06-09-2017
Beef rib cooked for 3 days in a vacuum pack and grilled on lava rocks from Vesuvius, with grilled potatoes, buffalo milk yogurt and cream of friggitelli. A superb dish from Christoph Bob, chef at Il Refettorio del Monastero di Santa Rosa in Conca dei Marini (Salerno)
«I spent 3 months bending that rib at every possible temperature and cooking time. My conclusion is that the richest juiciness is given by vacuum cooking for 3 days at 58°C, followed by 45 minutes on the barbecue, using lava stones from Vesuvius, which keep the heat perfectly».
Christoph Bob in his retreat at Santa Rosa enjoys a good life: like Dom Pierre Pérignon and Belgian Trappist monks, the Monastero grants him the slow rhythm necessary to conceive precious delicacies. He might not have the luck of Champagne or Trappist beer, but the cooking of that poor cut of meat («6 euros and a half per kg from Michele, butcher in Conca dei Marini») that was grazing with its animal in the Alburni mountains, is a final leap of joy for a client sitting in one of the most scenic sites of the Amalfi Coast and Italy (we wrote about it here). Its crispy and tough armour traps some extremely tender meat, a texture that results form cooking the meat at a temperature that is slightly above that of a warm bath, with the crust given by a tonic barbecue. The result is not much different from that of a Sardinian piglet, but the meat is less frayed and juicier. And there’s almost nothing of the initial fat. This wisdom is the result of many years of attempts and errors with the main cooking techniques used with meat, including vacuum cooking. «After all», said Bob himself, with an accent from Campania learnt from a patient woman from Vico Equense, «before driving an automatic car, you must know how to change gears».
The initially strongly marbled beef
Lava rocks on the barbecue
Sea bass ravioli with 3 types of tomato: green, Corbara cherry tomatoes and cream of yellow tomatoes
Christoph Bob, born in 1973, at Monastero di Santa Rosa since 2012 after Relais Blu in Vico Equense (Naples) and a long apprenticeship with Heinz Beck in Rome
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso Il Refettorio del Monastero di Santa Rosa Via Roma, 2 Conca dei Marini (Salerno) monasterosantarosa.com +39.089.8321199 Average prices: starters 24, first courses 25, main courses 34, desserts 14 euros Tasting menu: 85 euros Closed from the 2nd of November to the 10th of April
The infinity swimming pool at Monastero, overlooking the Amalfi Coast
Gabriele Zanatta’s opinion: on establishments, chefs and trends in Italy and the world
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born in Milan, 1973, freelance journalist, coordinator of Identità Golose World restaurant guidebook since 2007, he is a contributor for several magazines and teaches History of gastronomy and Culinary global trends into universities and institutes. twitter @gabrielezanatt instagram @gabrielezanatt