A triple sprint for Taglio Sartoriale

Since five years ago, through the Taglio Sartoriale project Consorzio di Tutela Grana Padano offers the best Italian chefs the chance to choose their favourite Grana maturation. During 2013 this opportunity was extended to 12 chefs from 6 countries, namely France, Germany, England, US, Japan and Russia, two per country, respectively Mauro Colagreco (restaurant Mirazur in Mentone), Attilio Marrazzo (Jean in Paris), Mario Gamba (Acquerello in Munich), Cristiano Rienzner (Maremoto in Berlin), Francesco Mazzei (Anima in London), William Drabble (Seven Park Place again in London), Lidia Bastianich of Felidia and Mark Ladner of Del Posto in New York, Yasuhiro Sasajima (Ghiottone in Kyoto), Stefano Del Moro (Antica Osteria del Ponte in Tokyo), Andrea Galli of Cherry Mio and Pietro Rongoni of Aromi La Bottega in Moscow.

Each one of them was later asked to recommend a young talent, aged 35 at most. This in order to further extend the selection and reach a total of 18 new people, 12 seniors and 6 juniors. Please note: 18 and not 24 (thus 12 plus 12) because the 12 new talents participated in a two-step competition. In the autumn a jury composed by Elisabetta Serraiotto of Consorzio Grana Padano, Eleonora Cozzella (L’Espresso), Fabio Pisani (Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia), Roberto Perrone (Corriere della Sera) and Paolo Marchi (jury president), chose the best 6 recipes that the authors then prepared live, on Tuesday February 11th, on the third and final day of Identità Milano.

Directed by Cinzia Benzi and Claudia Orlandi, the finalists were asked to prepare their dishes following a logic based on the palate, first two starters, then a first course, two meat-based main dishes (fish was absent) and a dessert. As for the jury, each dish was assessed based on three aspects: presentation (from 1 to 5 points), taste (from 1 to 7) and value given to Grana Padano (from 1 to 8). Marco Iacchetta prepared a Grana Padano millefoglie with pioppini mushrooms and black truffle, certainly Grana was not unnoticed and, paradoxically, this penalised its mark. With Giorgio Rapicavoli came the “Bresaola” made with beetroot, black pepper cream, Grana Padano, grilled lemon and extra virgin olive oil, a very current, vegetarian dish, despite the fact Rapicavoli, where he works, is not a vegetarian restaurant (“Beetroot is less expensive than the real bresaola, so the mark-up is greater"). Third dish was by Isamu Hirayama: Black risotto with chestnuts, powdered liquorish and crashed Grana Padano, very elegant and intriguing.

With the tastings scheduled every 10 minutes, another Japanese chef was fourth: Kei Fukada with a pleasant Vegetal garden that was not that vegetarian, thanks to the duck meat. Then Anton Pozeg with his Macaroni with Grana Padano, artichokes, small pork delicacies before the end, given by Denny Imbroisi and his convincing and rich Grana Padano ice-cream with extra virgin olive oil and black truffle ice-cream, 25-year barrel-aged balsamic vinegar with Pink Lady apple mousse.

When the moment came to sum up all the votes, a surprise arrived: three chefs had reached the same total of 99 points. What was to be done? Simple, the person who won was the one who had received the highest point by the president, that is to say Imbroisi, the 26-year-old chef from Calabria now working at Jules Verne, Alain Ducasse’s restaurant on the Eiffel Tower in Paris. His recipe will be covered in a future article. Please note the versatility of Grana Padano, standing out in a dessert.