Identità Golose: Day 1, part 4 (of 4)

Previous Identità Golose posts: Intro, Part1, Part2 and Part 3.

The original of the article below, in Italian, can be read here.

5 PM, Milan, Stock-market exchange. Vittorio Fusari of the restaurant "Il Volto" of Iseo starts his performance with extreme punctuality. On stage the chef showed a reverential shyness and slight fear in exposing his concept of cuisine.yet his first public appearance can be rightly considered a success: he managed to instantly conquer the sympathy of both press and public, in a vortex of gastronomic thoughts between identity and tradition. A concept that has been very appreciated, especially in such an up-to-date gastronomic meeting.

Although one could claim that inside haute-cuisine everything is allowed, Fusari remains true to his philosophy, which looks for modern dishes that are easily understandable. The aim is to "localise" the cuisine, expressing through it the identity of the land and supporting the rich gastronomic treasures present. Cuisine is experienced as the form of communication between chef and consumer. "Subliminal messages" in the dishes recall connections between the local historic tradition and Fusari's personal gastronomic revolution.

This is a cuisine style that is more and more being considered as representative of haute cuisine in Italy. A way of thinking and a gastronomic heritage which is increasingly worth preserving, at all costs, to stop the advance of the great rival: trash-cuisine. Fusari's haute cuisine picks from gastronomic history and myths, transforming dishes into something highly symbolic, spectacular and good to eat. Like the classic potato "sfogliatina" with caviar, below.

© Benedetti-Grassi/Zerozero (repropuced with permission)

The Summer Risotto, to be eaten vertically sampling all layers at once, is made up of Grana cheese jelly, Saffron Jelly, classical Milanese risotto (made with Bellavista rice cooked together with its black rice "weed" which gives a double texture) and a sprinkling of blanched bone marrow.

© Benedetti-Grassi/Zerozero (repropuced with permission)

Fresh and Dried Sardines with Polenta (made with locally-grown maize), "acqua pazza" jelly and grated flash-frozen foie gras, are nothing else than a contamination of sea and land cooking styles, with poor and rich ingredients taking turns.

© Benedetti-Grassi/Zerozero (repropuced with permission)

5:40 PM Mathias Dahlgren, chef os Stockholm's  Bon Lloc takes center stage, with his "Refined Minimalism" theory.

Dahlgren's approach to haute cuisine has two fronts: the choice of "near" ingredients, in a geographic and ideologic sense, which are treated on the base of simple and immediate ideas in a crescendo of gastronomic virtuosos. Ingredients meld into each other with surprising effects: sensual and modern in their concept of simplicity. The young Swedish chef has chosen two dishes to represent his cuisine, like a tableau vivant: what better way to do these gastronomic masterpieces justice than being able to observe up close the many crafty and cultural details that make up Dahlgren's style. A style that is able to give his cuisine a proper rhythm that puts it above many others, between genius, excess and simplicity.

© Benedetti-Grassi/Zerozero (repropuced with permission)

"A taste of Swedish cow" is a trip around this encyclopaedic animal: the filet is matched to a milk, butter and cheese foam, all from the same animal.

© Benedetti-Grassi/Zerozero (repropuced with permission)

Aromatic and seductive his "Organic vegetable garden", evoking all the elements of the farming field, with vegetables, grasses, berries, sprouts, but also snails... if Dahlgren  has spent his early career years as a cook cleaning salad, he definitely has put his "Refined Minimalism" into it.

6:30 PM Alfonso Caputo (of  La Taverna del Capitano) is the last speaker of the day. Caputo is an international icon of the cuisine of the Costiera Amalfitana; his cooking makes you want to discover, imagine and play. New techniques are adapted to bring new Mediterranean flavours to the taste, smartly mixed with the cult dish of Italian Gastronomy: pasta.

Fish is the ingredient that Caputo matches to pasta for the occasion. The times change and so changes the way people want to experience pasta dishes: the fish pasta is made up uniquely of fish flesh, steamed for 40 minutes at 30°C; it can be cut into different shapes and can be dressed with a classic sauce after lengthy boiling. The final texture reminds of pressed fish filets and has an intense taste; like durum pasta it can be dried and stored for months. We would almost bet that this new technique will become a reference point, ideal to be copied around the world... a new Italian way to tickle the senses with a new trick.

Creative cuisine doesn't hold back when called to perform. And so Caputo, among the many avant-gard ideas presented at Identità Golose, demonstrated the execution of a triple octopus dish, using the natural gelatine of the mollusc...

Comments

[deccanheffalump]

Wish I was there!!

[Alberto]

Me too! Muccapazza, the Italian blogger who wrote the original articles definitely was one lucky guy. I think I'll start planning now for 2007, Identità golose has special entry prices for bloggers!

[Ore]

Thank you Alberto for writing these last two sessions of the IG.

I hope all is well with you and your family. I finally left Los Angeles for Berkeley. I am making Salumi again!!!

Ciao,

Ore

[Alberto]

Ore, great to hear about the job: I'd love to hear more about it.

Regarding IG: I hope to have a summary of the whole event up on eGullet in the next few weeks so stay tuned ;-).