Tag: design

No more cake design, it's time for blown sugar – Italian Cuisine

Italian identity and French mastery, the processing of plastic sugar is an art that is gaining ground and the world champion is the Italian Davide Malizia

It is the new frontier of designer decoration, but few know that the processing of artistic sugar has ancient origins and practical implications. And above all that it allowed us to beat the French in a "sport" in which they had been undisputed protagonists for decades. We talked about it with Davide Malizia, the new world champion of plastic sugar, the man who took the scepter from the French, this year conquering the Sucre d’Or, the Oscar of artistic sugar.

The history of artistic sugar

The art of sugar processing dates back to the times of the court of Caterina de 'Medici, daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici and consort of the French king Henry of Valois. We are in the sixteenth century and according to tradition, royal pastry chefs would have started decorating cakes for kings with a sugar processing technique borrowed from that of Murano glass. The Italy-France connection is therefore evident from the first stirrings of this art, even though the spread of artistic sugar until recently was practically the prerogative of the French.

The Sucre d'Or award

And it was the French cousins themselves, in 1997, who launched a prize for the best "tireur", the shooter of plastic sugar, the Sucre d'Or (literally, "golden sugar"). To bestow it, Déco Relief, a historic French company specializing in ingredients and professional materials for haute patisserie, which appointed Gabriel Paillasson as the first winner, considered a French pastry expert and inventor of the Pastry World Cup, which every two years sees the best of pastry challenge each other world. The intention of the promoters was to award this prize every ten years and Paillasson's successor in 2007 was Stephane Klein, another French master pastry chef, who has an atelier in Belfort, where he teaches his noble art to the new generation. However, ten years later, in 2017, no one was considered equal to these two predecessors and the promoters of the Sucre d'Or were waiting for the chosen one for three more years.

Award ceremony-Sucre-dOr-Davide-Malizia — Sucre d'Or award ceremony to Davide Malizia (center).

An Italian surpasses the French masters

And here comes the time to crown Davide Malizia, our local master pastry chef who has beaten the competition from beyond the Alps. "But it's not the first time, it's been a few years that Italians have been giving the French a hard time in international competitions," says the master pastry chef. And Malizia was always there: in 2013 she won the gold medal at the Artistic Sugar World Championship The Star of Sugar and gold at the Junior World Pastry Championship as the coach of the Italy team. Gold again as coach of the Juniores team in 2016 and in the same year Gold Medal at the World Pastry Championship in Paris, Mondial des arts sucrés, again as coach of the Italy team. The latest award, in 2020, is the world sugar Oscar, the Sucre d'Or, which is a band that Malizia will wear for at least ten years, just like its predecessors.

In short, this Italian pastry chef is one who, although he learned to master the technique of artistic sugar processing from the French, nevertheless surpassed the masters, or at least equaled them, both as an artist and as a coach. It took hours and hours of laboratory training, gritted teeth and iron tenacity to do so. In 2015 Davide Malizia founded Aromacademy, the pastry academy in Rome where he teaches this ancient technique to the new generation of pastry.

Technique and style: the secrets of Malizia

But be careful, because to become the best tireur you certainly need a great technique, but also style. “It's that extra something that distinguishes a good performer from a true artist and that makes his works truly recognizable,” he admits. Malizia probably had that extra something in her DNA, since, despite being born in Rome, she comes from a family of potters from Caltagirone, a plastic art, which also has some analogy with the processing of artistic sugar. In addition, Davide Malizia reveals a gem: "Do you know the stained glass windows or glasses that break in films, especially action ones? Well, they are almost always made of sugar, worked so that it looks like glass . And the connection with Murano returns strongly.

A rising trend

Windows that break apart, «today, explains the master Malizia, «artistic sugar is gaining ground also in Italy for the decoration of cakes in an important way. For years considered "useless" because the sugar sculptures are not eaten, artistic sugar is finally undermining the most massive sugar paste decorations in the ceremonial market. On the other hand, even cake design decorations are not really edible, unless you want to risk a glycemic spike. They also have a more pasty consistency, while on the contrary the artistic sugar, which is pulled like glass paste, can even be blown, becoming very light. It is therefore time for the gracefulness of plastic sugar, its bold colors and its potential in the creation of real sculptures.

Family recipes: chocolate, raspberries and design – Italian Cuisine

At the home of Lorenza Luti, Kartell Marketing Manager. Where to lay is an art that is handed down from mother to daughter. Here are three summer recipes, from appetizers to desserts, all to be copied (including mise en place)

A table set in an outdoor area surrounded by greenery, Moroccan placemats in white linen, with small black tassels, perfectly ironed and family pieces, from Murano glass glasses to the collection Kartell at the table, made with Patricia Urquiola and the chef Davide Oldani: in the Milanese residence of Lorenza Luti, Marketing & Retail Director of the family business, the Kartell (a piece of Italian design, founded in 1949 by Giulio Castelli, today 850 spaces in the world and 150 flagship stores) triumph in white, black and green, his favorite colors, a certain love for the contemporary and a beautiful family recipe book, started composing since he was 11 and enriched from time to time, like his home "with pieces of life".

In fact, at that age Lorenza became part of the "Fornelline", the baby version of the famous Club del Fornello, of which mother Maria still belongs today "true master of the art of receiving, I learned everything from her" founded in 1981 by journalist and writer Anna Toffoletto, for charity. "Every Thursday I went to Anna's house and learned, with a group of other girls, 1-2 recipes, which we then had to replicate at home for our parents: I remember that my father was a strict judge", laughs the landlady. From that period remains a jealously guarded and enriched notebook over the years. We share a taste of it.

The report and interview with Lorenza Luti in the August 2020 issue of La Cucina italiana.

Catalan lobster salad

«Certainly one of my father and Claudio's favorite recipes (Luti, President of Kartell, ed). We often eat it in the delightful beach restaurants in Forte dei Marmi, where we return every year. So good and simple, it has also entered our summer home-made menus .

Ingredients for 4 people

2 lobsters
4-5 Camone tomatoes
4 carrots
2 white onions
1 red onion
1 leg of celery
basil
salt and pepper
red vinegar
extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

Boil celery, carrots and white onions for about 1 hour, obtaining a vegetable broth. Adjust goes up and add lobsters and lobsters, cooking them for about 10 min.
Once cooked, cut the claws and remove the shell, while the crustaceans are still hot. In the meantime, wash and cut the tomatoes into slices, the red onion and the basil into thin strips. Slice the celery into strips, using the potato peeler. Add the lobster pulp and season everything with emulsified oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Serve lukewarm.

Summer meatloaf

«Light and soft, it is a classic that I learned at the time of“ Le Fornelline ”and it immediately entered the family recipe book. I serve it accompanying it with a roast base, my mother instead, strictly with a sauce of parsley, oil and finely blended salt. To be paired with a seasonal side dish, it should be served warm .

Ingredients for 8-10 people

600 gr cooked chicken breast
500 gr of dry ricotta
200 – 15 slices of raw ham
100 gr chopped cooked ham
2 medium eggs
extra virgin olive oil
salt

Preparation

Blend the chicken and cooked ham in a blender. Incorporate them to the ricotta and mix.
Evaluate the consistency and, with wet hands, give the dough the classic shape of a meatloaf.
Wrap the meatloaf in the slices and then wrap the meatloaf with the slices of raw ham and tied with kitchen string.
Bake in the oven at 180 ° C for about 20 minutes.

Chocolate tart with raspberries

«This dessert combines one of my passions: dark chocolate and raspberries, which are my favorite fruit. It is the dessert of parties, birthdays. In short, special occasions .

For the tart

300 gr flour
150 gr butter
150 gr sugar
1 egg + 2 yolks
1/2 sachet of baking powder
1 sachet of vanillin

Method

Working the ingredients. Spread in a high-sided cake pan, bake in a hot oven at 180 ° C for about 10 minutes, then remove from the oven, let it cool and prepare the mousse.

For the chocolate mousse

500 gr mascarpone
150 gr of dark chocolate
130 gr sugar
2 eggs
1 yolk

Method

Whip the sugar with eggs and yolk. Add the mascarpone and continue to whip.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and, when it has just cooled, add it to the cream without removing the mixture.
Transfer the mousse to the tart and continue cooking for 20 minutes. Let it cool down.

For the dark chocolate topping

250 g of granulated sugar
180 g of water
110 g of bitter cocoa
10 g of lemon juice (1 tablespoon)
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract or the seeds of a berry
salt

Method

In a saucepan, pour the water, sugar and a pinch of salt, put on the stove and bring to a boil. When it boils, add the lemon juice and cocoa, mix well to prevent lumps, add the vanilla extract or the seeds of a vanilla bean (or vanillin).
Simmer for 5 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly, continue cooking until the mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Let it cool down.
Pour the cream on the tart and complete with fresh raspberries.

Panettone is an art: here are those of design – Italian Cuisine

Good? Also beautiful. Here are the most beautiful panettone of 2019. Those with design packaging or more elaborate sugar decorations. Because even the eye wants its part, even at Christmas

There are those who have ended up at the museum, those who make themselves packaged as street-artists, those who celebrate Leonardo da Vinci's 500 years and those who dress panettone as a high-fashion dress. Panettone is the sweet of the moment and is now more than ingredients and workmanship, it has its own artistic and communicative expression. It must be good, of course, but to convey its peculiarity and its value it needs an adequate image, which knows how to enhance the content.

"As long as the product is quality and you don't sell the box with a panettone inside," he explains Dario Loison, confectionery entrepreneur pioneer of communication. "First of all we need to start from the product, and a product of Made in Italy cannot but combine the quality of the raw materials with the quality of the design". They in a small laboratory in the province of Vicenza were true forerunners. "While the market offered either industrial boxes or handmade packaging, we valued design, accessories and innovation. The satin fold of our bows is inspired by Ferragamo ". Big, big and a river full of energy and words, it started among the first to reach abroad, where today it exports 50% of its production. “Merit of my wife Sonia, who is now her own brand, Sonia Design, and who signs the aesthetics and research of our packaging. We have not suffered it as a duty, but given an opportunity, without the value of the box ever exceeding the value of the product. We make panettone, not boxes! ".

Here are the most beautiful of 2019, also good to eat

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