Cracco-Anthony: taste and technique

This year Carlo Cracco arrives in New York armed with an arancino, a Sicilian classic that in his hands acquires unknown elegance and scents: «I grew up in the North, so of course this has to be the case», he explains peremptory. The identity, however, is kept unchanged and those who try his delicious entrée in his restaurant (strictly using their hands) know this well.

The meat sauce, the basis for the arancino, is the traditional Bolognese one: pork, celery, carrots, onions, butter, garlic, red wine, peeled tomatoes and black pepper. In the final touch, however, it will also discover a touch of mozzarella, included to add softness. The small carnaroli rice and saffron cone turned upside down will be served on a bed of salt and a series of cooked herbs that amplify its aroma: basil, tarragon, mint and even rose petals.

With the second of the two tastings, an historic symbol of Cracco enters the picture, namely sea urchin. In this case, however, it is the Californian one, fatter and less concentrated than the red Mediterranean one. The chef from Vicenza serves it inside its natural case with some slightly sparkling Moscato wine and salted and desalted capers. Another tasting full of scents amplifying the legendary collection.

How come this love for sea urchins? They ask him, «It blossomed during my French training: on the other side of the Alps they cook them with butter, eggs and cream, a sort of Robuchon-style royale. In Italy, on the contrary, we have the bad habit of eating them just after taking them out of the water, with some lemon sprinkled on top that kills them. Sea urchins, however, are basic, not acid, so it is best not to do so». Better try one of the brilliant dishes conceived when he was with Marchesi (salad with sea bass and vinaigrette) or at his own place: dishes such as Sea urchins and powdered coffee or Kidneys with sea urchins wrote some important chapters in the avantgarde cuisine of the last decades.

With Michael Anthony, the executive chef at Gramercy Tavern, an important establishment in the Flatiron district in New York, American contemporary cuisine got on the stage. The owner is Danny Meyer, one of the most successful restaurateurs in the Big Apple.

The dish that Anthony from Cincinnati illustrated during the lesson was halibut with turnips and beet dashi. Dashi is a basic Japanese cuisine stock, a source of umami that the chef explores in his own way using it in various dishes in his restaurant. It is prepared with the typical immersion of kombu seaweeds and bonito flakes and then with the infusion of raw beet. He then worked with the fish filets cooked in a vacuum pack, one of the 68 ways in which fish can be prepared (all listed in a book just out which is called “Gramercy Tavern” and published by Clarkson Potter).

There are also two pickles, once again the result of his love for Japan, with the addition of acidity that however keeps the quantity of PH in the other dishes unchanged. And other ingredients: soybeans, chards, bacon, fennel seed, wheat, ginger. A dish with intercontinental techniques, closed by an important concept: «Today is a crucial moment for restaurants because the relationship with suppliers is once gain important after years of oblivion. Today we have the great opportunity to make people understand what they eat».