28-08-2017
Michelangelo Mammoliti in a photo by Tanio Liotta in the greenhouse at La Madernassa. In the set of rules he gives to his staff he commands: "Each person is responsible for each single leaf, flower and herb in my vegetable garden. Respect my vegetable garden as if it were your own"
Mammoliti with patron Ventura and the staff: 12 people. Portuguese Pedro Demetrio is the sommelier. Photos by Tanio Liotta
We start with the appetizers: Tuile with squid ink and tuna mousse
Beef steak flower (Heliconia mariae) and sweet peach
Tube of bechamelle and jowl bacon
Goat cheese éclair
Radish with sesame brittle and cream of anchovies
Potato scamorza with carbonara cream
Fermented celeriac pastry with Timut pepper
Non ci sento bene: roasted abalone with yakitori and tonkatsu sauce, a seasoning of chilli pepper, red shiso and plums
Agastache ravioli, scampi tartare, green shiso granita
Steamed bun with brown crab
Emmental al mare: calamari, brown crab and panzanella extract
Pomod’oro, a homage to artist Arnaldo Pomodoro: tomato in its essence, burrata mousse, water aromatised with rhum agricole. A little too sapid
The other side of the Pomod'oro: burrata mousse with tomato water foam and four types of basil: lemon, purple, sanremo and licorice
Pomod'oro, again: yellow and red date tomatoes, whole wheat frisella with tomato confit and water from six types of tomato
Foie gras, gado gado. Gado gado is a typical Indonesian side dish made with vegetables and peanut sauce
Cromesqui di foie gras, a sort of croquette
Spaghetti BBQ
Un giorno di ordinaria follia: beetroot cooked in a crust of salt, peaches, Ethiopian coffee. Delicious
Re dei fiumi: arctic char, anchovies, crayfish, vermouth, lovage infusion and celery. A great dish
Sweetbreads in elderberry civet, ovoli and gallinacci salad, blackberries
Tokyo-Guarene: beef marinated in barley miso, jus of kombu seaweed
The same beef "in the shape of sashimi" with crispy rice and seaweed
Serra: in a bubble of isomalt and vinegar «I add everything that grows in my greenhouse: flowers, vegetables, herbs...»
Thai & Co.: coconut brittle, heart of mango and Tonka beans
Sachets of cardamom to be dipped in the coffee at the end
«Marc Meneau told me about a guy who once knocked on his door. He was Catalan, his name was Ferran Adrià and he wanted to learn to cook. He did. This episode struck me. See, I look at what Niko Romito or Enrico Crippa have accomplished in a few years and think: if you’re fully committed, you can aim very high. And get three stars too» says Michelangelo Mammoliti. In this sentence there’s the strict perseverance, the strong ambition, and firm dedication of this young chef with a crystal clear yet still magmatic talent who serves himself and his overflowing creativity at La Madernassa.
La Madernassa with swimming pool
He blends everything without reverential awe, even in a daring sequence within the same tasting menu. To those who ask him the reason behind this palate roller-coaster he shrugs and quotes Meneau, one of his masters together with Marchesi, Baiocco, Ducasse, Gagnaire and Alléno: «He always said every dish had to be different from the other, or else the experience would lose colour. I love peaks, I call them le bombe». For sure this turns the placid, always satisfying but sometimes a little monotonous gastronomy of the Langhe upside down.
Patron Fabrizio Ventura, second to the right, with the dining room staff
This is today the paradox which we recently noticed in Mammoliti : he’s so good (he’s a technical marvel) he sometimes seems excessive, so creative it’s unsettling. He says: «When I was in France every dish was made of many elements and you had to find a difficult balance. I was unsure. I was 25. Now in fact I remove, I work on this aspect: few ingredients and a complex flavour. It’s okay just to present an aubergine, or little more: but it still must be a symphony of aromas. I go in search of the perfect aroma».
This doesn’t satisfy him. His present is mostly dedicated to continuous explorations: «I now want to go to South America» he announces. It makes you think of many Italian chefs, even young ones, who’d need some humble experience in Mekong or Paranà to get rid of some parochialism. Mammoliti instead has an already infinite palette, yet he’s voracious, his desire to learn seems endless: «I have 1473 cookbooks in my library. I want to reach at least 5 or 6000, which means some ten per month», for the next 35-40 years, more or less. It all started with Michel Bras, «I was 14, I bought one of his books. It was enlightening». A sort of imprinting you can still easily notice in the chef’s style. When all this info will be fully settled, who will stop him?
Mammoliti at Identità Milano 2017 (photo from Brambilla-Serrani)
Mammoliti gives his staff a set of rules. Very strict ones. It says, among other things: “Everything must be perfect! Not mediocre, perfect. If it’s not perfect, start from scratch. We’ve conquered a Michelin star in 30 months, after two years of sacrifices here and 15 overall during which I always tried to improve, every day. I still do. I have no intention to stop. Work it out». There’s a roaring Ferrari in Guarene, ready to compete. (Our dinner, in the photo gallery by Tanio Liotta). Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
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