Carmen Vecchione
D-Limousine belly salad with puntarelle and mustard by Gian Pietro e Giorgio Damini
Dall'Italia Prato Nevoso, montagna & cibo. Viaggio nella località del Cuneese che cresce anche grazie alla gastronomia
Photo by Carlo Passera
This is a piece that Carlo Passera and I have partly stolen. According to Leo Longanesi, who was many things, and not just a publisher, “an interview is a stolen article” because it is the answers that make the piece. We went beyond: at the table set in the cellar, next to the kitchen, with him standing like an orchestra director, Massimo Bottura was basically the only one to speak, so much so this piece should be signed by three people, us two plus him.
Carlo and I put a little order to the majestic flow of words, thoughts that originated from the chef when commenting a menu that is called like the previous one, With a little help from my friends. But while in the previous one, with the fil rouge of the Beatles as its storytelling, a free thought dominated that expressed the cultural biodiversity of the brigades of Massimo Bottura's various restaurants (all involved in designing the dishes), the same approach remains but with a different subject of research and main protagonist: Italian cuisine.
The dream team at Francescana who prepared the new menu. Left to right Stephanie Cemin, Alice Fasano, the newly promoted sous chef Allen Huynh, Lucas Mottek, Gabriele Curró, Doina Paulesco, Pasquale Iacobucci, Ettore Surdo, Siu Cheng, Alessio Spagnolo, the other newly promoted sous chef Matteo Zonarelli. Photo Carlo Passera
«We've dined many times in the restaurants of which I'm interpreting some recipes [a total of 18, including his Camouflage]. I remember, for instance a very specific day, the 30th of September 1970, my birthday. I was dining at the Cantarellis, at Peppino's and Mirella's, in Samboseto, close to Parma. Today we have forgotten this past, but the world must know this is where we come from, the world must know Bergese and Tassa, Corelli and Picchi, it must talk again about these great Italian chefs because they are our roots. We must tell this story; we must honour our origins, speak of others, make the great gourmets come back to Italy. Celebrating our origins is the best way to consolidate and represent our greatness», because without roots greatness is nothing, it's something aleatory, something fragile.
Memory is the keyword of this tasting. The much-abused quote from Andy Warhol about the quarter of an hour of celebrity certifies the mediocrity that an often-fortuitous circumstance can bestow some fame to anyone. Now, the chef from Modena works in the very opposite direction. He puts aside the uselessness that we find all around, and works so that even those who weren't born yet in 1970 can know about the Cantarellis.
«I believe this menu is, ironically, the perfect example of what it means to be contemporary. It's not enough to look at oneself, unless we are geniuses like Picasso to whom everything came natural. On the contrary, we must study, think, research, get the team involved. Offer cultural and philosophical stimuli, ideas that travel and someone will catch, someone will absorb, chew and then forget and re-elaborate with their creative mind».
The dishes from the new menu. Photo Paolo Terzi
«The menu goes on like an orchestra piece: ouverture, adagio, allegro, minuetto, gran finale (for me the adagio is the most important part because it's whispered, before the higher peaks). So first I thought about the composition, and then about the single dishes. In the same way, the team comes first, and then the rest: you must know how to build a team, which is the same as building the menu. Your team is your strength: by myself, I'm only Massimo; together with my collaborators we're Osteria Francescana, Casa Maria Luigia, il Cavallino, la Franceschetta, Torno Subito, Gucci Osteria and so on».
«We started by asking colleagues/friends or by recovering and then making 100 recipes, an anthological selection of the history of contemporary Italian cuisine from the Sixties on, excluding my generation, so stopping behind the one that preceded me. Chronologically, we went back in time: the first courses we recovered are from Pellegrino Artusi, but in the end they didn't make it in this menu. Instead, we start from Mirella Cantarelli and Nino Bergese. Perhaps we will present them in the future, because our intention is to continue this work, this homage to Italian cuisine, in chapters, perhaps arriving to our days, and so include, in the future, for instance, masters like Angelo Paracucchi or Massimiliano Alajmo, the Cerea brothers, Mauro Uliassi, Moreno Cedroni… Or perhaps we could develop other recipes from Gennaro Esposito or Corrado Assenza, who are only present in this menu as petit fours. These are and will be pages of history that will continue to increase. Because the problem is that we don't know our roots, but then perhaps we cook with foraging. We forget our history». And so we return to memory, which must be nourished constantly. Of course, we could argue there are universities, historians, websites, associations that are focused on what's behind us, but there are no cooks. Because the greatness of this work is in the person who started it. And don't you dare call it nostalgia. Massimo lives in the now, he doesn't regret the past. He wants people to know where we come from, but the tickets he sells are one way only.
Massimo Bottura
And the work is far from being over: «At 4 a.m. on the day before the new 12-course menu began, I was already awake. I thought something was not working. So I decided to remove two dishes and only have 10 [on top of the amuse bouche and the petit fours, and the final Camouflage which will be the starting point in the next menu that Bottura already has in mind]. There were too many concepts. This way, instead, it's balanced».
A moving balance.
We start with the amuse bouche... Photo Paolo Terzi
Bottura's take on Giancarlo Perbellini's Il Wafer si Veste D’oro - 2003. Photo Carlo Passera
The tasting inspired by Ciccio Sultano's Volevo Essere Fritto – 2010. Photo Carlo Passera
Francescana's take on Fabio Picchi's Minestra di Pane - 1979. Photo Carlo Passera
A new take on Salvatore Tassa's La Cipolla Fondente - 1990. Photo Carlo Passera
Gualtiero Marchesi's Insalata di Spaghetti al Caviale - 1985, according to Massimo Bottura. Photo Paolo Terzi
The dish inspired by Fulvio Pierangelini's Capesante Ripiene di Mortadella - 2005. Photo Paolo Terzi
The take on Nino Bergese's Controfiletto del San Domenico - 1975. Photo Paolo Terzi
Mirella Cantarelli's Savarin di Riso – 1963, according to Bottura. Photo Paolo Terzi
In one dish, Mirella Cantarelli's Faraona alla Creta – 1963 & Nino Bergese's Risotto alla Bergese - 1974. Photo Paolo Terzi
Francescana's take on Igles Corelli's Germano Ripieno di Anguilla - 1985. Photo Paolo Terzi
Layers of Duck filled with Eel. Photo Paolo Terzi
The dish inspired by Igles Corelli's Budino di Cipolla - 1983. Photo Paolo Terzi
Gianfranco Vissani's Zuppa fredda di Carbonara - 2020, according to Massimo Bottura. Photo Paolo Terzi
Bottura's take on the Santinis' Tortelli di Zucca, “since forever”. Photo Paolo Terzi
Gennaro Esposito's Babà - 1994; Corrado Assenza's Cannolo x- 1985; Gualtiero Marchesi's Riso oro e zafferano - 1981. Photo Carlo Passera
Massimo Bottura's Camouflage - 2012. Photo Carlo Passera
READ HERE THE STORY OF TRATTORIA CANTARELLI
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
born in Milan in March 1955, at Il Giornale for 31 years dividing himself between sports and food, since 2004 he's the creator and curator of Identità Golose. twitter @oloapmarchi
Il nuovo menu dell'Osteria Francescana, denominato I’m not there, è una nuova interpretazione di piatti classici del ristorante modenese. Tutte le foto sono di Paolo Terzi
On stage in the Auditorium, Paolo Marchi and Gabriele Zanatta (who moderated the talk) together with the protagonists of Identità Talk: Giorgio Locatelli, Massimo Bottura, Brian McGinn and, remotely, David Gelb. All photos are by Brambilla-Serrani.
Carlo Cracco, Alberto Gipponi, Enrico Bartolini, Andrea Aprea, Massimo Bottura on Wednesday morning at the Hub of Identità Golose Milano at the preview of the Identità Milano congress, which will take place from 28th to 30th January 2023 at MiCo in Via Gattamelata (photo Brambilla/Serrani)
A mouth watering page, published every Sunday in Il Giornale from November 1999 to the autumn of 2010. Stories and personalities that continue to live in this website