Tag: Bastianich

We ate the new My Selection with Bastianich (dreaming of a glass of wine) – Italian Cuisine

The My Selection hamburger line created by Joe Bastianich for Mc Donald's has reached its third edition with two new recipes and a great confirmation. The best seller My Selection BBQ is confirmed for the third year without changing the recipe: 100% bovine from Italian farms, sauce based on Red Onion of Tropea Calabria PGI and Balsamic Vinegar of Modena PGI, with seasoned gouda cheese, coleslaw sauce, crispy bacon and salad.
Brand new instead My Selection Chicken Pepper with 100% Italian breaded chicken breast, Pecorino Toscano DOP, salad, tomato, three pepper sauce and bread with sesame seeds and My Selection Asiago DOP & Bacon with burgers of 100% beef from Italian farms, Asiago DOP, salad, crispy bacon, caramelized onion sauce, Caesar sauce and bread with sesame and poppy seeds.

They are already in 600 Mc Donald's restaurants, but we could not miss the opportunity to elbow the crowd that gathered today at the Base in Milan to try them together with Bastianich, just like in advertising. And even if we ate it comfortably seated at a table while Joe tasted them running between a photo and an interview, we can confirm his visceral love for hamburgers. That when he was a child, it was his parents' prize to tell him that he had done well, but also the perfect food to feel a bit more American and shorten distances with others.
Here's how he told us about his two new recipes of the project thanks to which McDonald's will buy 300 tons of PDO and PGI ingredients this year.

In the recipes of the new My Selection we have Asiago DOP and Pecorino Toscano DOP, why did you choose these cheeses?
"Tuscan pecorino because it is pleasantly savory, Asiago because it is sweeter, softer. Both are creamy, dark and ideal for filling a sandwich, but have very different characteristics .

How did they influence the choice of the other ingredients?
«In reality for me the basis from which to start is always the meat. Then come the cheeses, sauces and other ingredients such as bacon .

And what about bread?
«For me, the bread must be absolutely soft and sweet. Bread is fundamental .

Inspired by our new American magazine, we have imagined the perfect match between hamburger and wine, but now we want to know your expert opinion (Joe Bastianich produces wines in Friuli Venezia Giulia).
"The combination of wine and hamburger is something already very loved and explored in America. There cheeseburger and cabernet is a great classic. But I recommend choosing it based on the meat. With a beef burger like the one we are eating now, I suggest a Rosso di Montalcino. With chicken, on the other hand, a good white wine like my Vespa Bianco from Cantine Bastianich .

Self? Yes, but we trust!

McDonlads enhances Made in Italy with a new line of sandwiches designed by Joe Bastianich – Italian Cuisine

It's a McDonalds who speaks fluent Italian what we met at the presentation of My Selection 2020 in via Tortona in Milan.

181438 "And it's not just Dante's Italian, because the three new sandwiches have various local accents "he jokes Mario Federico, CEO of McDonald’s Italia. The manager refers to the origins of the ingredients of this premium line, which boasts the presence of Dop and PGI from North to South Italy, such as Asiago Dop, Pecorino Toscano Dop, Tropea Calabria onion PGI and Balsamic Vinegar of Modena PGI.

In fact, the collaboration between the multinational, the producers and the Italian consortia is not new: it started a dozen years ago, thanks also to the participation of the Foundation Qualivita is Origin Italy, born in turn by the Italian Association of Geographical Indication Consortia. Since then McDonalds Italia has used it 2 and a half tons of branded products Dop is Ipg for about 40 different products. And not only that: Mario Federico himself led a path that gradually led McDonald's to turn to 84% Italian suppliers, buying 94 thousand tons of raw materials from them every year, for an investment of 200 million euros.

At the moment, the excellences of almost half Italy, including meat, pass through the restaurants of the chain. "But the goal – explains the manager – is to expand the list of suppliers more and more, in order to one day have all the Italian regions represented".

181447 The idea is to bring the Made in Italy informally also abroad. And in fact in Europe the green, white and red flag already flies in some recipes of the chain.

"If Italian products can only be enjoyed in a starred restaurant, where a course costs at least 40 euros, they will never have an interesting distribution" he observes sharply Joe Bastianich. “So initiatives like this are welcome. Here the target is mainly young people and the prices are those of the McDonalds tradition. Accessible for everyone ". He is the godfather of the three My Selection sandwiches.

Just hear him speak for a few minutes to understand who better than him. Musician, excellent cook, of Italian blood, but by birth and decidedly American culture and idol that transversely likes mothers, kids and even his grandmother. In practice, in a single testimonial there is everything that McDonalds wants to make appreciated with its premium 2020 collection.

181444 How much is loved by young people was also seen during the contest My Selection Chef. In this friendly competition that took place during the presentation of the new collection, the protagonists were the students of hotel establishments Italian. The boys challenged each other with both theoretical and practical knowledge of our PDO and PGI excellence, under the watchful eye of Joe Bastianich and Raffaele Bellini, the chef who studies and tests McDonalds Italia's sandwich recipes.

How is a sandwich born? “I like to choose good products and listen to what people like. I study combinations of flavors and textures, I try and try again, I taste, I compare myself with colleagues and I propose recipes that are replicable with the same quality also in our restaurants "explains Raffaele Bellini. And for a moment he makes us imagine his work “It is a great team game, a machine with complex gears, where everyone's contribution is precious. And don't think that the kitchens where I work are so different from anyone's … they are the same, only the available technology changes ".

of Barbara Roncarolo
January 2020

Joe Bastianich new judge at X Factor 2019? – Italian Cuisine

The eighth season of Master Chef Italy, but Joe Bastianich could be back on TV much sooner than we could imagine.

According to the weekly Who, Joe could be one of the judges of the new edition of X Factor, scheduled for September 2019. After the goodbyes of Fedez, Manuel Agnelli and Mara Maionchi, the rapper should enter Achille Lauro is exactly Joe Bastianich.

If that were really the case, it would not be surprising. In addition to being an entrepreneur in the restaurant business, Bastianich also has a great passion for music and is the frontman of the The Ramps, a band with which it performs around Italy, but not only.

Guitarist and passionate about music country, folk is American rock, Joe has already had a little experience in the field: he was in fact a member of the Sanremo 2019 jury, performing also with the song Purple Rain during the After Festival.

As we have seen since 2011, the role of judge fits him perfectly: that the time has come to change air for Joe and leave the world of cooking?