Tag: BIG

Restart (in a big way) with new ideas: the example of Contraste – Italian Cuisine

The quarantine passed "on the bench" to create new formats, to be launched as soon as possible in Milan. Thomas Piras tells how, together with Matias Perdomo and Simon Press, he is ready for reopening. With more desire than before

First there was the period of social recipes, often with a beneficial purpose. Then the moment of delivery came and now we are in the era of take-away food. All interspersed with a sea of interviews on the problems of the moment and the future. Since the beginning of March, the most famous Italian chefs have lived the strangest days of their career, made up (alas) of words rather than deeds. For this reason, the Contraste team is deserving attention: the Uruguayan chef Matias Perdomo, his Argentine right arm Simon Press and the man from the hall and cellar, the Milanese Thomas Piras. Disappeared from the world – apart from some initial ironic incursion by the chef on social networks – to hide a different reality, made up of daily work, projects, plans and four plans for restarting. "Three had already left, while a fourth we have invented in the last few weeks," explains Thomas Piras.

Good wines at competitive prices

A project is linked to wine, Thomas's great passion. To drink, a nice name: a new distribution and import of labels that will aim to discover apparently second row terroirs, but with a precise philosophy and great personality. Reserved for professionals. «It is a project that we invented together with the producer and friend Marco Tinessa, collaboration regarding the selection that has been going on for some time. Now we will concretize it on a national level: it is a distribution that wants to place itself in the range between 10 and 30 euros in price (restorative price), avoiding those now inflationary wine areas . The second project is a real one urban pasta factory within the city in the Porta Romana area, to be precise with a double entrance in via Orti and via Curtatone. About forty seats and cocktail bars: urban style, signed by Fabio Ferrillo of the Off Arch study, with the work temporarily stopped by the emergency.

Pasta and empanadas

"Although pasta is always associated with tradition, Exit Urban Pasta Factory it will be a contemporary place, which also focuses on sharing , Piras continues. "We like the idea that one comes to have a drink with friends and then stops to enjoy a plate of pasta, maybe even a dessert. No appetizer, no second course to change the connotations of the Italian restaurant that focuses on first courses . The other two projects of the Contraste team are linked to the large production laboratory, which has been open for two years Lambrate, with the aim of relieving the Contraste kitchens from more routine activities and being able to reason with greater freedom on any new projects. It is here that the empanadas at the base of the third project will be prepared: it is called Empanadas del Flaco. Curiosity: el Flaco is the nickname of Simon Press (while Piras is nicknamed el Pelato and Perdomo el Gordo) who as a good Argentine had been proposing the idea for five years. Finally we are convinced, the first store will be on the way S. Maurilio, one of the alleys around via Torino: small, because the concept focuses absolutely on delivery, never as trendy as in recent weeks.

Origin Contraste Rotisserie

"We have combined Argentine experience and craftsmanship with a gastronomic touch also made of process, standardization and technologies. The product is made in the laboratory, shot down after a first frying and regenerated in the store. It works from every point of view after a thousand tests even blindly, we tasted the product made two weeks before and it is always at the top. And so we can be confident when the project, we hope, will expand ", explains Piras. If Empanadas del Flaco is the fruit of long maturation, the fourth project is really the result of comparison in the weeks of the pandemic: Roc, a gastronomy ready for online debut and destined to find a store between Porta Romana and Porta Genova as soon as possible. Roc stands for Rosticceria Origine Contraste, but there will be no connection in the vision nor in the image with the starry one in via Meda 2. Here too there is the desire to stand out from the current offer, not so much on the culinary proposal as on the way of prepare and serve it.

Ordered the day before

«We start from an assumption: the lasagna will be lasagna, the puree will be the puree, the eggplant parmigiana will be eggplant parmigiana, but there will also be bolder and more sophisticated dishes thinking of a rotisserie 2.0. We are looking for a memory of taste well known and shared. The difference is that it will not be possible to order day by day, but the day before with delivery on the following one, at the exact time . The advantage? «We will have the overall picture of the deliveries we have to make, of the shopping to be made: zero waste for us, well-managed food cost, lower costs and guaranteed freshness for customers. And the packaging will be entirely composed of biodegradable and heat-sealed plastics. We focus heavily on hygiene, personalization, labels, portioning ", explains the Constraste partner. Given the skill and experience of the team in catering – both in the starred Contraste and in the Exit bistro – it is striking that they are all different initiatives and certainly not inspired by the two venues. «Standardization requires a method that is not ours, we are not capable of it. Apart from the obligation to always offer the highest quality, we believe in a system where the right space must be left for people, who bring creativity , Piras closes.

Bergamo, small big food capital – Italian Cuisine

Bergamo Alta? More suggestive and chic. Low Bergamo? Full of interesting surprises. Here are the premises, established or emerging, of a city that has recently found the desire to go beyond casoncelli and polenta. And that does not copy Milan …

It is good in Bergamo, in every season. Especially walking around the High City which has the peculiarity of having one of the very few historical centers of the Italian capitals (together with Ferrara, Lucca, Verona, Padua, Treviso and Grosseto) to still be completely surrounded by walls. It is no coincidence that the Venetian ramparts have been listed in 2017 among the World Heritage Sites protected by UNESCO. All the villages outside the walls make up the Lower Town, which preserves historical nuclei together with more modern areas. In any case, in both city, we work a lot (a lot, according to some …), but we also have fun, and especially at the table.

The certainties of the city

There are so many delicious situations, some of them from time immemorial – just think of what the tristellato Da Vittorio in Brusaporto, about ten kilometers towards Brescia – and more recent ones that deserve a stop. Among other things, the Cerea have just reopened (after a long and perfect restructuring) the historian Pasticceria Cavour in via Gombito – founded 240 years ago – and that the family has managed since 1994. Another certainty is Lio Pellegrini, wedding favor in via S. Tomaso with a loyal audience and a menu of excellent dishes, including meat and fish. Certainly, after Milan – to which Bergamo is not so sensitive – we are in the most interesting city for foodies, given that nearby Brescia is very strong in the province but weak inside the walls. Here is our selection.

Acronym of Nuova Osteria Italiana: 30 covers in an informal environment, created and managed by two young people: Guido Gherardi in the room and Tommaso Spagnolo in the fires, returned home after great experiences for the world (Cain, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Elevan Madison Park …). Market cuisine, "fresh", which never gets boring. Example: bruschetta with duck livers, veal brains, butter and sage.

Fingerprints

A few weeks ago he became a Michelin star for the joy of the couple who leads him: the chef Cristian Fagone – from the illustrious mess-tin – and the dining room manager and wife Francesca Mauri. A charming restaurant with a strong personality in the kitchen, where there is a search for new combinations, contrasts and acidity. The menu ranges from influences and ingredients that come from all over the peninsula. One dish on all: Memory of a barbecue.

Balzer

The expert Vittorio Fusari leads the historic and elegant restaurant on the Sentierone. There is quality from the leavened ones for breakfast to the stucchini for the aperitif without forgetting the pastry to be consumed on the spot or to take home. The kitchen of the Iseano chef is appreciated in the bistro, at lunchtime, where his classics alternate – such as the potato and caviar puff pastry – with vegetable dishes and a large house burger.

Al Carroponte

A large space, furnished in post-industrial style. The idea came from Oscar Mazzoleni, a great wine professional who set up this multi-anime venue (informal wine bar, wine bar, wine bar and restaurant) on a mighty wine list, about 1000 labels of large and small Italian producers and foreigners. You can drink very well, therefore, even when poured and the aperitif is accompanied by a sea of delicacies.

Casual

Starry, it is a signed part of Enrico Bartolini's galaxy that opened it in a perfect corner, next to the funicular leading to San Vigilio. Ideal location, therefore, that together with a refined and very bright environment, allows you to enjoy Bartolini's cuisine, interpreted by the young Alex Manzoni and served by the maître Marco Locatelli. Menu that obviously reflects the ‘be contemporary’ philosophy.

Al Donizetti

It opens at eleven o'clock for the aperitif and closes at midnight: in a very central position, evocative inside and fantastic outside, it is above all one of the most complete Italian wine bars with 700 references from all over the world. Not by chance is one of the very few Three Bottles of the Gambero Rosso. For those who also want to stop for lunch, there are cold cuts and above all excellent cheeses such as simple dishes of the regional tradition

Osteria al Gigianca

The top also for Slow Food. For seven years, Gigi Pesenti and Alessia Mazzola have been serving creamed cod with polenta croutons, risotto with peppers and missoltino pâté in addition to the inevitable casoncelli alla Bergamo among the first, while among the latter Bergamo rabbit with polenta is particularly popular. the giant Bergamo sheep with potato cream and beetroot chutney.

Incoming search terms:

https://gordon-ramsay-recipe com/recipes-of-italian-cuisine/bergamo-small-big-food-capital-italian-cuisine html

Ferrero, Nutella Biscuits arrive (with a big event in Milan) – Italian Cuisine

Until October 31, in Piazza Gae Aulenti, Casa Nutella will be set up, where everyone can taste the new entry in preview

The Nutella, the authentic one, signed Ferrero, becomes the filling of a biscuit: they arrive also in Italy (after the lucky launch, in April, in France) the Nutella Biscuits. The heart of hazelnut cream constitutes 40% of the biscuit, a crunchy shortbread prepared with a mixture of flake flour and cane sugar. There new entry of the Alba group is produced in Italy, in the Balvano plant, in the province of Potenza, in Basilicata, a few kilometers from the Alburni mountains, about eight hundred meters above sea level: it is the site of the most southern Ferrero plant in the country.

A record production system

But one of the most interesting aspects of the Nutella Biscuits launch is their ultra-advanced and automated production system. To prepare them, it was made a specific production line with a great level of complexity and artificial intelligence. «An investment of the scope of over 120 million euros, Explains Alessandro d’Este, managing director of Ferrero Commerciale Italia srl. "A proof of our will not only to create excellent products, more and more innovative, but also to create value in our country, for the induced, for the territory and for people. In line with the Ferrero values and above all with the teaching of Michele Ferrero, we designed and built the line thanks to our engineering division to ensure that our production process was unique .

The production line of Nutella Biscuits is the most innovative and complex that the Ferrero group has ever made: its own island picker is the largest in the world, with more than 40 pickers, 7 robots and about 200 engines: it weighs like a Boing 747 and it took 8 months to mount it. «The numerous parts that make up the new production line represent a world record for size and the ability to handle biscuits individually, one by one, is a unique in the panorama of Italian companies for the level of technological sophistication ", explains Ferrero in a note. «Technologists and engineers have cleverly combined known and available technologies on the market with systems designed and developed by Ferrero, therefore unique. The biscuit assembly is guaranteed by a process of synchronization to the millimeter, which minimizes errors. It was necessary to apply uncommon tools and methods to allow the perfect pairing of the biscuits: the lid perfectly closes the Nutella inside the casket .

The Milan event

This great innovative investment is supported by an ambitious launch program: until 31 October, in Piazza Gae Aulenti, in Milan, will be set up Nutella House, where everyone can taste Nutella Biscuits and experience an engaging technological experience. Indeed the emotions aroused by tasting will be detected by a special facial expression recognition device and will help feed (along with online interactions and visits to the Nutella site) a counter that has the shape of the heart of Nutella Biscuits. At the end of the Milan event, the counter will reveal how great the involvement of people, both at Casa Nutella and online, will have been.

Not only: on 4 and 5 November about a thousand Ferrero employees, who contributed to the development of the product, will reach, as ambassadors, more than 4 thousand sales points throughout Italy to present and taste Nutella Biscuits.