Soul and technology

Identità Golose debuted yesterday within Host,the International Fair of Professional Hospitality with a beautiful stand, position B32, right after the entrance to pavilion number 2. This is the stage for Cuochi Duepuntozero, a theme which will be developed by 18 chefs (or pairs of chefs), throughout 5 days. The aim is to demonstrate that cuisine can effectively go beyond the concept of a pot on the stove.

On the opening day, concepts and words such as osmosis, fermentation, drying and ultrasounds were echoing again and again in the room, and around the very popular Arca Inoxpiù, placed at the back of the classroom area. These techniques are often as old as the world but today they can benefit from a stratification of knowledge and tools which is worth analysing in depth. «Of course», as Paolo Marchi explained during the opening of Host, «a client isn’t interested in which instruments are used to make a particular dish. A chef, however, is», especially when he understands that «you can play at being hyper-contemporary while remaining traditionally Italian when it comes to the gestures», just to mention an effective sentence pronounced during the day by Alessandro Negrini.

The first to get on stage was Fabrizio Ferrari of Porticciolo 84 in Lecco. He’s a «hero, since considering where he works, he doesn’t offer a lake-cuisine, or a Lombard one, but one focused on sea products». He brought 4 small tastings and the concept of osmosis combined with vacuum, with the «insertion of one ingredient into an essence coming from another fruit». This is the new road taken by fermentation, «a technique which is, after all, ancestral, if you think that in ancient times people used terracotta jars with almost hermetic lids, to keep the anaerobic conditions as long as possible. Those peaches with the fermented Atlantic bonito katsuobushi, put in a vacuum pack last July and filled with carbon dioxide, were surprising. The same goes for the lemon preserves, which in Morocco people have been preparing for thousands of years: the acid disappears and is sweetened by the maturation process and by the salt.

Right after that, it was the turn of Andrea Mainardi of Officina Cucina in Brescia (only one table, for a minimum of two people and a maximum of ten). He prepared a Veal cheek («the internal part of the cheek, that is»), cooked in a vacuum pack, halfway between traditional cooking and low temperature (3 hours at 85°C) and then softened with an injection of milk enzymes («which can be bought at the chemist’s»). It was paired with a cream of potatoes and some onion jam and sour cream, acidified with lemon and vinegar.

Alessandro Negrini warmed up the hi-tech atmosphere with an intense “Homage to my Nadie”, an osmosis between himself and the women who have mostly marked his journey as a chef, namely Nadia Santini of Dal Pescatore in Canneto sull’Oglio and Nadia Moroni of Aimo e Nadia – the restaurant in which today he divides himself in the role of chef together with Fabio Pisani. «These are two iron women who perfectly know what it means to run a restaurant with kindness and gentleness». The osmosis is first of all a fusion of the lessons they inoculated into him, which live together in the dish presented yesterday: a pumpkin and mustard purée, with the latter extracting the juices. And the addition of oil, essential in all of Aimo’s cuisine. An excellent dish, thanks to its simple procedure and its complex taste.

The first day of Host was closed by Daniel Facen - traditional school and hyper-technological maturity at his Anteprima in Chiuduno (Bergamo). For the first time we were struck by ultrasound cuisine, with «micro-bubbles coming and making sure that the raw materials are revived, stabilising all the parts to its heart». With dishes that recall the delicious Vegetable Garden Scallops, the Last snow disappearing (burrata cheese over a cream of peas).