Mozzarella travels North

The most brilliant ideas are often those that have been sleeping next to you forever, they’ve always been within reach yet you didn’t know how to catch them. Then someone with larger horizons than your own arrives and makes them their own. Mixing mozzarella di bufala campana with fine dining, for instance, «is a necessary allegiance» admits the director of the Consorzio, Antonio Lucisano: he pronounced these words on the stage, on the opening of the first day of Le Strade della Mozzarella and they must have sounded sweet to the creators and curators of the event, Albert Sapere and Barbara Guerra.

Indeed, they’ve been looking for ideas for years. And they pass the microphone to someone like Pino Cuttaia, who uses buffalo milk ricotta as if it were the egg white in a sunny side up egg (though the egg yolk is a true one) and covers it with broad beans, pea cream, wild asparagus, bottarga and a drop of anchovy colatura, resulting in Faith Willinger’s applause: «I can taste nature in this!».

The “OH’s!” full of surprise and awe on this first day, however, are all dedicated to Matias Perdomo and his original muffarella, «a masterpiece. I don’t know if you can present it in Naples, yet in Milan it will be a hit», announces Paolo Marchi. He smiles, with a little satisfaction and lots of fear and reveals he was afraid, because you cannot joke with tradition: «Please note, I have the utmost respect…». He then shows off his fantastic idea, muffarella that is: mozzarella di bufala campana travelling North, meeting the ageing methods used with a goat toma cheese.

«I kept it for 15 days at controlled temperature, adding penicillin. I didn’t go further, I still haven’t tried to make “blue mozzarella”. Besides, when I spoke with my friend Andrea Aprea his reply was sharp: “Only you could have such an idea. Do you want to know the truth? As a Neapolitan, I would beat you”. Was he joking? Maybe…». Hence the fearful eyes of Perdomo during the presentation («I hope no one will be offended»). You need a gentleman such as Lucisano to legitimize the brilliant idea: «When they told me about it, it seemed crazy. Then I tasted it and I understood. Intelligent provocations are what we need».

Intelligent, useful. And good too, let’s be clear. Because matured mozzarella has a good balance, perhaps not by itself, but paired with the fresh one, parallel morsels of two worlds with a common origin, yet in a happy contrast (“Contraste”, actually). One adds freshness, the other a note of mould, of ageing. Perdomo presents four varieties: simple; aromatised with ashes; with washed crust; and finally wrapped in chestnut leaves and aromatised with grappa.

«Crazy? I don’t know, I’ve been thinking about it for seven months but until a few days ago I had no idea where this would lead me. This is mozzarella in the way it would be in Milan, I always play with going up and down, North and South... We need to unite Italy», says Perdomo in the end – he’s from Uruguay and loves our biodiversity.

A final mention goes to Contraste, mentioned earlier, his new restaurant which he will open in July in Via Meda 2: «The name recalls Latin cum-stare, that is to say standing together; and then the contrast between diversities. Here: we want a friendly place where differences find their point of balance». This too should deserve praise, don’t you think?