Reportage "The Future is Theirs" at Identità Milano 2022: Pierluigi Fais

«Sheep farming is one of the pillars of Sardinian economy, where shepherding is the most popular activity». From the stage of Il futuro è loro, the future is theirs, Pierluigi Fais, butcher, chef and patron at restaurant Josto in Cagliari launched an invitation not to undervalue the culinary value of some types of meat.

«Sheep's meat has always been unpopular because, from a sales perspective, there is no such thing as an organised supply chain, and there's never been a farmers' movement with shared goals». And he continues: «Sheep's meat has a delicate and elegant flavour, of pastures, not gamey as many claim. And the ageing gives excellent results. Consumption was immediate once, the butchering wasn't clean and often these animals had already died, and were not butchered following the rules. Tradition often stopped us from growing».

Fais's research was on how to include sheep's meat in the menu: «Given that the filet is only 200 grams and that all the pieces are small and never homogenous, in these years of research we learnt how to use the entire animal, dividing it into single cuts and creating dishes ad hoc».

So from a sheep matured three weeks, the cook born in 1982, skilfully obtains all the cuts and starts his recipes. «With the clean round we make a delicious steak tartare which we serve with a reduction of hibiscus, a paste made with toasted Baressa almonds, wild celery and wild garlic flowers». The second recipe is Roasted Sheep: sirloin and flank served with a cream of potatoes, oil and salt, onions and onion jus.

«With the shoulder we make Pecora bollita 2.0: a terrine of boiled sheep with wine and bitter wild herbs, served with a salad of watercress, wild fennel and wild celery, and a vinaigrette with sapa and mustard mayo». Sustainability? «These are animals “at the end of their career”, who have given all the milk they could offer and who needed to close circle anyway».

 

Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso