Tag: Masterchef

Farina bòna: everything about the “difficult” ingredient of MasterChef 13 – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

What is the good flour? How to use? Last night, on MasterChef, the contestants, in the Golden Mystery Boxthey found an assortment of yellow-colored ingredients: in addition to cheddar cheese, chanterelles, mustard, yellow apple, turmeric, passion fruit and petit pâtisson (or patissone courgette), there was also good flour. Since it is still little knownHowever, the aspiring chefs competing didn’t know exactly how to use it.

What is good flour?

In fact, good flour – a traditional product of the Onsernone Valley, one of the most inaccessible in the Canton of Ticino, a few kilometers from Locarno – remained forgotten for a few decades. Until Ilario Garbani Marcantini, primary school teacher in Intragnatogether with the Onsernonese Museum, has rediscovered and valorised this precious corn flour, which is obtained grinding the toasted grain very finely.

His own story

It is said that the first to produce it was a miller from Vergeletto called Annunziata Terribilinicalled Nunzia, who did with corn (the same that is used for the production of polenta, coming from the Magadino plain) what was traditionally done with rye: a nice roasting in a pan until the beans burst, which he then ground finely to obtain a flour with a unique flavour. Good flour is also characterized by the type of grinding, very fine, thanks to the use of special, smooth millstones, like those of the now ruined mills of Vergeletto.

Once upon a time, farina bòna was part of the diet of the Onsernonesi, who consumed it accompanied with milk, cold or hot, water or wine, or in the form of soup, la poltina. But the change in eating habits after the Second World War progressively reduced the presence of this ingredient. At the end of the 1960s, even the last Onserno miller left his job, and good flour was no longer talked about for a long time. Only in 1991 and 2013 were the Loco and Vergeletto mills restarted and they started grinding it again.

MasterChef 13, who is Alex Atala, the Brazilian star chef – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

He will be a special guest on the new episode of MasterChef Alex Atala, eclectic and exuberant Brazilian chefright now that the time has come for the first skill test of the season.

Who is Alex Atala?

Born to Palestinian parents of Irish descent, he opened his own restaurant in Sao Paulo Sun («Deo Optimo Maximo), which has received two Michelin stars and is in 33rd place among the 50 Best Restaurants of Latin America. As a teenager he was fascinated by punk rock culture and for some time he DJed: the idea of becoming a chef never even crossed his mind.

Once he arrived in Europe, however, he decided to enroll in a cooking school. At first, European cuisine, especially Italian, French and Spanish, did not excite him. «The first time I ate caviar, truffles and foie gras I didn’t like them, he said. And I thought: if here in Europe they enjoy these things, who knows what we can come up with using them the unique ingredients we have in our Amazon rainforest. His European experience has allowed him to acquire a deep knowledge of culinary techniques and ingredients used in international cuisine.

The love of insects

And so, with his wealth of experience and knowledge, when he returned to Brazil, Alex Atala wanted to «translate thatpride in being local which I had learned in Europe, and opened Dom, which quickly gained global fame thanks to its innovative interpretation of Brazilian cuisine, which uses local ingredients in creative and original ways. And yes, even insects, which he has introduced into his gastronomic creations, exploring creative ways to include them in his recipes. He mainly uses Amazonian ants. «When you taste them, you go on a roller coaster, the flavor is of lemongrass and ginger, he explained. «I couldn’t believe it and I fell in love with it. Of course, it’s not easy to look at an ant and put it in your mouth, because we have to dismantle every preconception we grew up with.”

Atala considers insects one protein source nutritionally rich and sustainablewith a lower environmental impact compared to other traditional proteins. One of the chef’s characteristics, in fact, is his great attention to sustainability and environmental conservation: Atala has worked hard with producers and farmers to preserve biodiversity and encourage environmentally friendly agricultural practices.

MasterChef will pay homage to the Amazon with a hymn to the flavors and products of his country. And, just like him, the competitors will each have to be able to compose their own palette and create the right shades of color.

MasterChef 13: 5 mistakes to avoid so as not to be eliminated – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

The preambles are over, and the MasterChef competition has really gotten to the heart of things: last night, for the first time in this new edition of the program, two of the aspiring chefs had to abandon the brigade.

I am Chù and Fiorenzawho put down their apron respectively atInvention Test et al Pressure Test. The twenty-two-year-old student originally from Madagascar (who now lives in Parma), who entered the masterclass thanks to a sponge cake with lemon custard, Chantilly cream and dehydrated lemon peel, in homage to her adoptive father, was not forgiven a head of garlic left whole on the plate (a blue fish with white asparagus on squacquerone sauce). Florencea 31-year-old radiology technician from the province of Naples, has prepared a stuffed pasta seasoned with too much “anger” – as she herself explained to the judges Antonino Cannavacciuolo, Bruno Barbieri and Giorgio Locatelli – which made her lose sight of the harmony of the dish.

But by making mistakes you learn, and this also applies (and perhaps above all) in the kitchen. From the mistakes made by the competitors in these first episodes of MasterChef, we can obtain an instruction manual on which what not to do if you want to stay in the race as long as possible.