The chef at home tidies vinyls, thinks about the new menu of the Osteria Francescana and, between a chat and another, reveals something about his mashed potatoes
They are connected from all over the world on the Instagram page of @LaCucinaItaliana to the#Dinner time for the live chat between our director Maddalena Fossati is Massimo Bottura. On the other hand, he is a world chef: three Michelin stars with the Franciscan Osteria in Modena, city where he was born and raised, the highest podium in the classic The World’s 50 Best Restaurants twice (in 2016 and 2018), a restaurant in Dubai (I'll be right back) e a non-profit association, Food For Soul, to combat food waste and promote social inclusion with projects across the planet.
Massimo Bottura quarantined between vinyl and social media from the kitchen
Like everyone, too Massimo Bottura he is spending the quarantine within the walls of his house with his wife Lara and children. “For us chefs who are never at home and always dedicate ourselves to others, it is difficult to find ourselves in this situation. My team is my other family, I have to protect him and I can't wait to embrace everyone. I told my kids to use this time to deepen their interests, to come up with new ideas. Having passions can help you get through this moment: I, for example, I rearranged my LPs, I have about 20 thousand.
Even at home Bottura does not stop cooking: he invented with his family #kitchenquarantine, a daily evening appointment on his social pages where he prepares dishes live from his kitchen: "It is a way to involve people and distract them from the numbers of the news that depress a little".
Osteria Francescana: an explosion of colors after dark
"And then we are studying the new menu. Once out of the emergency, at the Franciscan Osteria I will embrace everyone, there will be need an explosion of heat and colors like those of the watercolors of Giuliano della Casa"Says the chef while showing us the drawings of the Modenese artist on video: some of his paintings also decorate the walls of the starred restaurant, fresh from the restyling.
Massimo Bottura is "A ray of light" as our director describes it, it is a charge of energy even in this difficult moment (I feel daily with colleagues to try to cheer up and think about new ideas), it is a river in full, an "emotional mix" like he defines his current mood himself: “I remember that the Refectory of Milan it is the only open social kitchen that lets people in and welcomes them, little by little, from morning to night. And then I greet and embrace the doctors who are working like crazy: you really are heroes ”.
Puree in oil
After 40 minutes of chat it's time to go, who is connected would like to know the recipe of parmesan cream, we can steal some indication of his mashed potato when by chance he names it: "Joël Robuchon made his famous mashed potato with half potatoes and half butter, I use oil instead. I cook steamed potatoes, I dry them in the oven and then I mix the puree with olive oil ". A mash that the food critic Davide Paolini once described "from the unbearable lightness, delicate, savory". "Hi, I'm going to cook it!". And we let you go Massimo, because as you say, "in your future there is always another future!".
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