06-05-2023
Isabella Potì and Floriano Pellegrino, wife-husband but above all chefs at Bros in Lecce
‘We will take you on a journey through the unpleasant flavours of Salento'. There you have it: we didn't write a line when, a little less than a year and a half ago, an American blogger discovered that Bros in Lecce is not the typical trattoria with a cooking grandmother that she may have coveted, and so she came down hard, from the height of her unknown expertise. We did not write a line because we had already expressed our opinion on Bros far and wide, over the years, for example here and here and here, so what was there to add? We’re not big fans of clickbait polemics. But when listening to the words we quoted at the beginning, pronounced by maître-sommelier Rubén Pérez Jiménez, what was already evident becomes even more logical and obvious: Bros is not a place for everyone. I’m not saying that it presupposes possessing a trained palate. Because, after all, who decides when a palate is 'trained'? It certainly requires the diner to be willing to be different, to be surprised, and to overcome gastronomic prejudices, which often have the deepest roots. Isabella Potì and Floriano Pellegrino make food culture by drawing on tradition while giving it a trendy-eccentric-provocative image and thus causing a short-circuit. They appear glossy and globalised though their menu is written in dialect; they’re metropolitan but have a trattoria in Scorrano, they’re contemporary but look to the past, to the recovery of forgotten products and processes. An original glocal approach, a kind of Salento cosmopolitanism that is a gem to be preserved.
The support of Limoniamo, a sort of post-dessert, simply a citrus sorbet but one that has caused controversy, is enjoyed directly from the lips - in a cast, of course - of Isabella or Floriano
Floriano Pellegrino and Isabella Potì
Some things work less well (in Culeu, recotta scante there is a distinct excess of savouriness, which we also found, less markedly but still borderline, in Agnello, alghe; in Animella xo it is precisely the cooking of the sweetbread that does not convince us at all, i.e. its chewy texture. And the soft bread shell in which it is enclosed appears too thick). However, beyond the individual dishes - most are highly praiseworthy, others less so - it is the overall experience that works, in the well-reasoned sequence (a more intense dish followed by a more delicate one, e.g. Sangu, vincottu/'Nsalata 'vanzata or Culeu, recotta scante/Maranciana, ciceru, limone mutu maturu), in the constant attention to textures, temperatures and aromatic counterpoints, in the complexity tout court.
Good in the mouth, good in the brain.
Vermouth strawberry
Tamarind: frozen tamarind meringue Amber acidity
Old mozzarella, nori seaweed: 'When you forget mozzarella in the fridge, after a couple of days, it takes on a certain acidity...'. It is a cream of old mozzarella covered with nori seaweed powder
Eu, mushrooms: quail egg, eye bean garum (barley is used as a starter), Scorrano mushrooms picked by Floriano's uncle
Cannolicchio, scapece: the concept of preserves, the reference is to Gallipoli’s scapece. So the cannolicchio is seasoned with its own scapece oil
Sangu, vincottu: pig's blood mousse, served very cold (it warms and melts in the mouth), vincotto, a mochi-like dough to enclose it all
'Nsalata 'vanzata: leftover salad in granita (lettuce, chicory, cucumarazzi...), a sort of vinaigrette dressing. Cherry tomatoes wilted, roasted and served on the side
Cepuddha, currants: once again, preserves take centre stage. Cannara onions, tapioca, balsamic vinegar, currants preserved in alcohol and caroselle, the flowers of wild fennel
Mendula, rizzi: a game of texture with grated almonds, marinated egg yolk, sea urchins and canned cucumarazzo
Fried prawn: shrimp tartare reassembled and fried, spiced on the outside, buttercream whipped with the bottom of the carapaces
Culeu, recotta scante: mackerel matured for two hours and ricotta scante, i.e. fermented
Maranciana, ciceru, lemon mutu maturu: aubergine glazed with reduced chickpea sauce, black lemon. Vegetable textures
Ranu, burru ranciditu, core de tunnu: crispy wheat, rancid butter, tuna heart roe. Paired with a whisky sour infused with rancid fat
Timballu, papara, mieru spuntu: timbale of pasta, duck tartare and mieru spuntu, 'wine that tastes like spuntu', i.e. gone bad, but without the acetic fermentation having yet started
Separately, the duck itself processed like a sausage: pure product
Pisce, lardu di alici, spunzale: ombrine with yakitori, pork sauce, herbs
Animella xo: fried sweetbread inside steamed and then fried bread, xo sauce (an oriental, spicy sauce made from fish and shellfish), sour pear gel
Lamb, seaweed: lamb, kombu, hazelnut sauce, lemon bottom
Chocolate, black banana, pushed ripening. It is a kind of cake
Chocolate, black banana, second act: lemon black banana soufflé, green banana sorbet
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
An outdoor trip or a journey to the other side of the planet? One thing is for sure: the destination is delicious, by Carlo Passera
by
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
The four speakers at Identità di Formaggio 2021: Jessica Rosval (Casa Maria Luigia - Modena), Isabella Potì (Bros - Lecce), Francesco Vincenzi (Franceschetta 58 - Modena), Philippe Lévelillé (Miramonti l'Altro - Concesio)
