Chips and high cuisine

Then it was the turn of potato chips, entering the world of great cuisine. An entrée that has two important names at its sides. On one side, Gruppo San Carlo, the company founded by the Vitaloni family in 1936 in Milan, when Francesco thus christened his first deli, naming it after the nearby church of San Carlo al Lazzaretto, in Porta Venezia. After almost 80 years, this giant produces some 100 tons of chips every day, with a revenue of 315 million euros (of which 15 from exports) thanks to the work of 2,200 employees, located in 172 distribution centres (and 3 plants abroad: in Spain, France and the UK).

On the other side there’s Carlo Cracco of the homonymous restaurant in Milan, the most prominent chef in Italy, at present. «This is not an activity based on marketing or interest», the chef from Vicenza said, when presenting the liaison at Carlo e Camilla in Segheria, his second Milanese establishment, last Wednesday, «but the beginning of a collaboration that will lead us far away. I’ve always loved the extreme rigour behind this product enclosed in its white packaging. The chips, before being packaged, are dried, an operation that erases any perception of oil on the palate».

Of course, it is not easy to «try to raise the level of a product that gravitates towards the lower end, interpreting its nature in an intelligent way. I am helped, however, by the nature of Rustica, a very large potato, not a classical one, with very unique flavours. I would only like to tease the palates, highlight the aromas, make sure that the same product needs not to be always “the same”. This versatility is enclosed in dimensions of around 60–80 mm in width and 1.7 mm in thickness.

«We’ve already created 12 recipes», Cracco explained: «they are of all kinds and origin, and they all require sophisticated ingredients that are not simply assembled but united, studied so as to create a balance in flavour and pairing. It’s a way of varying consumption». So here are the Rustica with sunny side up quail egg, pancetta and mustard seeds; with salmon, mango and ginger cream; with tomato, orange and celery or with a mini-hamburger of fassona beef, barbecue sauce and glacialis. And also the Vegetarian Rustica; with marinated anchovies with pink pepper and lime and the one with tuna tartare, capers and lemon, not hard to replicate and therefore we explain it below. So everyone can have his own opinion.

Rustica with tuna tartare, capers and lemon

Recipe for 4 people

Ingredients
Rustica potato chips
200 g raw tuna
70 g desalted capers
1 organic lemon
anchovy colatura
lemon thyme
extra virgin olive oil

Method
Dice the tuna and season it with oil and anchovy colatura and add a few desalted capers. Place the tartare on a Rustica chip and finish with some grated lemon zest and chopped thyme-lemon.