Tag: Guide

Niko Romito, the 2021 Chef Mentor according to the Michelin Guide – Italian Cuisine

The chef wins the award which confirms his commitment to training the young talents of tomorrow. Because as a self-taught he created the school he would have liked to have

Niko Romito has won three Michelin stars, self-taught, in just seven years, breaking a kind of record. His training curriculum is quite short: catapulted into the kitchen for life's cases. He did not go to college and instead of spending years climbing the military hierarchy from the rank of commis, he sat at the university benches. It could have been the worst testimonial of professional training never seen, and instead he created "the school he would have liked to have". Since 2011, the Niko Romito Academy, in football terms, is a nursery of under 35 where you train for a career in Serie A. After exactly 10 years, the commitment to training the chef is rewarded by the 2021 Michelin Guide: the prestigious Michelin Chef Mentor Award 2021, offered by Blancpain.

The Romito system, from haute cuisine to fried chicken

Niko Romito is not a guy who is easily satisfied, thinks big, and with great meaning, scalable and multiplicable in always different catering formats. The kitchen of his Reale restaurant in Castel di Sangro (AQ) is part of a system that goes far beyond the few tables set in the middle of the Abruzzo hills: it is a laboratory of ideas, techniques and research, to be then spread in other forms, without changing the substance. Romito speaks of "drip, A process by which the technical work and the reasoning made at Reale percolate into the rest of the system that brings its brand, towards replicable formats and products that, while expressing a philosophy, have a life of their own. Each project is based on the application of techniques and concepts developed by Romito al Reale, rethought to adapt to a donut like a fried chicken: in the Romitian universe, haute cuisine, widespread catering, higher education and products for domestic consumption coexist. There are Spazio restaurants, those of the Bulgari Hotels in Beijing, Shanghai and Dubai, the Alt taste station, the Bomba street food format and the Nutritional Intelligence project in partnership with La Sapienza University and the hospital menu production chain.

STUDENTS-IN-ACADEMY-NIKO-ROMITO_francesco.fioramonti-exam2019NRF-005-copia-2

The Academy, the forge of human capital

How to handle all this? In Rivisondoli, 688 inhabitants in the province of L'Aquila, since 2011 young promises of catering have occupied the classrooms of theNiko Romito Academy. Sixteen students per course, thirty-two students a year, which generates human capital (Romito is a failed economist) for the group's restaurants and projects, and at the same time spreads an approach with building its own culinary language. After six months of immersive training we leave for a six-month internship, in one of the great's satellites widespread project by Romito. The rates of occupation post graduate students are Bulgarian majority. Hence the decision to entrust him with the prestigious award, with this motivation: «Niko Romito is an example of tenacity and energy and proposes a cuisine whose fundamental trait is the purity of flavors. The young chefs who work alongside him or who attend his school assimilate his philosophy, capture its essence with the aim of giving continuity to his method by customizing it to become great chefs and, in many cases, even young entrepreneur chefs! ".

Gluten-free flours: a small guide – Italian Cuisine

Everything you need to know about gluten-free flours, from production to use, up to the organoleptic characteristics

For those who are celiac or intolerant, find your way around the world of gluten-free flours it's not always easy. We asked for help from an expert, Aurore Ranchon, Head of Corporate Product Development Gluten Free at Dr. Schär, a company specializing in gluten-free products.

Swallowed flour and gluten-free flours: how can we define them?

"The term "swallowed”Refers to raw materials containing gluten, such as wheat or thebarley, from which gluten was eliminated during the production process. For example, this is the case of swallowed wheat starch. The case of our gluten-free flours is different: these are blends of naturally gluten-free ingredients. They contain flours like those of corn, rice, but also sorghum, linen or buckwheat, to which other ingredients are added (starches, vegetable fibers, thickeners) which allow to optimize the functional and sensory characteristics to obtain final products similar to those containing gluten .

How is gluten-free flour made?

«A recipe is developed to find the best combination of ingredients, the most suitable to be processed in such a way as to obtain the desired final result (bread, biscuits, cakes, etc.). The product is then brought to the production line. The process is relatively simple and consists of mixing of the various components, and therefore in the dosage in packs of 500g / 1kg. During the process, all the important steps for ensuring food quality are performed, such as sieving to check for the absence of foreign bodies and checking with a metal detector to ensure the absence of metal residues ".

What nutritional characteristics do these flours have compared to "normal" wheat flour?

"During the development of the product, the nutritional profile is evaluated in order to get as close as possible to that of a wheat flour, through the choice of a mixture of ingredients that brings fiber, protein and nutrients in a balanced way. The characteristics are therefore mostly similar to the traditional product, although depending on the reference of flour there may be differences (for example more fiber, or less protein than the equivalent "glutinous") .

It is said that gluten-free flour is more digestible: is it true?

“This kind of claim has to be supported by scientific evidence and we are working in this direction to understand if there are concrete differences with gluten-containing products. However, it is easier to refer this type of analysis to a final product (for example pizza, bread or pasta) than to the flour itself, as the ingredients added during the final processing play an important role (for example fats, eggs, milk, fruit, etc.) ".

What are the organoleptic characteristics, taste and yield, of this flour compared to the others?

«The different gluten-free flours proposed by Dr. Schär are developed to meet specific needs of the finished product. With this in mind we can say that the organoleptic characteristics of the finished products are very similar to those of the consideration cooked with wheat flour. The work of developing and creating the recipe is done with regular comparison with the gluten-containing product in order to select the most suitable blend of ingredients .

In the kitchen, can gluten-free flour be used as a "normal" wheat flour or are there any special instructions to follow?

«In general, considering the concepts expressed above, we try to be able to use the same recipes that are used for a traditional product. It is however recommended to follow recipes dedicated to gluten-free, as it may be important, especially for some more delicate products, to balance the proportions of the other ingredients to obtain the best result. For example, a difference of water absorption gluten-free flours due to both the absence of gluten and the presence of fiber, and it is right to take it into consideration to have a dough of the right consistency ".

Six Italians at the top of the world guide of "green" restaurants – Italian Cuisine

Good news from the most important specialized guide in the world: for the "We're Smart Green", our country makes good vegetarian or vegan cuisine. Awarded the Lume di Taglienti as best local, 31 recommendations from one to five radishes for our green restaurants

We have always had the certainty that the greater attention to vegetables by almost all Italian chefs not only met with increasing consensus from the public, but had raised the general level of Italian cuisine. Now the applause also comes from guide We're Smart Green which rewards restaurants in which the creative use of seasonal vegetables prevails, the percentage of fruit and vegetable dishes on the menu, the minimization of waste and in general a strong focus on eco-sustainability. The idea came from the Belgian chef Frank Fol, former owner of the starred restaurant Sire Pynnock and now "green consultant": reviews the places around the world recommended for their approach to garden products. The 2020 edition, recently presented online, has 964 in 43 countries on five continents. And Italy made a big leap forward in the ranking. There are six clubs who captured five radishes – the top – and another 25 were ranked one to four.

Piazza Duomo in fourth place

There is a fact that is particularly pleasing. In the list there are historical or trendy names of our cuisine, but also lesser-known places, in the province or managed by enthusiasts who are not part of the "good circuit". In the top ten there are obviously Piazza Duomo in Alba led by Enrico Crippa (Green Award in the 2019 edition and fourth overall) e Joia (which in 2018 had won the Best Veggie Restaurant Award and tenth) by maestro Pietro Leemann in Milan. But also two other Italian candidates for the awards (The Madernassa in Guarene with the young Michelangelo Mammoliti to lead the kitchen, and the Montali Country House in Tavernelle di Panicale, in the province of Perugia). «Although they have not won, they perfectly reflect the philosophy Think vegetables! Think fruits! of the We're Smart Awards ", explained Franck Pol. Also awarded Luigi Taglienti, who received the recognition Best Vegetable Restaurant of Country together with twelve other illustrious colleagues, selected for as many countries. Too bad that his local, Lume in Milan, has not yet reopened its doors. The last "five radishes" is the very classic Arnolfo in Colle Val d’Elsa, led by Gaetano Trova, in 21st position.

All radishes

Here are the other winners. With four radishes: Il Margutta (Rome), St. Hubertus (San Cassiano, Bz), Krèsios (Telese Terme, Bn), La Montecchia (Selvazzano Dentro, Pd), Villa Feltrinelli (Gargnano, Bs). With three radishes: Avignonesi Le Capezzine (Valiano di Montepulciano, Si), Le Calandre (Sarmeola di Rubano, Pd), Exki Italy (it is a chain), I Portici (Bologna), Accursio (Modica, Rg). With two radishes: Osteria Le Logge (Siena), Osteria Perillà (Rocca d'Orcia, Si), Sadler Restaurant (Milan), Taverna Vesuviana (Nola, Na), Villa Crespi (Orta San Giulio, No), Chi Burdlaz Garden (Rimini), From Gorini (San Piero in Bagno, Fc), The National (Vernante, Cn), The Poor Devil (Poggio Torriana, Rn), The Vegetarian (Florence), Magnolia (Cesenatico, Rn). With a radish: La Grotta (Montepulciano, Si), Osteria La Porta (Monticchiello di Pienza, Si), Seta del Mandarin Oriental (Milan), Al Fornello da Ricci (Ceglie, BR).

# 1 is in Luxembourg

Finally, also mark the three best green restaurants on the planet, according to the guide: the Luxembourgish The Distillerie of the patron Rene Mathieu ("A pioneer of natural cuisine who knows how to tastefully evoke the ingredients of the fields and woods around Château Bourglinster", the motivation of the guide), the Belgian Vrjmoed in Gent with chef Michaël Vrijmoed and the Dutch Bord'eau in Amsterdam, led by Bas van Kranen.