liver, «one could also use mullet, or weever...»
Uliassi wastes nothing: here’s the second part of the potacchio, first the turbot’s mandible, now the Turbot head with capers and anchovies, cooked on the barbecue, an Adriatic grill
Wood pigeon and sea urchins, earth is getting closer…
...before the savoury end, meaty as usual: Grouse, oyster, toasted seeds. Grouse is a bird from the partridge family, which lives in Scotland, where it feeds only on heather. This gives the meat a pleasant and intense flavour recalling peat and therefore Scotch whisky. The seeds recall toasted aromas, plus there’s the iodine in the oyster
Pre-dessert: Strawberry granita, cream, lemon meringues and cardamom
La capra ubriaca, a reduction of goat’s milk, burrata, puff pastry, a reduction of peat whisky. A harmonic, semi-sweet finish with the aromas of whisky, of the goat’s milk and the burrata, with the puff pastry adding a nice crunchiness
Final desserts
Mauro Uliassi says he hardly feels a maestro: «It’s not up to me to say what Italian cuisine needs: I have no right to give directions. We must all find our road». However, Mauro Uliassi says that you need to find some northern star: «Authenticity, simplicity, and a full restaurant». This is how he works in his restaurant on Senigallia’s promenade. At the end of a great dinner (see the photo gallery, with photos from Tanio Liotta) we sit together, with a bottle of mineral water on the table. It’s time for the story, which we sum up in the following pearls of wisdom.
GROWING - «Growth is something inside you. It means always looking at what’s behind the hedge. You must study, make changes but always connected with what surrounds you. We’re in this stage: we want to grow, we’re focused on looking for perfection. In order to get three stars? That too, I can’t deny it. We’re competing, perhaps we will never make it, but we’re happy nonetheless».
NIKO ROMITO - «Then there’s a second stage, for those who take a further step. Take Niko Romito, for instance: in just a few years he reached an extraordinary success, moving very quickly. He invested 3 million euros at a difficult time, during the recession, and this way he placed himself above, in the next stage I was mentioning. The same we can search for when we have finished dealing with the present. When we will be accomplished. Niko created the foundations that allow him to take care of other projects too. He can have a broader look at things. We cannot do this, not yet».
COOKING STARTS FROM THE BOTTOM - «Cooking has a popular soul. This should be the starting point for all the 20-year-olds who want to take on this career. They must cook for local people. Learn to make excellent tagliatelle with ragù: people will crowd the restaurant, and this is the premise for everything. For emancipation. Travelling will come later, and with travelling, new experiences, including perhaps finding out how they make tagliatelle in Japan. This is a later step, you need time to take it».
Uliassi with Massimo Bottura
Identità 2006: Cedroni, Scabin, Bottura, Uliassi, Marchi, Cracco and Leemann
Uliassi with Moreno Cedroni
An outdoor trip or a journey to the other side of the planet? One thing is for sure: the destination is delicious, by Carlo Passera
by
journalist born in 1974, for many years he has covered politics, mostly, and food in his free time. Today he does exactly the opposite and this makes him very happy. As soon as he can, he dives into travels and good food. Identità Golose's editor in chief