The day Italy’s top chefs came to London. David J Constable digests Identità London 2011…
‘Fragrant. Delicate. Savoury. With a fine grainy texture….’ Is the eloquent advertised description of Grana Padano, however it could very easily be used to define the Italians and their olive oil tones. Even when shouting and asserting their command during the run-up to Identità, there’s an air of romance and spiraling linguistic confusion in place.
I’m early and am sitting with a LavAzza espresso (one of the Identità sponsors). Various rooms of the Edwardian Bethnal Green Town Hall are being filled with sponsorship stands, Monograno Felicetti exhibitions, Grana Padano demonstrations, and travel-tired chefs from the expanse of Italy. It’s as if I’m witnessing the run through of an unrehearsed opera.
The call roll of chefs reads like a gathering of Italian culinary saints. Afterall, with perhaps the exception of France, Italy is the European heartland of food. Perhaps even the world? Ask any home what they cook most during the week, and you’ll likely hear pasta above any other. And if not for its simplicity, then its variety – in shape and texture – as well as being an elementary ingredient which partners with almost anything.
An amalgamation of traditional Italian ingredients with more unusual, lesser known worldly entities, is becoming increasingly popular in Italy. It’s a movement the chefs are joining with trepidation. They are not dismissive but rather there is a concern that traditional methods may be lost in the whirlwind adoption of modern gastronomic techniques.
It’s the techniques, ideas and inspiration from these Italian chefs that are rooted in the rich history. Primary ingredients are sourced locally and recipes are handed down through generations. Criticise a dish handed down from an Italian grandmother and you’ll awake with a horse’s head in your bed. Food in Italy is serious business, running a close second behind family.
Paolo Marchi is a food writer and founder of Identità. He believes that as worldly popular as Italian cuisine is, that it’s misrepresented, and the Identità events (Milan, New York, London) is a way of bringing the heart of Italian food to people and a way in which we can discover the modern route being taken by some of the county’s most forefront chefs.
“Throughout the world, there is a great love for Italian quality, for Italian produce and Italian cuisine,” says Marchi. He continues, “It is embraced in all countries from restaurants to supermarkets. However, I do not know of another cuisine style that has been so misrepresented and I feel that the true energy of what is Italian gastronomy today is missing.”
To adopt new techniques requires a great leap of faith. Balsamic vinegar, mozzarella,
Prosciutto and all the familiar ingredients remain in use, it’s kitchen techniques that have matured. There are of course examples of new ingredients being added to restaurant menus: Davide Scabin of Combal.Zero in Rivoli uses the African spice Yassa in soups and in spaghetti, and Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana in Modena demonstrates by transforming Parmigiano-Reggiano into air in his signature ensemble ‘five different ages of Parmigiano-Reggiano in five textures’ (see pictured, top right) which itself is a deconstruction of the journey modern gastronomy has taken, from the influences of Ferran Adria and Heston Blumenthal, to the unequivocal influence of French cuisine.
It would not be correct to replace these historical recipes and traditions, but subtle adaptations reveal both the chef’s search for knowledge and the steadfast and long adoration these dishes have throughout Italian history.
Bottura, like Scabin, is one of the key figures among the new generation of Italian chefs, drawing a fine line between tradition and innovation. Unexpected combinations of familiar ingredients enhance his menu while exciting the dining room.
Bottura tells me that, “making your customers smile is of the upmost importance. This can be achieved through a number of ways, but I find evoking memories is the best way. I use traditional ingredients but prepare them using contemporary techniques and modern presentation.” An example of this from Osteria Francescana is ‘saba lacquered Black Romagnola ribs’ and ‘warm and cold Zuppa Ingelese,’ dishes that summarize Bottura’s respect for Italian traditions juxtaposed against a healthy dose of irreverent youth.
A further example of this is Davide Oldani of Cornaredo in Milan, who, while experiments and progression of dishes takes place, understands the importance of making dishes accessible to all. He calls this outlook ‘Pop Food’. Pop meaning popular. Food accessible to a broad audience. The restaurant has a policy of using less expensive raw materials allowing Davide to ‘capture’ a broad range of people who can get to know and enjoy his dishes.
While excitable discoveries can be made during such experimentation, it is above all, fundamental that these dishes sell, otherwise you’re simply a Willy Wonka chef producing unpalatable concoctions that fester on the plate without even the slightest bit of interest from the public. They must excite and cause discussion. They must be consumed by the public and finished. Rolled out through cookbooks and kitchens. Only then can we call these adventures into the culinary stratosphere a success.
And there lies the core: taste. Afterall, it’s taste that really binds us to our food and our favourite dishes. The reason pasta, pizza, tiramisu, risotto etc. are popular dishes is because we return to them. What Identità shows us, apart from spoiling attendees with six of Italy’s most inspired chefs (and the equivalent of 9 Michelin stars between them), is that it’s not the ingredients which adapt, but our methods. And with the introduction of science and our need to explore pairings, we’ve discovered that bizarre yet wonderful creations can be formed.
Take for example, Heston Blumenthal and his famed snail porridge recipe, or egg and bacon ice cream. These succeed through trial and error and the painstaking experimentation of unlikely ingredients, not served solely as individual ingredient-led plates, but as a pairing.
Modern techniques back up these strange ideas (often called molecular gastronomy because of the scientific nature) and the likes of liquid nitrogen, alginates, vapor, Methyl Cellulose, and Sous Vide, mean that chefs can now succeed whereas before, such ideas were farfetched and idiotic in description. Such is the popularity of these methods, that amateurs are adopting the idea, converting from home-cook to science gastronome.
Identità succeeds in exploring and showcasing the luxury of simplicity. It shows us the mind-bending elements of the most straightforward ingredients and what can be achieved through time and experimentation without impending on traditional, and popular, recipes. There is a celebration of metaphysics and a delight in sharing all this with some of the most celebrated of Italian chefs.
Identità London 2011 Featured Chefs:
MASSIMO BOTTURA – Modena
ANTONINO CANNAVACCIUOLO – Orta San Giulio (Novara)
PAOLO LOPRIORE – Siena
DAVIDE OLDANI – Cornaredo (Milan)
DAVIDE SCABIN – Rivoli (Turin)
CICCIO SULTANO – Ragusa
Written by David J Constable. @davidjconstable
Date posted: 25/11/2011
Category: News.
Tags: ANTONINO CANNAVACCIUOLO, ciccio sultano, davide oldani, DAVIDE SCABIN, identita, identita golose, italy, massimo bottura, milan, modena, PAOLO LOPRIORE.
Comments
Comments are only open to subscribers.
Sign up, login or view your profile.
