09-02-2017
Riccardo Canella, from Mestrino (Padua) in Veneto, since September 2014 in the staff at Noma in Copenhagen. The restaurant will be serving its last meal on February 24th. After starting as an intern, he was soon promoted to chef de partie. He’s now sous chef in the service kitchen. Canella will hold a lesson at Identità Milano in Sala Blu 2, on Sunday the 5 March, at 10.40
«Welcome to Noma!». Ever since it opened in November 2003 every day all the cooks line up to welcome the guests right behind the glass door at number 93 of Strandgade in Copenhagen. One week ago, the welcome was given by all except one, Rene Redzepi, who was engaged elsewhere between a private event in Nashville and the preparation of the pop-up in Tulum, Mexico. «Benvenuti!», we heard a moment later, in Italian. The voice belonged to Riccardo Canella, from Mestrino, near Padua, 31. For over a year now he’s been a sous chef at the Danish battleship. Right behind him, 23-year-old Jessica Natali from the Marche was smiling. The chef de partie already told us her story. Then in turn, when dining, the dishes were presented by Edoardo, Francesco, Giovanni, a different Riccardo and Stefano. «We used to work at Noma», these guys will sigh in a few years time, joining all those who are already said so. There have been plenty of Italians at the court of Redzepi. Like Matteo Aloe and Alessandro Proietti Refrigeri of Berberè, Marco Ambrosino of 28 Posti, Ludovico Di Vivo of Capofaro, Fabrizio Ferrari of Porticciolo 84, Entiana Osmenzesa of Gurdulù, Floriano Pellegrino of Bros, Oliver Piras of Aga. Not forgetting Christian Puglisi of Relae, a pillar in the early days of Noma and now the successful patron-chef of multiple restaurants in Copenhagen. And we’re forgetting many more. «We used to work at Noma» is the new «We used to work at El Bulli», a generational shift that implies some remarkable differences: Stefano Baiocco, Massimo Bottura, Moreno Cedroni, Enrico Crippa or Loretta Fanella arrived at Cala Montjoi when they already had a sound training, in some cases a Michelin star. Today, many Italians fresh from catering school want to go north immediately, without having acquired real experience in the kitchen. And if they ever manage to do a internship at Noma, they find themselves working 15 hours a day on a spaceship that has banned pots and pans and where dishes are almost never hotter than 60°C.
The traditional welcome given by the cooks at Noma, a trademark for the establishment that was number one in the World's 50 Best 4 times (in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014). In the centre, Riccardo Canella
Canella presents the fermentation laboratories outside the restaurant. Noma’s concept does not imply pots and pans
One of Noma’s secrets, however, is that it never leaves its chefs in their comfort zone for too long: «In September 2015 they moved me to section 3, the snacks one, without any notice. Panic: I knew nothing of the mise en place. It was like getting slapped in the face, again and again. It was very hard but I slowly acquired confidence. On the 28th December 2015, after a dinner at Arpege, Rene called me: ‘How did it go with Passard? Would you like to be a sous chef next year? I like your palate and leadership very much. You could be a chef de partie in all the restaurants in the world’. The last day of the service of the pop-up in Sydney he made my promotion official in front of 60 people. A moment I’ll never forget». What does a sous chef at Noma do? «In the hierarchy, the head chef is on top of all, at the pass [now it’s Canadian Ben Ing]. Then there are the sous chefs, currently 5, each with different tasks. Some take care of fermentations, some of the production on the top floor, some of the service kitchen on the ground floor. I started with production, managing dozens and dozens of interns. But I was too 'old school' for that task, to strict with the guys. Because I believe the kitchen is sacred place: I got angry too often. So they thought that role was more suitable for a more patient and attentive person».
King crabs, sea urchins, oysters: Canella displays the seafood plateau on the table. We’ll return to this
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born in Milan, 1973, freelance journalist, coordinator of Identità Golose World restaurant guidebook since 2007, he is a contributor for several magazines and teaches History of gastronomy and Culinary global trends into universities and institutes. twitter @gabrielezanatt instagram @gabrielezanatt