EX.IT July 2018 Issue

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO JULY RUSSO 2018

HEINRICH SCHNEIDER

TERRA - THE MAGIC PLACE

ELISABETTA FABRI

PASSION FOR HOSPITALITY www.extraordinaryitalian.com

WALTER FERRETTO

PIEDMONTESE CUISINE

ODETTE FADA

CULINARY TOUCH IN PUGLIA EX.IT July 2018 -

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ANDONI LUIS ADURIZ

REIF OTHMAN

JORDI ROCA

ANDRÉ CHIANG

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YANN BERNARD LEJARD

YOSHIHIRO NARISAWA

MANU BUFFARA

PAUL BOCUSE

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO JUNE RUSSO 2018

COLIN CLAGUE

ANATOLIAN CUISINE

JOE WARWICK

WORLD RESTAURANT AWARDS

GRÉGOIRE BERGER

CULINARY DESIGNER

VARVAGLIONE THE FAMILY COLLECTION www.wgmagazines.com

YANN BERNARD LEJARD 5 COURSE ART

ASIA’S BEST BARS EX.IT July 2018 -

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EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

“everyday I work in search of pure tastes and Monviso is clearly the superior mineral water choice for me” Chef Alfredo Russo THE TASTE OF PURITY CAPTURED IN A BOTTLE!

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Good taste isn’t expensive

S P A C E S

F O R

B E A U T I F U L

L I V I N G

conceptplus INTERIOR DESIGN

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Suite 214, Hamsa (A) Office Tower, Za’beel Road Karama, Dubai, United Arab Emirates P.O.Box 300450, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tel.: +971 4 3705269 I Fax: +971 4 2947442 - EX.IT July 2018 E-mail : info@conceptplusstyle.com I osama@conceptplusstyle.com www.conceptplusstyle.com

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EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

SMOKED EX.IT July 2018 -

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Together we stand strong, dream big and create greater change for causes worldwide.

CharityStars is the international platform specialising in fundraising through digital auctions promoted in collaboration with celebrities and large companies.

All the proceeds are donated to charity.

A different way of raising awareness about the many charitable causes worldwide.

CHECK OUT OUR AMAZING AUCTIONS

www.charitystars.com

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EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

Jean-Georges Dubai showcases a comfortable indoor layout with a jade, cozy garden.

While providing a fine atmosphere of an outdoor vivid lounge and stunning interiors, Jean-Georges Dubai offers its guests the chance to enjoy multiple evenings with live entertainment, a Friday brunch with an exquisite menu created by 2 Michelin Star Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten paired with impeccable service. The restaurant presents a warm ambiance that captures Dubai’s affinity throughout the day to uphold a late night.

JG Dubai is a preferred venue for many celebrities who have chosen it as a trendy destination to celebrate their events or simply to enjoy the exquisite dishes and service. Guests who have joined us in the past include key members of royal families in the UAE as well as international names such as Russell James, Franca Sozzani, Nargis Fakhri, Paolo Maldini, Clarence Seedorf, Dwight Yorke, and Christian Louboutin.

Four Seasons Resort Jumeirah Beach Road, Dubai

Book at +971 4 343 6118

info@jean-georges-dubai.com | www.jean-georges-dubai.com

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DUTY DUTYFREE FREE PRODUCTS PRODUCTS & & BONDED BONDED STORES STORES

5, Vyzantiou, Spyrides 2064Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus 5, Vyzantiou, Spyrides Tower, Towers, 2064 Cyprus Tel:+357 +35722210828 222 108 28 I I +44 +44 745 745 228 Tel: 22868 680202 www.brandhouse.uk.com www.brandhouse.uk.com

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Avani and Bala #VisitSpain #Andalusia #Sevilla #Giralda #Architecture #BeautifulView

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EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

“IN OUR CITIES, WHEN YOU LEAVE ONE EMBLEMATIC SPOT, YOU ENTER ANOTHER. YOU WILL SOON DISCOVER THAT ALL OF THEM ARE PART OF YOU”.

spain.info

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Culinary Arts can give new life to children... we make it our mission to identify talented, underprivileged children with culinary ambitions and provide opportunities that otherwise would have been beyond their reach‌

Grant MacPherson

WO’GOA Foundation Ambassador An inspirer, innovator and perfectionist - Grant encompasses all the qualities that deserving children can glean from a role model!

The Pearl Martin Benn Sepia, Sydney, Australia - EX.IT July -2018

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partnered with SKD ACADEMY the culinary institute in the Philippines

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

AWARNESS IS FINE BUT ADVOCACY TAKES YOUR BRAND TO THE NEXT LEVEL

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT

info@wgkonnect.com

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JULY 2018

Editor

Fabian deCastro Alfredo Russo

Feature Editor Contributors

Maria Lourdes Laura Pedrazzoli Elisabete Ferreira Michael Hepworth

Photography

Victoria Shashirin

FJMdesign WGkonnect Photography Consultant Creative Design Studio Publisher IZZY Publishing Pvt. Ltd. EX.IT™ is an online digital publication published by: Izzy Publishing Pvt. Ltd. Unit 14, Agnelo Colony, Kerant, Caranzalem, 403002 Goa, India Tel: +91(832) 2463234 Fax: +91(832) 2464201 sales@extraordinaryitalian.com Company Registration Number U22100GA2011PTC006731 Marketing & Advertising Call: +91 832 246 3234 E-mail: marketing@extraordinaryitalian.com WG™ Beverly Hills Michael Hepworth 287 S.Robertson Blvd Beverly Hills, CA 90211 ©IZZY Publishing Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. Editorial material and opinions expressed in EX.IT™ digital publication do not necessarily reflect the views of IZZY Publishing Pvt. Ltd. EX.IT™ and IZZY Publishing Pvt. Ltd. cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies or errors and do not accept responsibility for the advertising content.

All contents are strictly copyright and all rights are reserved.

Production in whole or part is prohibited without prior permission from IZZY Publishing Pvt. Ltd. ©2018 EX.IT™ All rights reserved.

ALFREDO RUSSO THE SMOKED FISH DOLCE STIL NOVO ALLA REGGIA - VENARIA REALE, TORINO

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Her passion for hospitality… Elisabetta Fabri – President & CEO of Starhotels – is the second generation of her family to head Starhotels, the leading Italian hotel company. Each Starhotels has its own personality and hospitality style that is all Italian.

A self-taught chef, Heinrich Schneider’s fascination for nature, as he inherits his passion for mountain herbs from his mother and finds his very own cooking style.

Restaurant Lido 84 was born from the experience of Riccardo Camanini, his cuisine evokes antique flavours, in each dish.

Walter Ferretto and his Piedmontese cuisine… his passion for the culinary arts is attributed to his parents, the aromas of genuine and simple cooking from his mother’s kitchen.

With her Puglia flavors, Odette Fada takes on her new role as director of the most sophisticated teaching kitchens in Italy., and it wasn’t until halfway through her law degree that Antonia Klugmann fell in love with cuisine. She was searching for something that allowed her to be more creative.

With years of planning, strong beliefs and a goal to create an Italian enogastronomic culture, Raffaele Trovato realizes his dream of opening a culinary and pastry school. Sauro Ricci’s passion and creations are led by his inwardness and he relates it to an ontological aspect of what they are. A stop in Rome for wine tasting with Matteo Zappile at Il Pagliaccio.

Neapolitan flavors with Marianna Vitale, her cuisine at SUD is a gastronomic experience recreating the south in every dish with ingredients that are usual and forgotten, tools of expression that are made up of details and traditions.

Quality, Competence, Honesty and Transparency is Leonardo Bascio’s family philosophy, producing an Extra Virgin Olive Oil with passion, commitment which is made with love.

Buon appetito!

Alfredo Russo EX.IT July 2018 -

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JULY 2018

CONTENTS 26

Passion For Hospitality

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Terra - The Magic Place

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Cooking That Becomes Art

66

Piedmontese Cuisine

78

Puglia’s Sophisticated Teaching Kitchen

90

Italian Fine Dining Into A New Era

98

Cuisine Based On Her personal Experience

102 The Smoked Fish By Alfredo Russo 104 Italian Food Style Education 114 Michelin-Starred Vegetarian Restaurant 122 Wine Tasting With Matteo Zappile 132 Neapolitan Flavors 140 Bascio’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil

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EX.IT EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN

SMOKE AS AN INGREDIENT...

Foods have been smoked or cured throughout history as a means of preserving. People in many cultures and societies around the world have relied on the smoke-curing of fish and meat products as a method of long term storage.

Until the 1940s, all smoked fish was referred to as “cured” and was produced using the traditional method of hanging the fish in chimneys above slowly smouldering wood shavings.

But today of course, we are smoking to add that recognisable flavour rather than for the sake of preserving it.

Enjoy my smoking fish

ALFREDO RUSSO DOLCE STIL NOVO ALLA REGGIA - VENARIA REALE, TORINO

Alfredo Russo

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ELISABETTA FABRI

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ELISABETTA FABRI

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SAVOIA EXCELSIOR PALACE, TRIESTE - HALL

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EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

Following her father’s footsteps, Elisabetta Fabri – President & CEO of Starhotels – is the second generation of her family to head this leading Italian hotel company. The Fabri family name has stood for hospitality for over 35 years, since Starhotels was founded by Elisabetta Fabri’s father Ferruccio in 1980.

Florentine, mother of twins, she lived between Florence, Rome, Washington and New York, before returning to her hometown, where she lives today.

Surrounded since her childhood by the captivating world of hospitality, she developed a strong passion for the industry and decided to focus her studies on it, attaining the diploma at Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne and earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from John Cabot University in Rome. This cosmopolitan background, combined with a long apprenticeship covering various roles, enabled her to develop a thorough understanding of hospitality management.

In 1992, she officially started her career as an entrepreneur creating Starhotels International and purchasing The Michelangelo in New York, in the heart of Manhattan, which she personally followed until 2000, when she was appointed CEO and Vice President of Starhotels SpA. Eleven years later, she became President of the company, whilst remaining the CEO. Each Starhotels has its own personality and hospitality style that is all Italian.

“In our hotels we have put all our love for our country and its riches, choosing to interpret the hotel as an expression of the city where it is located, its style, beauty and gastronomic specialties. In our hotels in Paris, New York and London, we want to be a reference point for lovers of Italian style, hospitality, elegance and quality of life, outside the country, for business or pleasure.”

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ELISABETTA FABRI

“In our hotels we have put all our love for our country and its riches, choosing to interpret the hotel as an expression of the city where it is located, its style, beauty and gastronomic specialties”

Elisabetta Fabri

Under her leadership, Starhotels has distinguished itself by a strong commitment to supporting art and culture and promoting Italian historical and artistic heritage. A supporter of Friends of the Uffizi and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, several monuments have benefited from their restoration sponsored by the company: from the 28 Statues of Illustrious Figures in the Loggia of the Uffizi Gallery, to the Maschio Angioino, Raphael’s Madonna con il Velo and the Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence.

The Fondazione Marisa Bellisario awarded her the 2001 Golden Apple Award for exporting “Italian style” in the hospitality world. In 2007, she was awarded the Premio Excellent for exporting Italian style in international hôtellerie.

In 2012, she was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Trade & Services category “For having created a chain of 4-5 star hotels, one of a kind, capable of expressing all the elegance and style of made in Italy hospitality in the world, combining high service with results consistently above the industry standard.” In 2014 she received the Premio Excellent once more for the innovative Starhotels E.c.ho. which created a case history in the sustainable hospitality industry.

In 2017, Elisabetta Fabri collected the Supreme European Family Business Award for the excellent revenue growth and profits results achieved by Starhotels in 2016 among the most authoritative business families in Europe.

She is a member of AIDDA (Association of Women Entrepreneurs and Corporate Executives), the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and AIDAF (Italian Association of Family Businesses). The company has a strong female presence. Women make up 55% of the resources. Recognizing their critical role in today’s business world, Elisabetta Fabri has a very clear objective: the renewal and enhancement of the portfolio of existing properties, overseas expansion and the creation of “special” hotels engineered by a centralized management.

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THE FRANKLIN, LONDON - PRESIDENTIAL SUITE LIVING ROOM

CASTILLE, PARIS - DOLCE VITA APARTMENT LIVING ROOM

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ELISABETTA FABRI

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GRAND HOTEL CONTINENTAL, SIENA - SALONE DELLE FESTE

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

“Each Starhotels has its own personality and hospitality style that is all Italian”

EX.IT catches up with Elisabetta Fabri...

What can guests expect from Starhotels?

Strategic location in the heart of the most important Italian and international destinations, contemporary design and service model able to anticipate client expectations through a personalized approach for memorable experiences: this is the mix of elements that distinguishes Starhotels’ properties.

We created a different personality for each one, choosing to portray the hotel as an expression of the city in which it is located for a unique “sense of place”. The design of the rooms and common areas of each hotel is the result of careful and constant researches, both for furniture and its decorations, with unique and valuable pieces. The same attention is dedicated to the service with which we welcome our guests, able to anticipate their needs and exceed their expectations through a tailor-made and warm approach.

What is the meaning of luxury and how has luxury changed in the hospitality industry?

A significant market evolution is ongoing in the luxury segment with consumers being attracted not only by “traditional” luxury goods or services but also by other categories such as “experiential luxury”: it’s a lifestyle and mindset mostly focused on the experience, rather than the product itself.

They want to be wowed and rewarded by lifestyle brands that provide personalized experiences and an Omni channel approach therefore building the foundations for long-term brand relationships.

Offering access and interaction drives consumers to favor those brands that offer such experiences. Not only will they likely book and live the experience in the hotel, but they will potentially become a brand’s most valuable marketing tool for consumers placing word of mouth as the greatest influence on their purchasing decisions especially taking into account the evolution of social media and the digitalization of luxury.

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ELISABETTA FABRI

Guests needs have changed as a consequence of the increasing use of modern technology and the search for tailormade experiences. What do clients expect when booking at Starhotels?

SPLENDID VENICE - LA FENICE

Today customers are constantly connected, informed and surrounded by many different alternatives and the technology devices are important opportunities for us, allowing to anticipate our guests’ needs, playing a fundamental role in the personalization of the experience and increasing the perceived value of our service. However they shouldn’t replace the human relationship between staff and guests since this is crucial to provide memorable experiences.

A concrete example of the innovation we offer to our guests is “Handy” Smartphone, a mobile device that offers free Internet connection and unlimited international calls, as well as useful information about hotel services, transport, events and places to visit, and the possibility to be constantly in touch with the hotel during their stay.

Moreover we have been constantly increasing our investments on Digital Marketing tools in order to provide guests with a great experience along the customer journey.

What solution do you propose to guests who want long for spiritual and physical well-being?

ROSA GRAND, MILAN - PRESIDENTIAL SUITE

Contemporary travellers, whether on a business or leisure trip, are looking for relax and well-being, and even if our hotels are located in the heart of the best Italian and international destinations, they guarantee guests to always feel as if they were in a comfortable Italian home through an intimate atmosphere and personalized services. We consider our hotels not only as places to sleep, but also as living spaces able to leave their mark on the travel experience, influencing for the most part its memorability.

Elegant and comfortable rooms with beautiful views over breathtaking panoramas, warm and empathetic staff always at guests’ disposal, refined culinary experiences: these are the characteristics of the Starhotels experience, inspired by the Italian way of living and welcoming spirit, appreciated over the world.

To focus on our guests’ physical well-being, most of our hotels offer a variety of services: from fitness rooms and wellness centers to swimming pools or a refined Hamman.

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SPLENDID VENICE - SPLENDID HERITAGE SUITE

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

THE PELHAM, LONDON - DRAWING ROOM

THE GORE, LONDON - TUDOR SUITE

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ELISABETTA FABRI

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Success as a hotelier…

Company strategies and management team have evolved together, adopting an increasingly international imprint. The management approach has retained its authenticity: passion for work and enrichment of the people who belong to this company as a family.

“Commitment and passion are the style with which I lead the family company”

The only Italian hotel chain with an international presence whose ownership and management have been held by the same family for over thirty five years. A company is something to nourish and nurture every day and my utmost satisfaction is to see it growing through its own efforts and becoming the point of reference for those who love Italian style and quality of life, both in Italy and abroad.

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ELISABETTA FABRI

Suggestions to the new generation of hoteliers… 38 - EX.IT July 2018

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

STARHOTELS TERMINUS, NAPLES - HALL

Working in the hotel industry requires a special attitude. The art of hospitality can only be learned in part because it is mostly a real vocation and natural inclination towards others. The biggest challenge for a hotelier is to interact with each guest according to his or her expectations: there are those who prefer a minimum interaction with the hotel staff, or those who desire constant attention and “cuddling”.

To be able to anticipate and successfully manage these different needs, it’s very important to count on human resources characterized by high emotional intelligence and great spirit of service. This is why we invest a lot of time and care in the selection and training of our associates, because in a business like ours, the difference is mainly made by people. Whatever the role, we believe that these are the fundamental characteristics: moral integrity, intelligence, “I can do attitude”, determination, enthusiasm and entrepreneurship.

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ELISABETTA FABRI

THE FRANKLIN, LONDON - THE FRANKLIN RESTAURANT BY ALFREDO RUSSO

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CASTILLE, PARIS - L’ASSAGGIO RESTAURANT PATIO

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

THE FRANKLIN RESTAURANT BY ALFREDO RUSSO EGGPLANT CAKE

The F&B experience at Starhotels...

We believe that a high-quality F&B experience can amplify guests’ satisfaction about the travel destination and through the menus of our restaurants we want to reinforce the perceived quality of the experience at Starhotels and at the same time carry on our mission of conveying to our guests the pleasure of living in the Italian way, not only through refined design and welcoming service, but also offering dishes that recall ingredients, flavors and colors typically Italian, skillfully reinterpreted by the hands of our chefs, for truly authentic experiences.

At the same time, we work to ensure that our restaurants are the reference gastronomic point for both international and local communities, where guests can enjoy tasteful cuisine accompanied by a selection of the finest local and world wines, served by warm, attentive staff in sophisticated settings.

THE FRANKLIN RESTAURANT BY ALFREDO RUSSO TUBER SALAD

As a matter of fact we organize a full series of events in our hotels dedicated to high-end F&B experiences such as the “Six-hands dinner” hosted in April at Rosa Grand Milano – Starhotels Collezione, where the Resident Chef Enzo Pettè welcomed his colleagues Alfredo Russo and Ugo Alciati, respectively Michelin-starred chefs at The Franklin and The Pelham in London and at Castille in Paris: our guests in Milan, London and Paris had the opportunity to taste the exclusive menu at the same time during the week after the event.

I would like to mention as well the partnerships with the most important Italian Food & Beverage excellences during the events “La Grande Bellezza by Starhotels Collezione”, where our properties become showcases for the excellence of Italian creativity and craftsmanship, drawing inspiration from the style and history of the hotels and their host cities.

THE FRANKLIN RESTAURANT BY ALFREDO RUSSO CASSATA SICILIANA

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ELISABETTA FABRI

More than ever before, cuisine expresses itself in hotel restaurants.

What kind of experience does Starhotels offer and adjectives to describe the restaurants?

Our identity is 100% Italian and we have chosen to collaborate with Eataly for the F&B offer because we believe that Made in Italy excellence should dialogue and be known also from an international public. The collaboration with Oscar Farinetti is a great support in building a solid group identity, reflected in the peculiarities of each hotel and destination, and securing a rigorous selection of short supply chain producers and high quality products, in harmony with the environment, allowing us to propose menus that follow and respect the seasonality of products and enhance their taste.

That’s why we can definitely define our restaurant as absolutely gourmet and Italian, also outside Italy. Michelin-starred Chef Ugo Alciati signs the menu of Castille hotel in Paris since June 2017 and Alfredo Russo is at the helm of The Franklin and The Pelham’s kitchen in London.

To enhance and appreciate the quality of our cuisine, expert sommeliers are at guests’ disposal to suggest the perfect combination between the chosen dishes and the wine list.

Also in this case we want to be ambassadors of the Italian variety and quality and this is why our wine offer collects the best Italian labels, favoring local wineries. On this matter, the Wine Cellar by Sapordivino of our Grand Hotel Continental in Siena stands out: recently discovered in the medieval tower of the hotel, it houses a vast collection of fine Italian labels and a selection of excellent Tuscan wines.

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EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

GRAND HOTEL CONTINTENTAL, SIENA - WINCE CELLAR BY SAPORDIVINO

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ELISABETTA FABRI

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HOTEL D’INGHILTERRA, ROMA - CAFÈ ROMANO RESTAURANT OUTDOOR

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

Your thoughts about Italian cuisine around the world‌

There’s no doubt that the food and wine culture represents one of the most important and most appreciated Italian values, and this is why in our hotels we constantly work to guarantee quality and originality in our F&B. The richness of the gastronomic culture of our country reflects the great variety of regional traditions of which we want to be active promoters and the partnership with Eataly gives strength and concreteness to our ambition.

However, in order to respect and satisfy the nutritional needs of other cultures, we have introduced a wide and diversified offer, especially for breakfast, which proposes, next to the Italian sweet and savory breakfast classics, alternatives designed for guests from China and from Middle Eastern countries.

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HEINRICH SCHNEIDER

a passion for mountain herbs...

s a child and growing up in South Tyrol , Heinrich use to always go to the nearby forest to find mushrooms for his mother’s kitchen and found it exciting to watch his mother process the mushrooms and herbs. He was very curious and always had to know from his mother which herb she was processing and what she was using it for? Good food has always been a high priority in his family. As children, Gisela and Heinrich’s parents would take them to exclusive starred restaurants on special occasions. And at that moment, his great fascination for star cuisine began.

A

Actually, a self-taught chef, since he had to help out early at home, he did not have the opportunity to learn from the great culinary masters. In the beginning it was very difficult for him, because he had to teach himself all the techniques. But the love of cooking and the special challenge on the mountain helped him to find my very own cooking style. Today, he is glad that it was so because he is not influenced by the great mentors and can think freely and realize my own style.

“I am fascinated by the indomitable nature. I inherited my passion for mountain herbs from my mother. Long before the cuisine of Northern Europe influenced the high gastronomy, I was interested in the herbs that I found near home. For me, the collection is not just a job but also a necessity and a source of inspiration for my kitchen on Earth. I love to surprise guests with new taste experiences. To be closer to them, I often work in our open kitchen.”

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HEINRICH SCHNEIDER

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EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

“My passion is cooking for my guests with products that are not found on the market”

Terra – the Magic Place corresponds to nature: organic – cosmopolitan – creative. At Terra, the focus is on a complete experience, the dishes feature elements from the nature around this magic place.

EX.IT catches up Heinrich Schneider…

Your cuisine is a combination of fresh and quality ingredients, creative with the finest produce, creating a composition of flavours which is complex and modest yet impeccably balanced…

I think it’s important to not use too many different flavors in one dish. A maximum of 3 different nuances should be able to vote well in a court. I use a lot of wild herbs and mushrooms that give the dish a special character. The different consistencies of the ingredients help me to let a variety of freshness dominate. That is only possible with the very best ingredients.

Experience that helped you as a chef…

I’m pretty much self-educated. I had to help out at home from a very early age, so didn’t get the chance to study with the maestros of our industry. My lack of experience was a real obstacle in the beginning as I had to learn all the techniques by myself. But my passion for food, combined with the fact that I was all alone in the mountains, enabled me to find my own particular style. Today I’m grateful for having faced these challenges, for they taught me how to think for myself, to cultivate my craft without having to rely on the help of mentors.

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HEINRICH SCHNEIDER

“I collect up to 40 different wild herbs. For me, they are among the most exciting ingredients in the kitchen.

The great challenge is to use them to compose dishes worthy of high gastronomy.”

Heinrich Schneider

Your culinary philosophy, the process of creating a new dish…

I work almost exclusively with products and ingredients from my region. That means I do not use marine fish or Mediterranean vegetables. The most important thing for me is that I can offer the guest an unforgettable and incomparable experience.

I prefer to cook with ingredients that the guest have never known before. I’m always looking for new, exciting new ingredients that I first work on through an accurate texture and taste analysis. During this process, the basic idea for a court arises. Through many experiments and combinations as well as presentation variations on various artful plates, the dish is perfected to perfection. Then the sample is tasted by my sister and then completed with the ideal wine adaptation.

Ingredients that inspire you, your favourite ingredients and is there any ingredients that you weren’t able to master…

At the moment I’m experimenting with a new type of mushroom which is not very well known to us but very common. The ingredients are chosen by me very consciously. Experts such as a mycologist help me in this case. The exciting thing is that I often work with wild plants and products that do not have much experience or recipes. I love to discover something new.

My favorite ingredients are the wild herbs and mushrooms.

These I find directly in the woods and meadows around our restaurant Terra. In these woods, my sister and I have often stopped and played as children. Many ingredients are thus also childhood memories for me.

Yes, there were some herbs that were partly too bitter. I simply could not control her bitter substances. There are different techniques for the herbs by making them milder and aromatic by inserting them. For some herbs that was unfortunately not possible.

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HEINRICH SCHNEIDER

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EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

Special cooking techniques…

I prefer gentle cooking methods that protect or emphasize the taste in particular. I like to use old techniques and high tech devices that help me with this.

Produce, Creativity or Technique…

The most important thing for me is creativity. The technique helps me to achieve even more flavor combinations through new textures Your greatest influence in the kitchen…

“Nature influences me the most.

My menu reflects the immediate environment: forest, meadows, mountains, intense real taste.

I’m guided by the nature and the seasons that come and go.”

Always experiencing new challenges. That’s why the name of our restaurant is Terra-the magic place.

What keeps you motivated?

I like to travel to other countries. In the process, I get to know new cultures, techniques and products. The most important thing for me is to renew myself a little bit each year. Creating new dishes means tackling new challenges. Every new success motivates not only me but also the whole team.

What do you do to stay on top of the new cooking trends?

The fact that I travel a lot around the world and go to outlandish restaurants I see what is trendy. Personally, I judge for myself exactly what a good trend is or what less.

Importantly, the trend is in line with my philosophy. Eating habits have changed dramatically in recent years. Lightness, experience, environmental awareness and discovery of new ingredients is the trend that currently convinces me the most.

I live this with full conviction.

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HEINRICH SCHNEIDER

Being a chef is perceived as a glamorous profession, your advice to chefs entering the kitchen for the first time‌ If you want to be successful, you have to be willing to give a lot. It is a work that gives young people the opportunity to be creative and to realize themselves over time. Anyone who works hard can do a good job, any job. Gastronomy is a unique planet. You get to know many people and have the opportunity to work in many countries. But the most important thing for this profession is the passion and the love of cooking and aesthetics. Cooking also has something to do with a personal style. The biggest challenge for a chef is to develop his own style, which is unmistakable. It provides the energy and motivation for the entire career.

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RICCARDO CAMANINI

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RICCARDO CAMANINI

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GRILLED AND SMOKED EEL. BLACK MARINATED DAIKON, CREN

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

It was the moment of his life when he got the opportunity at 19 to work with the legendary Italian Chef Gaultiero Marchesi, this is when he realized and fell in love with being a chef. “I fell in love with food, fine dining, experiencing a new way of cooking” adds Riccardo. Building on the teachings of Gaultiero Marchesi, Riccardo went on to broaden his culinary knowledge of French classical cuisine with Raymond Blanc. It was an incredible experience how Raymond ran his kitchen where every chefs were rotated every two months and had to work in every station.

La Grande Cascade was the next stop with Jean-Louis Nomicos in Paris. Riccardo did his stages in some of the most prestigious kitchens with Hélène Darroze and with Andoni Luis at Mugaritz.

Restaurant Lido 84 was born from the experience of Riccardo and the cooperation with his brother Giancarlo. The passion, enthusiasm and his vision of gastronomy allies the most exquisite refinement with a sincere passion for hospitality. His cuisine evokes antique flavours: it is a journey through the interiors of Riccardo’s youth and as perfumed as the warm zabaglione which accompanies his Torta delle rose.

In each dish, technique obeys to an extremely strong poetic approach: thus, the respect for the produce is always combined with the most imaginative outburst.

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A cooking that becomes art, an art that reinterprets time and space catalyzing the material aspects and those spiritual ones where everything always start from the product. The curiosity is what drives Riccardo to discover the product in order to create new combinations that as far as original and particularly always remains tied to the memory of the scents.

When the technique is ours, it is only the imperfection that we can discover the pleasures of a sensorial experience, the perfection dampens the emotionalism, the gestures made of extemporaneous, drive from colors, scents and flavors, close the Riccardo’s courses making them unique, authentic and incomparable.

EX.IT catches up with Riccardo Camanini RESTAURANT LIDO 84

It’s interesting to learn how chefs find their passion for cooking and where they grew up… how did you find your way into the culinary world to become one of the most sought-after chefs!

I think the most important approach to the food was when I was kid i helped my mother in the kitchens to prepare and to the case everything, I was very curious since the begging and during that time I learnt the direct contact with each raw material, I liked to touch and manipulate every kind of ingredient and little more adult, I liked to prepare big dinner for my friends.

Your cuisine is inspired by a combination of flavours that is impeccably balanced…

I think this point is very human and strictly connected with the personality of each chef, it is a thing that you have inside in the depth, is the taste of my mouth with my tongue and my thought and without underestimate the “Throat” as deadly sins in positive way.

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CRUSCO RED PEPPER RISOTTO AND CAPPERS

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

RISOTTO STRACCHINO CHEESE, LAKE SARDINES

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RICCARDO CAMANINI

Your previous experience which helped you as a chef...

The first important period of my career, last 3 years, was into the Kitchen of Gualtiero Marchesi, I have learnt for sure all the important bases of this job and the concept of elegance, then for sure into one of the restaurant of Alain Ducasse in Paris for one year and around 10 different stages into the most important kitchen in France and in Spain.

Your culinary philosophy, and the process of creating a new dish...

I can say I like to have less ingredient I can, into each recipe. One of my teacher once said ”Art consist in takeoff to get the essential” and i like for sure study old culture to penetrate more than i can into the depth of this field, but I do not have a real culinary philosophy, I’ very instinctive. It is a strange thing, but the most important culinary idea I had, have born around 2 or 3 a.m. on my sofa, after a very long day of work, while I’m watching a tennis match. It is quite hypnotic for me and help me to make free my thoughts.

Ingredients that inspire you, your favorite ingredients and ingredient that you weren’t able to master…

In this precise time I like very much Citrus fruits, they are very popular and they represent very well the area of Garda Lake where Lido 84 Restaurant is located.

For the same reasons, they represent the area where i live and i work, I love Fishes of the Lake, you have to take into account lido 84 is a just 1 meter distance from the lake, so the connection with it is very close.

To be honest no. It may happened that one dish with different ingredients didn’t satisfied me and I leaved it, but in future the same ingredients have been present into others different dishes.

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KING SIZE CANNONCINO, PASTRY CREAM, VANILLA,APRICOTS

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VEAL KIDNEYS ON THE PRESS

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RICCARDO CAMANINI

Special cooking techniques…

No, but I would say, I like to cook directly with the “fire” and without any others sophistication and technique.

Produce, Creativity or Technique…

Creativity and Technique for sure are a necessary combination in different percentage. But the Study of each ingredient for me it is another important point, it is the necessary base of different links.

Your greatest influence in the kitchen…

For sure Italian kitchen elaborated by Gualtierio Marchesi and for sure French Kitchen, one over the rest Alain Ducasse, with his own tradition and taste.

What keeps you motivated at this point of your career?

The same aspect when I have been kid, “Curiosity”, it is an in inexhaustible process.

Being a chef is perceived as a glamorous profession, your advice to chefs entering the kitchen for the first time…

It is a work of great sacrifice and daily life is more impregnated than any objective. And not paying any attention to Glamor, it is misleading. In the end the chef is a craftsman who has to devote himself to his material, humility is the quality in the chefs I love most. This is the advice I can give to every guy who wants to start this job.

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CRUNCHY TOASTED CHOCOLATE

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WALTER FERRETTO

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His passion for cooking is attributed to his parents who were restauranteurs in the 50’s.

Walter Ferretto can still smell those aromas in his mother’s kitchen – aromas of genuine and simple cooking, dishes like minestrone, chicken with herbs and the Finaziera which is a great dish of Piedmontese cuisine...

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WALTER FERRETTO

is interest for the kitchen was however late in life, after finishing his studies, it is only then that he made his decision that being a cook was going to be his profession. At the beginning he tried recipes from cookbooks and it was at the age of 25 that he did his internship in some of the prestigious French kitchens.

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Walter’s innovation and love for tradition are the tools for his unique culinary concepts, giving way to a greater creativity in the kitchen and an openness to new trends and new flavors.

EX.IT chats with Walter Ferretto…

Your cook traditional cuisine of Piedmont, your passion for Piedmontese produce, a perfect culinary approach that blends tradition and innovation, a perfect harmony which is impeccably balanced…

My cuisine is mainly a territory cuisine made with great Italian products like vegetables, truffles, meat and fabulous cheeses. Now my job is to make new flavour combinations yet remaining true and faithful to tradition. Certainly flavours have become more delicate. The cooking is more precise and that’s to new technologies and the art of plating food is become more elegant. We must never lose sight of tradition, the history of traditional cuisine. Certainly it needs to be updated and made contemporary. And lastly what remains is the personal sensitivity in finding the right balance.

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WALTER FERRETTO

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Your previous experience which helped you are as a chef…

Working in every kitchen gave me the strength and courage to continue my career in the kitchen. The three Michelin star Chef J.P.Haeberlin in Alsace and then in the US where I found a very interesting fusion cuisine at Spago with Chef Wolfgang Puck. In both these kitchens I learnt about the produce, raw materials, organizing the kitchen staff. I always came home with new ideas and these were the inspirations to my new dishes.

If it was not my mother’s basic cooking lessons, I would not have acquired the necessary knowledge to begin my culinary career.

Your culinary philosophy, and take us through the process you go through to creating a new dish and what inspired the best you have created?

My culinary philosophy is essentially based on a very simple processing, great products, and precise cooking. ‘Less is more’ is the philosophy as I do not like to assemble too many ingredients. I would say a maximum of 4 to 5 ingredients because it then becomes difficult to balance the flavours.

Sometimes the inspiration comes when looking at nature or even when at the local markets where seasonal products are on display or at looking at dishes by great chefs. When I was in Alsace, for many weeks I prepared the foie gras with Chef Haeberlin and its there that I was inspired to pair the foie gras with a very typical Piedmontese preparation with veal tongue. This is my dish, my signature dish which became very popular ‘millefoglie di lingua di vitello e foie gras’. This dish was created in 1987, this year it turns 31 and still today it is on my menu and I very proud of it.

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WALTER FERRETTO

Ingredients that inspire you, your favourite ingredients, and is there any ingredient you were unable to master…

I use products from my territory and or in any case Italian products which is 80%. I look only for the highest quality and I follow the seasonal cycle carefully. I cook a lot of fish, short cooking which is all about Mediterranean flavours with exclusively extra virgin Italian oil. I pay attention to the health factor, lightness without losing sight of the flavour. I love cooking rice and Piedmontese meat but the hazelnut remains my favourite ingredient, I use it for both sweet and as well as savoury dishes. Molecular cuisine, this I am not keen on and a cuisine that would not be able to master.

Special cooking techniques or equipment you particular enjoy using…

I try to use all cooking techniques with the most modern equipment, even if I prefer traditional cooking with fire and ovens, but also vacuum cooking at low temperatures gives excellent results.

Produce, Creativity or Technique…

The right mix of creativity and technique is necessary but the product is the most important element. If you have a fresh fish or a wonderful piece of meat, you can spoil it with excessive creativity and wrong cooking.

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WALTER FERRETTO

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When you opened Ristorante Il Cascinale, what was the feeling when you received your first awards; and what keeps you motivated at this point of your career?

This year my restaurant turns 50 and continuously for 28 years I have a Michelin star. I received the Michelin star after 4 years of cooking and it was an important award that has motivated me. I try to increase my knowledge with varied gastronomic cultures and a few months ago with two other chefs I started a company to produce fresh pasta and stuffed pasta which is called ‘I tre Chef’ and it will be distributed in the horeca sector.

How has cuisine changed?

The kitchen is constantly evolving… in the past there was the classic French cuisine, then the start of the Spanish inspiration and not it seems to be the moment of Nordic cuisine with particular products such as moss and lichen and fermentations. Sometimes they are fads but something important always remains and it’s precisely on what we have to concentrate on, but in case cuisine is divided between good and bad.

What is the meaning of luxury?

For me true luxury is simplicity, the customer wants to taste the true flavours of the memory in a beautiful environment with a lot of kindness.

THE FERRETTO FAMILY

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WALTER FERRETTO

What can guests expect from your restaurant?

Guests must feel important and be at the centre of attention, this is what I try to give my guests. A kitchen is made out of love, passion, great respect for the products throughout the seasons with professionalism and kindness.

What would you suggest to the new generation of Italian chefs?

For young chefs, they should learn different cuisines like good Trattoria and to follow their instincts, each has their own creativity.

Being a chef is perceived as a glamorous profession, your advice to chefs entering the kitchen for the first time‌ Thanks to the media, the chef’s profession has become very popular but remember all that glitter is not at all gold. A chef’s profession requires many sacrifices, a lot of effort but it remains the most beautiful job in the world. My first advice is to start learning the classic basics of regional cuisine and then travel the world and immerse yourself in the most varied gastronomic cultures.

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ODETTE FADA

Puglia’s most sophisticated teaching kitchens...

rowing up in Brescia, close to Milan. Odette always knew that she wanted to be a chef and as a child, she use to make pasta and risotto with the vegetables from the garden for her five brothers and sisters. After graduating from culinary school in Iseo and the liceo linguistico, she opened her first restaurant, a trattoria with her brother, after which she started working in Brescia at Castello Malvezzi.

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“I knew I wanted to work in the kitchen but the real push for my culinary career came when I met Vissani in LA whiles I was on vacation. He suggested Mauro Vincenti, the owner of Pazzia and of Rex Il Ristorante, to engage me as a cook.

I spent a year in LA then I came back to Italy to improve my culinary skills at Vissani’s restaurant in Umbria. Then back to LA and after 6 years of managing the kitchen of Rex Il Ristorante I moved to New York to Tony May’s San Domenico where I worked for 15 years. In New York I was also a consultant chef and a private chef before Diana Bianchi and Massimo d’Amore asked me to join their project of the school in Castello di Ugento. I have been part of the launch of the Puglia Culinary Centre for the past 2 years teaching the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) students regional Italian cuisine and Italian food culture.”

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PHOTO © ROBERTO CORVAGLIA

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ODETTE FADA

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Odette’s cuisine is all about Puglia flavors, creative with revisiting ingredients that seeks an impeccable balance. Her focus on the school and the restaurants - to help her with the restaurant Il Tempo Nuovo at Castello di Ugento, she hired a young and creative Pugliese chef, Tommaso Sanguedolce form Andria, and for the restaurant at Masseria le Mandorle she chose Vladimiro Damiani from the town of Ugento.

Her greatest influences in the kitchen is all about the freshness and quality of ingredients; and all the produce for her kitchens is excellent ingredients directly from farmers and the fisherman. Her role with her chefs is to discuss their ideas, their recipes and give them advice.

EX.IT catches up with Odette Fada…

As director of the most sophisticated teaching kitchens in Italy where you impart your culinary wisdom… Tell us about this unique cooking school in Puglia at Castello di Ugento; and what is the type of cuisine international students learn?

For me it is still a new experience teaching although I taught already few classes in Italy and in New York. Teaching the students of CIA gives me the opportunity to improve my knowledge of Italian cuisine. I love to understand the reasons behind the use of a specific ingredient or a specific technique in a specific region.

CIA SPRING CLASS PHOTO © ROBERTO CORVAGLIA

The students here learn about Italian regional cuisine, the history and culture that produced that specific recipe. In our school, we can cook with traditional methods or using the newest equipment like the newest generation of induction burners, combination ovens, blast chillers and so on.

The course is a Master in Italian cuisine and lasts 12 weeks. It is divided into 3 sections where the first 4 weeks are focused on Italian food culture from street food to the right sequence of the courses to the study of the major Italian wines. The other 2 parts of the course are dedicated to each individual region.

We study the geography, history and politics of that region and how they influenced the cuisine of that particular region.

For lunch, we prepare many recipes that we pair with wines from the region. We also have a wonderful teacher of art and history to give a more comprehensive course on Italian culture.

The students are also sent all over Italy for an internship of 3 weeks for a full immersion in Italian cuisine and culture.

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ODETTE FADA

Your earliest food memory… flavours from your childhood that you cannot live without.

I remember so well a milk soup that my grandma was making once in a while. It was a feast for me to be invited when she was preparing it. I was never able to reproduce it. Maybe my taste has changed and I do not like milk soup any longer. Or in winter when the snow would have been icing on the roof for one day or two and I was permitted to go to get some in a glass where then I would mix it with sugar and a sour cherry syrup that my mum made under strict supervision of my grandma. Those flavors will not come back. Like I will never be able to taste the “spiedo“ made on the open fire by my father, that was a 2 day affair between preparation and cooking. But let’s talk of something that is still with me and I will not be able to live without. Actually are two things: panino con la mortadella and parmigiano reggiano, my refrigerator can be completely empty (often) but I do not despair if I have at least a piece of parmigiano.

PHOTO © ROBERTO CORVAGLIA

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ODETTE FADA

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“To be a true chef of Italian cuisine you have to master all of the different techniques, tastes and textures of the cuisine of the various Italian regions”

Odette Fada

You worked with Gianfranco Vissani, then with the late Mauro Vincenti and Tony May… what was the experience, how did it help you as a chef and dud they influence your style of cuisine?

With Vissani I learnt of new flavours and pairings. The true taste from good old things and the exciting exotic ingredients.

I realized that we have to go the extra mile to find the right ingredient (like from Umbria to drive to Piemonte just to get that specific cheese…) and that we have to keep tasting different ingredients and trying different pairings till we are satisfied. We can never rest we should always research.

PHOTO © ROBERTO CORVAGLIA

Mauro Vincenti was operating one of the best restaurants in LA and working as his executive chef in LA. I was exposed for the first time to cooking for huge and very important parties like the Grammys and the Oscar’s. Being fresh from my 2 years’ experience in Italy with Gianfranco Vissani I wanted to bring the real Italian cuisine to the States but it was quite challenging because it was still extremely difficult to find good Italian products on the West Coast.

With Tony May in NYC it was a natural evolution from the previous experience. The search for the most authentic ingredient, was the most important thing and our goal was to be able to reproduce in the States the Italian cuisine as it was happening in Italy, that is why we invited many times a year excellent Italian chefs to come to San Domenico and cook with me.

Your signature style cannot be found in a single dish but in your creative approach which is unique…

It is funny when people ask me what is my favourite or best dish. I always answer that I do not have a dish but a style that is very simple. I research the traditional tastes and flavours and use newer techniques to reach the same experience.

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ODETTE FADA

I’m excited to be part of this project at Castello di Ugento and I can’t wait to pass on my enthusiasm for this land and for its cuisine to our international students and guests...

Odette Fada

Produce, Creativity or Technique…

PHOTO © ROBERTO CORVAGLIA

They have to go hand in hand because if you have a great produce and no technique you will ruin the produce, and if you do not have creativity you will get bored and I am saying that we chefs have to cook many times the same dish but should always find the excitement of the first time.

Special cooking techniques or equipment you particular enjoy using…

At the Puglia Culinary Centre at Castello we have the finest and the state of the art equipment which allows us to exalt ingredients even more.

In the past years how has Italian cuisine changed in Italy and around the world?

PHOTO © ROBERTO CORVAGLIA

I think that finally Italian cuisine is perceived as it should be and thanks to various organizations of chefs who bring authentic Italian cuisine to different countries, for too long our cuisine was bastardized and adapted to the different places.

Your advice to the new generation of Italian chefs?

If you mean CHEFS I would tell them to be positive and optimistic, I know that it is a difficult time because it is nearly impossible to find good and passionate collaborators but they are out there, we need to be able to find them and keep them. If you mean COOKS I will tell them to follow their chef and try to learn as much as possible and they cannot stop learning. Keep tasting and trying food, you need to master your palate. And yes, spend all your earnings going to good restaurants to see what is going on, to experience something new!

Being a chef is perceived as a glamorous profession, your advice to chefs entering the kitchen for the first time…

It is glamorous but it is still soooo hard!!! They do not have to expect to be called right away to TV shows, some excellent chefs never appear in public.

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info@extraordinaryitalian.com

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ANTONIA KLUGMANN

PHOTO © FRANCESCO ORINI PHOTOGRAPHER & PUBLISHER

It wasn’t until halfway through her law degree that Antonia fell in love with cuisine. She was searching for something that allowed her to be more creative and realized that she was happy when she was cooking.

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ANTONIA KLUGMANN

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er first four years in the industry were spent working stages wherever she could but, after a car accident, she had to stay at home for almost a year. During the recovery, she decided to start her own vegetable garden and began putting together plans to open her own restaurant once she able to work again. This finally happened in 2006 when she opened Antico Foledor Conte Lovaria.

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After some time, she realized that she wanted to work in a place totally in line with her philosophy, and in 2012, she started to build her new restaurant. In the meantime, she worked for 3 years in Venice as chef of Il Ridotto and then earned her first Michelin star as chef de cuisine at Venissa. Surrounded by her vegetable garden, the vineyard, the beautiful countryside, were the main sources of inspiration in opening L’Argine a Vencò in December 2014.

EX.IT catches up with Antonia Klugmann…

Your cuisine is a composition of flavours, fresh ingredients, and impeccably balanced…

I don’t try to put in a single dish all main components of flavour, acid bitter sweetness and savoury. In the tasting menu I try to pick at the taste creating “crescendo” and “decrescendo” without climax. This is the way I like to eat. Without explaining how a dish should be tasted, I prefer that people find their own interpretation of it. Every bite should be a surprise. This is why sometimes the right balance it’s not the final goal of a dish.

Previous experience which helped you to be a chef today…

I think that the cuisine is the picture of the cook if he or she works with honesty. I have understood that every moment in my story has been important, but I think that the big turn was the choice to start my own vegetable garden. From that moment my creativity has moved to the countryside through the foraging, the observation of the nature and the interaction with it.

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ANTONIA KLUGMANN

Your culinary philosophy…

I decided to open the restaurant L’Argine a Vencò in a specific area of my region called Collio, on the Italian-Slovenian border. Aware of the multicultural history of this place, I want to represent this complexity in my cuisine. Working in the country side means be close to purveyors and prevent food waste buying little and fresh provisions.

“The beautiful landscape, the vegetable garden and the vineyards are my main sources of inspiration”

We celebrate with creativity each ingredient that represents this territory selecting the best technique to respect it as a whole. Cuisine can’t be sustainable without diversity and this is why we love to use “poor ingredients”. We believe that cooks can create great dishes with them.

The process of creating a new dish and the inspiration behind the dish…

The starting point is a life experience, a memory from the childhood or a present experience. A song, a movie or an exhibition. I create the new dish in my mind. I cook in my head. When I’ve started to be a Chef I thought it was strange but today I know that there are other people that do the same. The mental process could be very short or very long. I cook two minutes, one hour or years the same combination of ingredients. When I think that the idea is ready I discuss it with my team and very quickly we arrive to the final dish.

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ANTONIA KLUGMANN

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“I’m addicted to typical Italian flavours. With an ambiguity on the bottom connected with concentration of flavours.”

Ingredients that inspire you, your favourite ingredients…

I love umami, capers, bottarga and anchovies. But also, dried products like kale, elderberries treated like capers and pickled with salt or wood garlic seeds Fruits. This year we planted new trees to obtain more variety.

We’ll see the results after some years. The challenge when you have an orchard is that you obtain all the production in the same moment. To avoid wastes we use different techniques: drying, fermentation, production of vinegar and juices. Since I have some Japanese cooks in the team I’ve learnt some oriental techniques, but the fruits preservation is something very typical in north east of Italy. Fruit is not only a side dish.

It is often paired with salty elements and not only in desserts.

Special cooking equipment you enjoy using…

I love to use a special pot to extract juices with vapour. It was a present of a very good friend, Pier Giorgio Parini, one of the Italian chefs that I admire most. I use it not only for fruits but also for other ingredients.

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ANTONIA KLUGMANN

“Different cultures and traditions are lens through which I watch the cuisine. In this way the variety of my roots becomes a source of inspiration.”

Produce, Creativity or Technique…

I have my own restaurant since I was 26 years old. I’m the first generation of cook in my family. For this reason, it has been immediately important for me to find the right balance between all the restaurant activities. The creativity is the part of the job that I like most. I have to preserve it because it is a key factor for the growing of my restaurant.

Your greatest influence in the kitchen…

One of the reason why Italy is a much reached country, it is the existence of several regional cuisines. We are fragmented but the inspiration of each one is connected with the relevant differences from one area to another. In my case when I think of ingredients, I have always in mind multicultural traditions of my family and of my region: they continue to influence me.

One of my grandfather’s was Polish Jewish while the other was born in Puglia and one of my grandmother’s came from Ferrara, in Emilia Romagna, while the other from Trieste, in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Different cultures and traditions are lens through which I watch the cuisine. In this way the variety of my roots becomes a source of inspiration.

What keeps you motivated?

I don’t feel to be arrived on a professional point of view. When I achieve a goal, I find immediately another one. Probably I’m a competitive person. I want that everyday my clients are surprised and satisfied by their experience in our restaurant.

This is an everyday challenge. I don’t want to disappoint the expectations and confirm the affection of the people that have followed us during these years.

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ANTONIA KLUGMANN

“Antonia Klugmann cuisine reflect the environment of L’Argine a Vencò, she loves to create things that are based on her personal experiences.”

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How do you stay on top of the new cooking trends?

I connect and disconnect myself. I’m lucky because I work in the countryside of a little north east Italian region. Nowadays communication is very fast. We have access to millions of information and we are in competition with all other chefs in the world. No matter where you live and work. It is extraordinary but also difficult. It’s not easy to create a truly original dish, to be a trend setter and not a follower. Not to impress the audience but to express a deep desire of creating original dishes. My geographical position helps me to be focused on what there is in front of you: the beauty of the nature. Be surrounded by beauty helps creativity.

Being a chef is perceived as a glamorous profession, advice to chefs entering the kitchen for the first time…

Studying. Questioning. Think about the reasons why you do this job. Find you reasons. Don’t let the time just flows. It is a hard work and it values only if there is a real desire and motivation.

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ALFREDO RUSSO

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ALFREDO RUSSO DOLCE STIL NOVO ALLA REGGIA - VENARIA REALE, TORINO

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

The Smoked Fish by Alfredo Russo Fresh fish: Salmon, Sturgeon, Eel, Octopus (steamed) & Red Mullet Sea Salt Sugar Fresh herbs Charcoal

Make the brine: Combine water, sugar, salt and fresh herbs. In a plastic container, cover the fish with brine and refrigerate for 4 hours.

You will need to cure your salmon at least 4 hours, even for thin fillets, never go more than 8 hours, or your fish will be too salty.

Dry the fish. Take your fish out of the brine and pat it dry. Set the fillets on a cooling rack, skin side down.

Heat the charcoal grill, piling coals on one side to set up direct and indirect heat zones.

Set a drip pan under the grill grate in the indirect heat zone (in a small container soak wood chips in water) and smoke your fillets.

You must be careful about the heat, the biggest problem in smoking is the heat being too high.

Smoke the fish until cooked through but not dry.

Serve directly on top of a pillow of herbs.

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Italian Food Style Education

ith years of planning, strong beliefs and a goal to create an Italian enogastronomic culture using training as the main tool, it was then in 2006 when Raffaele’s dream was realized with the opening of the culinary and pastry school - Italian Food Style Education (IFSE) in Piobesi Torinese along with board members Arch. Piero Boffa and Luca Boffa.

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The excellence school of Italian cuisine and pastry, the term “excellence” is not randomly used, Raffaele is in fact very proud because IFSE it is the first and the only Italian school which was given the certification of excellence by the General Secretariat of the Republic in 2014. “I tried to think of a school which is capable and different from other training bodies, enclosing the best of ‘Made in Italy’ in terms of products and tools. Offering students all over the world and from Italy a place where they can learn the art of Italian cuisine and pastry and then be able to share this knowledge.

PHOTO © SAVERIO PISANO

Raffaele has always dedicated himself and life to food, a story of sacrifices from which comes the professional growth which has made him who he is today. Whiles attending hotel school, he tried to gain as much as experience as possible, helping cooks on the weekends, seasonal work over the summers which allowed him to improve his skills both technical and managerial. His cooking skills was judged by the several number of national and international competition. It was when he was introduced to training and eventually the experience as a teacher, something which he was most enthusiastic about and allowed him to develop his managerial and leadership skills which led him with greater responsibilities. “Passion and determination, both define me from the beginning, this pushed me to create something of my own, enclosing all the best of my previous experiences. This is where IFSE and its related activities comes from.”

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At IFSE, students are offered a dedicated and unique experience under the guidance of Chef Riccardo Marello, Coordinator Chef of IFSE, and the main istructor of IFSE cuisine courses. One does not come to IFSE only to train in Italian cuisine and pastry, but to live a true experience made of typical products, typical production methods that make Italy great all around the world. It is a place where new friendships are born which keeps growing after the term is over and students live an experience of true human relationship that leave a mark, despite the strictness of the rules. If one were to pick an adjective to define IFSE, it would be ‘versatility’, speaking about a path that encloses multiple aspects and faces of a formative experience of discovery, one of great value, capable of becoming unforgettable for the students, who keep in touch with IFSE. EX.IT chats with Raffaele Trovato…

What can students expect from IFSE? At IFSE students can train themselves to face the labour market in a very wise and prepared way. We offer a practical training both in the kitchen or in a laboratory. The topics go from cuisine to pastry, from traditional to elaborated and innovative, always with the help of the latest technologies available on the market, for a valid, high level formation.

Students’ needs have changed as a consequence of the increasing use of modern technology and the search for tailor-made experiences…

First of all a customised experience thanks to the various paths available for the students, allowing them to choose not only between cuisine and pastry, but a lot of other programs with different durations and difficulty, finding the one that suits their needs more. Classes are not overcrowded so that every student is meticulously followed and monitored. The usage of modern technologies has always been a strong point for IFSE since its opening, being, in fact, being the most technological cooking school in Italy: we give our students the latest machines and tools thanks to our partnerships with many brands which allow us to have access to the updated innovations on the market.

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What solutions do you propose to the students who long for professional and/or amateur lessons?

Despite IFSE was born as a professional cooking school, it has two souls nowadays, with the addition of an amateur side as well. The professional world gravitates around Piobesi Torinese, while the amateur’s finds its orbit in Turin, inside the notorious Palace number 6, winner of the Building of the year prize in 2015. The offer is wide for both paths: longer training courses with adjustable lengths, of different types and at different levels for the professionals, and a shorter and more often thematic ones for the amateur’s, but both have the same professionalism and attention of the IFSE teaching style.

What makes a successful School today?

I believe success comes from passion and the professionalism that one puts into his own work. I always try to have new points of view and new ideas without forgetting the past, although it is important to keep the pace with innovation and question everything. There is always room for improvements and the secret is to always think you are not quite there yet and to keep giving it all you have.

Would you say in the past years teaching has changed?

It surely evolved over the last years, the aim is to engage more students and let them work in person so that they develop their skills in a firm but guided way. Nevertheless, the training process has opened a lot to debate, trying not only to give notions and lessons, but to stimulate students to think with teachers, allowing these to share concepts and teachings in a more dynamic and effective way.

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Any suggestions to the new generation of instructors/ teachers…

Four words - humility, respect, patience and passion. Never forget one of these aspects is required in order to become a great chef and a great teacher. Missing only one of the four words I gave can be a damaging lack and prevent you from reaching a true professional level.

What is the meaning of knowledge for a chef?

Knowing tradition, to know how to re-elaborate it and refreshing it according to new techniques. These three elements, I believe, are the definition of “knowledge” to a chef - tradition, interpretation and technique.

What are you teachings to the new generations of chefs to deliver a personalised guest experience?

It through training and by making them aware of the fact that one cannot stop grinding and wanting to learn something new, that they have to be ready to adapt to the clients’ needs at every moment.

Your thoughts on how hotels and restaurants compete and win with food & beverage operations…

I think the secret is with ‘training’. It is not possible to improvise: todays costumers are more aware and educated, they can tell whether there is a study, a technique or simple improvisation behind a dish. This is the reason why it is not going to be possible to get away with it anymore. The knowledge, the ingredients, the technique, the right combinations are destined to become the things that makes the difference and allow one to rise in a world full of competitors.

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PHOTO © PASTRY CHEF ELENA WENDY BOSCA

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

Your thoughts about Italian cuisine around the world?

Today, Italian cuisine is one of the most appreciated cuisines worldwide. It can engage, move and it is capable of meeting every culture’s taste. True Italian cuisine is, though, often object of fraud, especially in relation to the products. IFSE finds another strong point in the use of ‘Made in Italy’ products. The creation of an excellent dish cannot happen without the right ingredients, avoiding fakes and imitations, overcoming any possible hardship for what concerns the finding, especially abroad and it is something that nowadays Italian cuisine suffers a lot.

It is, in fact, another one of our major themes of discussion, on which we focus more and more during our lessons, because we truly believe it is important to talk about, especially to our international students.

PHOTO © PASTRY CHEF PIERO RAINONE

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SAURO RICCI

Chef at Europe’s first ever Michelin-Starred vegetarian restaurant

orn in the coastal Tuscan town of Orbetello, Sauro’s passion for cuisine comes down from his mother.

“We often live our parents’ dreams, but in this case the choice to follow this carrer gave me the chance to nurture an artistic flair which is innate to me and arises through other creative activities.”

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Sauro nurtured this passion from inside, envolving it in the culinary field, like actors with a script to play, on the cuisine side, he felt like having a mission that he is interpreting and carrying on. If he inherited his passion for cuisine, in the scrict sense, from his mother, he embraces it as his own and thanks to the development of spiritual and intellectual issues.

“Passion and creation are led by our inwardness and I relate it to an ontological aspect of what they are. I don’ actually know where they come from, but I cherish them inside me, as a sincere way to thank my mother, and I try to play my role in the freest way” says Sauro.

In 2012, Sauro met Pietro Leemann, the chef who won the first ever Michelin star for a vegetarian restairant in 1996.

Discovering that he had much in common with Pietro, Sauro joined Joia. Over the years Joia has become a temple of vegetarian cuisine. A crossroad for both gourmet and passionate of natural cuisine. All the ingredients are organic, most of them cultivated by nearby farmers, the others coming from our synergistic garden.

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SAURO RICCI

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Nature is the first source of inspiration, in its respect, representing its essence in colors and shapes, counted by seasons and places. The dishes are colorful, rich in shapes and contrasts. Always original, never ordinary, created to express an ideal or feeling.

The cuisine style is inspired by Italian vegetarian tradition, with simple but delicious dishes. Each dish is carefully prepared, with the same attention and quality reserved at the gourmet restaurant, but with highly simplicity.

EX.IT chats with Sauro Ricci…

The experience which helped you are as a chef…

The most educational experience has been at the university and at starred restaurants. At university with anthropological and philosophical studies on one side, and the work with starred chefs such as Michelino Gioia and Antonio Guida on the other side, gave me an important imprinting. The experience in the macrobiotic world at the Kushi Institute in Portugal and in its restaurant in Lisbon had trained me for my current carrer at Joia in Milan (the only vegetarian and vegan starred restaurant in Europe) with chef Pietro Leemann, “condenser” of these paths and benefactor, who gave me the chance to implement at Joia all the knowledges acquired.

DIVERTISSEMENT PHOTO © MAURI

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SAURO RICCI

Your culinary philosophy, creating a new dish and inspiration behind it…

The creation of a dish is a design project that starts from the knowledge of tastes, seasonality of the ingredients, choice of suppliers and inspiration and creativity of the moment.

In the planning context, there is always a component of dairy inspiration which reflects our guidelines, as part of the modalities of our menu creation. The dishes becomes concepts which are developed and adapted depending on the season, on the tastes, on the colours, on the textures, for the creation of a perfect puzzle, a result of great knowledge of tastes and tecniques.

Inspiration is often the result of a constant relating with other people in artistic and cultural context, as well as life itself, the dairy experience, the contact with our garden and the relationship with our colleagues and chefs in general, through the observation and elaboration. Inspiration is a mixed feeling related to an inner hearing with several unknown points about its origin, because it is related to our subconscious to which we often draw on in our creative moments.

Creation is a result of cares and nourishment of our less conscious part through several activities such as art, literature, anthroposophy, spirituality and farming as well.

Produce, Creativity or Technique…

Technique and creativity are two important issues, which results in the production. Technique and creativity are the heart of chefs’ job.

Special cooking techniques…

I enjoy using a smoking technique which is rarely used for vegetables. A preservation technique which gives vegetables a special taste by cooking them directly on barbecue or with other special equipments.

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JOIA

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

VERSO QUELL’ORIZZONTE PHOTO © LUCIO ELIO

LA CASA IN ORIENTE PHOTO © LUCIO ELIO

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OMBELICO DEL MONDO PHOTO © LUCIO ELIO

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PORTO DEL SOLE PHOTO © LUCIO ELIO

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

Ingredients that inspire you, your favourite and ingredients your unable to master…

The main ingredients of our cuisine is the nature. We don’t focused on a specific ingredient, we get inspired by the nature and its cyclical changes, the well-rounded availability of its fruit. There are some preparations which arise for their tecnique, such as fermented vegetables, home-made tempeh, or the use of wild herbs which enrich in taste our dishes.

The ingredients I love most cooking are cereals, all the dressing strong in flavour such as umeboshi, tamari and miso, and legumes for their varied use, and of course all the seasonal vegetables in all their versions.

The ingredient I can not cook for personal, etichal, philosophical, nutritional choice is the meat. We propose haute natural cuisine at Joia, therefore, the vegetable world is at the heart of our choices.

What do you do to stay on top of the new cooking trends?

Study, information and constant testing gives the best results.

On one side we follow the most updated techniques, on the other we improve those already known, giving new opportunities to our work. It is very interesting to take a look at the past, raising age-old cooking techniques is a gourmet key.

Being a chef is perceived as a glamorous profession, advice to chefs entering the kitchen for the first time…

Study is as essential as the sacrifice, crucial to reach high levels, especially because a chef’s job concerns different issues, organizational, managerial and administrative. My suggestion is the ever-widening inclusion of the cultural aspect in this job to create a new professional chefs role, who knows the food power and who makes his cuisine a tool of spiritual and healthy evolution, as at Joia!

JOIA

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MATTEO ZAPPILE

Head sommelier and Restaurant Manager Matteo Zappile has worked closely with Chef Anthony Genovese since 2010, overseeing the day-to-day running of the restaurant and Il Pagliaccio’s extensive wine list. With a background in the fine dining industry, Matteo began his career in hospitality at just 14 years old. He grew up in the small town of Salerno in sunny Campania, Italy, and gained experience in the two Michelin star Rosselinis Restaurant at Hotel Palazzo Sasso on the Amalfi Coast, where he began his path to becoming a Sommelier.

He completed his sommelier training in both England and Sicily, before coming to Il Pagliaccio in Rome.

In 2014, Matteo earned the Gambero Rosso’s prestigious title of Best Beer Sommelier in Italy, and in the same year his wine list received the award for Best Sparkling Wine List in Italy

by L’Espresso. In the years to follow Matteo became first official Italian taster of INEI both coffee and wine. In 2016 Matteo qualified as a Sommelier of Saké by the SSA, and in 2017 L’Espresso Guide finally awarded him “Best Sommelier of Italy.”

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Anthony and Matteo share a passion for taking the finest quality produce and using it to evoke strong emotions in their guests. The restaurant wine list, which Matteo has meticulously curated, endeavors to do the same, bringing some of the greatest wines from across Europe and the new world to Rome.

EX.IT catches up with Matteo Zappile…

Training your palate, your sense of smell and sense of memory… how did you find your way to become one of Italy’s Best Sommelier?

The correct combination of characteristics in a somellier is not only given by the experience in tasting wines, but also by recognizing the type of guest you have in front of us. Each guest, each table can be inspired within a range of sensations and emotions, and it’s as much about selecting what will delight the specific guest.

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Take us through your training and tell when you realized your path to being a sommelier and how it helped you as a sommelier today?

I was introduced to the world of drinks from a very young age, when I went to hotel school in Salerno. I fell in love with this line of work when I began working at Palazzo Sasso in Ravello, I met Daniele Di Palma, who soon became my mentor pointing me in the right direction to finish my studies and become a sommelier. But my journey did not end there, I became a sommelier of Sakè, of beers, then passionate about the world of spirits and in general all drinks. For several years now, I have experimented with all types of drinks, including non-alcoholic beverages. For me this is really important – there is so much outside the world of wine which I love to explore, and I bring this passion to what I do at Il Pagliaccio with Anthony and the team here.

What are the skill required to properly pair food and wine?

Can anyone learn to do it expertly, or do you need a natural flair?

It’s probably not for everyone, and I think it requires a sensitive palate to be able taste subtleties and go far as a sommelier, because of the amount of things to learn and taste every day, but it is a work full of many satisfactions and stimuli and you are constantly learning more, expanding your repertoire and surprising yourself. It’s a science to a certain degree, but there’s always an element of magic when you try a pairing.

How important is it to properly pair food and wine? Can it make or break a meal?

The pairing is so important when it comes to being a sommelier, when a match works perfectly, the food and wine is elevated to another level, greater than the sum of the two parties. There are wines that come into their own when paired just right. I like to be fun and playful, and to entertain guests and inspire different emotions.

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MATTEO ZAPPILE

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How is the art of food and wine pairing evolving?

The world of sommeliers has evolved to the point that we no longer speak of combining food and wine, but all types of spirits and drinks. In the cellar at Il Pagliaccio, I have many types of beer, whisky, sakè and much more. This is the way things are evolving.

In your opinion which are the best wines and wineries in Italy and in the world?

There is no sure and definitive answer to this question, perhaps the most correct answer depends on many factors such as time, emotion, work and pleasure.

Appearance, Aroma, Bouquet, Taste, Aftertaste and Overall Impression are some of the factors considered for a good wine – take us through the overall process of judging a good wine as the official Italian taster and as a lecturer of AIS. Being an official taster and teacher means to you have to have an objective approach to wine first, and then be subjective second. We evaluate the aspects of production, the producer or the winemaker, and at the end the idea and the signature they are trying to convey with a particular product. It’s very methodical in this way.

Can it be that a wine which is rated a gold medal winner in one competition can do badly in another competition?

Of course, there is no black and white with wine, but there are general understandings. Each competition has standards and preferences that are not 100% quality, so maybe sometimes you prefer elegance rather than structure or so on.

What does it take to get the qualification for Sommelier of Sake?

It requires an open mind, passion, curiosity and obviously drinking a lot.

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MATTEO ZAPPILE

Your passion to taste, learn and especially to share your expertise on wine tasting continues to grow and evolve - What keeps you motivated?

My motivation goes hand in hand with the new vintages and the new experimentations of the producers. The world of wine is not something you ever feel you’ve fully conquered, it’s simply not possible. I’m always eager to taste new things and my hunger and curiosity means everything is still exciting.

What was the feeling to be awarded the Best Sommelier in Italy in 2014 specifically for beer, the same year you were awarded for the Best Menu of Bubbly in Italy and in 2017 the Best Sommelier of Italy…

I am a very lucky person, and feel incredibly grateful for these awards and to get this far in a profession I love. These awards for me represent an added value to my efforts, but at the same time I know there is always so much more to discover.

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MARIANNA VITALE

Neapolitan Flavors...

rowing up with her grandparents in Porta Capuana, Naples, since a young age Marianna loved to watch people eating in the local restaurants, helping her grandma in the kitchen. “When I was a little girl everyone used to cook at home, my grandma, my dad. And in time that made me want to be cook and improve what I’ve learned from them.” Marianna decided to take up Spanish literature and learn her culinary skills at home, her dream was to work in a kitchen and in 2008, when her father who worked as a chef in the local restaurants and his love was for the Capodimonte ceramics spoke with Lino Scarallo about Marianna’s passion and culinary dreams, and Lino gave her the opportunity to join his restaurant.

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With Lino as a mentor, she started to focus on the using local produce, integrating Neapolitan ingredients and creating a composition of flavors, “I simply trust my taste… If I like it, that’s for sure something I will cook for someone else too”.

With challenging times ahead, in 2009 she opened Sud and two years later Sud was awarded a Michelin star.

PHOTO © ANTONIO VITALE

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Sud is a small idea with several words, the love and passion, the fury and fatigue, the anxiety and joy, and the research and work. Words are the building blocks that she has used to build her way of being in the world, her way at Sud. “Cooking at your own restaurant is hard work, perseverance, constant bet, and this fact is that it is much truer when you choose to start an oasis up in the desert, but with unpredictable speed Sud has become an important fact in the Italian gourmet scenario.”

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

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MARIANNA VITALE

SPAGHETTONI AGLI ANEMONI DI MARE

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RISOTTO DEL PESCATORE ALLA MODA DI REGGIO CALABRIA

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MINESTRA DI MARE CON FRUTTA E VERDURE DI STAGIONE

Her cuisine at Sud is a gastronomic experience, her 7 course Marianna Vitale Sud Story or her tasting menus recreates the South in every dish with ingredients that are usual and forgotten, tools of expression that are made up of details and traditions.

EX.IT chats with Marianna Vitale…

The experience which helped you to become a chef…

I worked as an intern with Chef Lino Scarallo at his restaurant Palazzo Petrucci in Napoli, this helped me a lot especially how to manage a kitchen and the restaurant staff, this experience has been very valuable. Then there was two short but very intensive internships, the first with Quique Dacosta in Denia, and with Michel at Bras in Laguiole.

Your culinary philosophy and the inspiration of creating a new dish…

I love eating and I cook a lot for myself, this is how most of my dishes are born. It’s really simple: I’m hungry so I try to imagine what I’d love to eat the most, and then I cook it.

Once I figure out this is something that I can cook in my restaurant, then I just work on refining it to make sure it’s going to be something excellent for my guests.

Obviously my culinary philosophy is all about cooking fresh and local ingredients without moving far from my roots.

SUD RISTORANTE

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MARIANNA VITALE

Ingredients that inspire you, your favourite ingredients and those you were not able to master…

I always have been in love with ingredients from the sea, especially the unusual ones: sea anemones, jellyfishes, seaweeds, squid entrails, fish eggs, and many others. Some of these special ingredients were already used into traditional recipes, so at a point my goal has become to recover some of the culinary knowledge we were going to miss or we have already lost. As said before, I choose the ingredients only if they satisfy my very personal taste.

The favourite is herbs, citrus fruits, edible flowers and most of all: pasta!

There is not really an ingredient on which I’ve given up. Maybe that’s because I don’t move too far from my culinary heritage. So it’s all about foods I know pretty well.

Special cooking techniques particular enjoy using…

or

equipment

you

I don’t think my kitchen look so different from most of kitchens in this world, but if there’s something I really love to do and people love me to do, that is cooking pasta.

Produce, Creativity or Technique…

I believe creativity, technique and produce are three steps of the same process; you cannot really separate them.

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ZITI CON GENOVESE

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

QUINTO QUARTO DI CALAMARO

FILETTO DI MAIALINO

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MARIANNA VITALE

What keeps you motivated?

I still want to grow and discover new things, and as a mother, I would like my son to receive something of what I am doing.

What do you do to stay on top of the new cooking trends?

Nothing but just being myself, as a professional and as a human being.

Being a chef is perceived as a glamorous profession, advice to chefs entering the kitchen for the first time‌ I suggest that these young chefs should not care about success and fame, the only important thing is always to do your best in work and life, and if you want to be successful then keep focused on what you do, not on how people see you.

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CHEESE-CAKE DI BACCALAĚ€

EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN BY ALFREDO RUSSO

the greatest influence...

My Family, My Memories, My Roots!

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LEONARDO BASCIO

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ascio family philosophy is based primarily on the quality of their created oils through the selection of the best olives harvested at the perfect stage of maturation. Competence is the key, the ability to produce selections, and be able to satisfy all the needs and requests that come to them from the market. With constant improvements in processing systems and new technologies, it allows them to raise even more the already perfect good and healthy “green gold”. Quality and Competence are of little value if they do not rest on bases such as honesty and transparency, all Bascio products have a controlled and traced supply chain that allows them to easily trace the label placed on a bottle to the group of trees of the land that produced that oil. A philosophy based on four words: Quality, Competence, Honesty and Transparency.

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Green Gold

Bascio’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is an oil obtained directly from the pressing of olives exclusively by mechanical means. Recognized by its organoleptic and chemical / physical qualities. From the organoleptic point of view (through the smell and taste) you can feel the presence of defects. The nose is the best medium in the world to find a defect, especially because, often, defective oil has the same consistency and color of a high quality oil. Through the nose you can find the various defects such as muddy sediment, rancid, heated, vinegary... all these imperfections may be due to a fruit that does not start well or a wrong processing in the mill or to a wrong conservation. EVOO must have no defects and, analytically, must have values (such as acidity, peroxide number, mass spectrophotometry, etc.) that falls within certain parameters set by European Community regulations.

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EX.IT speaks with Leonardo Bascio…

Bascio has created an EVOO for a Michelin Star Chef…

Yes, I personally created an EVOO for Michelin Star Chef Alfredo Russo, the result of careful research and selection that began from the harvesting phases, during the first days of October. From processing the green fruits from the olive tree to the bottling. The olives come from the land that borders the millenarian landscapes that have the Greek temples of ancient Selinunte in Sicily. Allowing the pickers to hand pick the best fruits, which were delivered to the mill for processing.

The olives were initially defoliated and carefully washed by a mechanical washing machine which keeps the water in motion and continuously so that the product is always treated with clean water. Subsequently they are pressed by a system of rotating hammers (crushers) through which is transformed into a mass of solid parts (pits, peels and pulp) and a liquid part (water and oil). The next step, the mass is moved slowly at controlled temperature (under 27 degree centigrade cold extraction) in a closed environment (poorly oxygenated to preserve the antioxidant content: polyphenols) in a process called “kneading” which lasts for around 30 to 40 minutes and a coalescence of micro oil droplets occurs.

Once the kneading is done, the olive paste is sent to the “centrifugal decanter”, using centrifugal force and different specific weight (of water, oil and solid part) the first separation between oil and water takes place. The oil thus obtained (which may still contain micro particles of water) is further centrifuged (in the “vertical separator”) exploiting a higher number of turns, making it oil free from micro-impurities.

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The obtained oil is then stored in stainless steel tanks at a controlled temperature for a period of 30 to 40 days to promote the natural deposit of the micro particles in suspension. Bottling is strictly in a dark bottle and “unfiltered” to emphasize the naturalness of the product.

Are there any health benefits with using EVOO? EVOO is one of the most balanced fats that is better tolerated by our bodies, if used correctly, it has therapeutic effects because it contains omega 3 and polyphenols. Polyphenols are antioxidants, they fight the “free radicals” of the organism able to activate tumors and diseases and reduce the bad cholesterol (LDL) fluent and with less risk of heart attack.

Thanks to this antioxidant action, the life of the oil is extended, the alteration of which is due is to the action of oxygen. The other beneficial components of EVOO is unsaturated fatty acids, in particular oleic acid which is monounsaturated, however, EVOO is not a medicine or a miracle food but does have health benefits.

What makes Bascio different from the other olive oils?

Bascio, tries to stand out on the extra virgin olive oil scenario, with a careful selection of the initial product, trying to combine the continuous search for higher organoleptic qualities with the health excellence that follows the same pace. We have been committed every day, for over 50 years, to bringing customers the best oil we can do. The oils that my grandfather and my father produced with passion, commitment and dedication, which made me love. We put our hearts and souls into what we do and I hope so much that our customers can understand it from the first taste.

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LEONARDO BASCIO

Bascio represents Italian taste – how do you ensure the product is authentic and what does being authentic mean to you?

Our extra virgin oil is on the market, and is been appreciated for over 50 years. Our customers are guaranteed by the continuous controls that we carry out by the careful monitoring (both analytical and organoleptic) that we perform on the product in storage and during the various stages of processing. I personally carry out the checks in order to optimize the quality of the oil obtained and guarantee its best expression and authenticity.

We ensure that what we bottle is the result of passion and genuineness of generations of producers who make it a piece of authentic Sicily arrives on the tables around world.

What is the difference between plain olive oil and extra virgin, is it stored in a different way for its freshness and why the bark bottles?

It is good to know how to distinguish the quality of an oil even just by reading what is reported on the label. Very often consumers are not careful believing that they are all the same, and makes mistakes of choosing the one that costs less.

Many do not know the difference between a bottle bearing the words “olive oil” on the label and another that bears the words “extra virgin olive oil”.

EVOO is the king of virgin oils, oils that have been obtained directly from the olive fruit by means of mechanical procedures that do not alter its characteristics. Within the virgins you also have the extra virgin that has a total absence of defects, which is fruity, and a maximum acidity level of 0.8% and other chemical / physical values that fall within a certain range. Olive Oil on the other hand, is the result of a blend made between refined olive oil (not directly sold as it is and obtained from the refining of poor quality oils) and an olive oil from the virgin family.

Both EVOO and Olive oils can be stored in the same way, only for extra virgin olive oil, the carefulness of a dark glass bottling is used to prevent the light from accelerating the oxidation of the product and therefore making it rancid.

Bascio oil is packaged in dark bottles, also with nitrogen (an inert gas) in the space that separates the oil from the cap to minimize contact with the air and decrease triggering an oxidative phenomena.

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What is the best time of the year to harvest the olives for EVOO, do they have to be a certain varieties of olives or different varieties are mixed together?

The harvest period varies depending on the latitude and micro-climates that are created in the various production areas. The general rule for a quality oil is to collect the fruits from the olive trees when they are still green in order to obtain as many polyphenols as possible and the lowest possible acidity and number of peroxides (content of oxidized compounds).

The olives we produce are harvested by the middle of October (in western Sicily the harvest takes place between the months of October and November) and are for 90-95% all belonging to the same variety (the Nocellara del Belice) a olive with a round shape, with a good pulp-hazel ratio and from which an oil with a marked sensation of tomato, artichoke and freshly mown grass is obtained with a harmonious combination of bitter and spicy sensations in the mouth.

For over 50 years that Bascio meets Italians’ taste – would you say that the perception of consumers has changed and how is it possible to satisfy the modern consumer?

In over 50 years of history, Bascio has grown together with the market trying to adapt to what is required, and sometimes tried to offer its own product profile that would allow it to become unique and distinguishable in the commercial landscape.

Attempts have made it possible to grasp the changes and preferences of consumers and to highlight the changes and preferences of customers’ palates. The perception is very varied over the years and the modern consumer is much more critical than his predecessors, more dynamic, fond of the beautifully shaped bottle as well as good oil. Attentive to the cost per liter and less attached to the tradition of local production. Compared to the past, the consumer makes a more careful consumption, trying to combine the right oil to the right course.

What is the best use of EVOO, is it only good for salads?

EVOO represents the Mediterranean tradition, a precious food with very significant nutritional values both for its chemical composition and for its organoleptic characteristics.

Throughout the twentieth century and up to 15 years ago, olive oil was considered above all a fat to be added to the dishes and used predominantly to season raw foods. This limitation of use was a post-war cultural heritage, when people especially needed to eat at reasonable prices. Society has changed considerably and olive oil has acquired a different role, it is no longer simple fat but a food capable of giving sensations. In fact, in the last 15 years there has been a real revolution: the quality of production has grown considerably thanks to new technologies and knowledge of the properties of the different varieties.

The use of EVOO becomes predominant and many organoleptic characteristics are exalted by many gourmets.

This has favored the spread of a greater use of EVOO in the kitchen, combining it with the most varied situations. Still it is preferred as a condiments for salads or for marinating fish, because its peculiarities of taste and smell are able to make the food less pasty and fat.

With Mediterranean cuisine, it is the basis of all sauces that accompany the pasta and the second courses of fish or meat.

It is also recommended for frying because its high resistance to heat makes it possible to improve food without degrading nutritional value, satisfying the most demanding palates, cooking food without feeling like eating unwanted fats.

The latest developments also sees it as a protagonist in pastry shops, there are some sweets which have replaced margarine with EVOO, the result to have sweets with very intense flavors, but with the advantage of being very digestible and light. I can certainly say that this versatile product will always be the protagonist in the kitchen, since with its outstanding properties it adapts to the various gastronomic forms.

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What do chefs look for when using your products?

Until recently, it was really difficult to get chefs to accept my product because it was mostly valued for what it cost and not for the added value it could give to their dishes. Today, thanks to a culture of quality that starts from hotel schools and training schools, the situation has improved considerably.

Chefs begin to understand that just a few drops of my oil is enough to enhance the taste of a dish and they have become aware that oil is not just any seasoning but an important part of a dish’s scaffolding.

When Michelin Star Chef Alfredo Russo started to request a very precise EVOO, with fruity characteristics and a balance between bitter and spicy which can be combined with his dishes. With a passion to blend, combining notes and nuances of different oils to create one with new and very specific characteristics finds its own realization. Today, chefs who use my products seek exclusivity and personalization ... something unique that reflects the essence of their dishes and the philosophy of their cuisine.

LEONARDO BASCIO AND HIS FAMILY

What are your thoughts about Italian cuisine around the world?

In recent years, Italian cuisine around the world is experiencing one of the most controversial phases of its centuries-long history. While it has established itself as one of the best kitchens in the world together with the Asian and the historic French rival. There is a generalized degeneration due to the growing counterfeiting of typical products and raw materials most representative Italy, which deformation of the historical Italian recipes has meant that in some foreign countries there is a false belief of what Italian cuisine is. Personally I think that our “beautiful country” has a panorama of quality and excellence unique in the world.

Chefs have the ability to turn a simple meal into an experience for all 5 senses. A strong supporter of Italian cuisine and in my small way I commit myself with my heart and soul to do my best to create one of the most representative ingredients.

VIVA L’ITALIA e VIVA IL MADE IN ITALY

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