31-01-2019
Riccardo Camanini at Madrid Fusión
Riccardo Camanini is different. «When you invited me on this stage, I got goose pimples» he tells the audience of Madrid Fusión, on the first of the three days of the Spanish congress - 17th edition. The debut was in 2003, and the following year guest chef Carlo Cracco and journalist Paolo Marchi got the idea of creating something similar in Italy too, in Milan, and indeed Identità was born the following winter.
But let’s not change topic: Riccardo Camanini is different, we were saying. «I remember when 20, 25 years ago, I was enchanted by the Renaissance Spanish cuisine was experiencing… You are the masters of technique. So I wondered: what could I have to tell them? What can I say in Madrid?». The answer was something with a strong identity, pasta, «perhaps in this way I’ll give an interpretation of both myself and this product». The chef from Lido 84 followed Ricard Camarena, who presented some extraordinary dishes, and the guys from Disfrutar, always avantgarde, with their sensational fake cheeses. In both cases, the lessons had a strong visual impact, for the thrill of food bloggers and their photos.
Basically, our chef presented three dishes of pasta that are as banal as it gets, in theory: Spaghetti al pomodoro, Risoni in brodo, Fusilli in bianco. The following explanation made it clear that Camanini had not gone amd: they were all “special” versions.
The first dish we analysed at length in a long piece: it was Spaghettino unto in rosso through which he recuperated an old memory. You can find everything about it here: Spaghettino unto in rosso by Riccardo Camanini (and other delicacies).
Spaghettino unto in rosso
«A few weeks ago, on Lido 84’s closing day, I stopped at the restaurant. Among other things, I had to change the cold water in which the chickpeas were soaking. However, I noticed that the liquid had acquired a nice amber colour. I thought about it and then something clicked, and I decided it to keep it. In fact, the following day I reduced it for eight hours, from one litre I got very little, a process almost impossible to present».
Reduced chickpea water, it acquires a surprising flavour...
So the pasta in broth was soon ready: you cook the risoni pasta as usual, then add this sort of magic potion, with an incredible flavour and elegance.
Risoni in brodo shown on the screen, at the congress
Camanini forces the gelatinization and retrogradation processes of pasta. «I take fusilli, cook them in a steam oven at 80°C for 12 hours, sometimes spraying saline solutions so as to balance the salt. Then I put them in the fridge at 3°C for 12 more hours», this for one week. He basically cooks the pasta in the steam oven for 84 hours, cooling it down for 84 hours also.
Fusilli in bianco
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
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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