A great Italy in Seoul

It is not a given fact that in a congress held at 9,000 km from Italy, organised by Belgian photographer and writer Jean-Pierre Gabriel for the benefit of the new generations in South Korean cuisine, Italy’s presence would necessarily be a triumph. This, however, is what happened in Seoul, among the “oohs” of the public for Massimo Bottura and Giorgio Nava’s lessons, focused on much more than the spaghetti-pizza-lasagne triplet.

The Spaghetti that wanted to become lasagne is one of the four dishes with which the chef from Modena debuted this morning (at dawn, in Italy) at the Seoul Gourmet Festival. «I grew up under the table where my mother was rolling out pasta», he began, «my cooking, here, starts from an unusual perspective». His following repertoire, in a crescendo in four dishes, is well known to us: crispy lasagne, Psychedelic veal not flamed grilled, the evolution of the Ceasar’s Salad and Oops I dropped a lemon tart.

There’s a heuristic element in Bottura’s words («Vision is a crossroads between rational and emotional. Intuition is when creativity begins»), in his referring to Damien Hirst’s spin painting («We transformed an outline into edible colours»), to the arrogance with which Ai Weiwei destroys the ancient Chinese vase («This is the point of view you must have as chefs: critical, not nostalgic»), the reconstruction of imperfection («In Southern Italy trains are always late and museums are almost always closed without any notice but when you swim in the gulf of Sorrento you forget it all»).

Yet the nice thing about this chef is that he is humble enough to always mould his sensitivity, open to the inspirations of the country where he happens to be: «Ggotjang and dwenjang [soy sauce and bean paste both fermented for a long time, two pillars in Korean cuisine] are an extraordinary heritage for our palate». The meat used for the Psychedelic veal is not from Emilia but bred not far from Seoul: «Why this choice? Because it is fantastic». All this leads to the magnetic finale: «I know our profession often proceeds among a thousand practical issues. Still, you must always remember to leave a little space for poetry. This is true happiness for a chef». And the trigger that makes dozens of Koreans suddenly leap from their chairs («Careful, careful», urges Bottura). Intercontinental veneration.

The same which, right after that, Giorgio Nava shows for the meat he breeds himself in an endless plot of land, a 5-hours-drive from Cape Town. The chef from Milan started with a tribute to local cuisine: «As a chef, I need fermentations that are not too distant from the ones you make with soy». To have good meat you need to wait for the right amount of time, «most of all, you need to know how to cut it and cook it. By the way, don’t talk to us Italians about well-done meat: it must always be rare or, at most, medium rare».

This was followed by quick basic elements of cow anatomy, which ended with the cutting of slices of meat (iron steak, the cut right behind the shoulder) usually cooked in a Josper oven. It is nicely veined, tender and tasty. The second recipe is a very successful example of «extremely simple yet extremely tasty» cooking: Orecchiette with steamed broccoli, tomato, crispy breadcrumbs, anchovies. «How do you like pasta to be cooked?», he asks the Korean audience. «Al dente», is their surprising answer. Faraway, so close.