Tag: wins

Martino Ruggieri from Puglia wins two stars in Paris – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

MR: «The goal was to reach the top since we opened and we are happy: we are already thinking not only about how to maintain the second star, but also about how to improve. This is a stage in my career, and it is important that it has arrived for me, for the team (ten people in the kitchen and five in the dining room for around twenty seats), for the future, but having always cooked in large restaurants, including the three stars, allow me to say that if the recognition doesn’t arrive, either you worked badly or you didn’t learn anything. Having said that, immediately after celebrating we started asking ourselves questions about the location and our type of cuisine because we always have to question ourselves in order to improve.”

You worked alongside Yannick Alléno for eight years: do you owe him much?

MR: «Yes. I owe Alléno everything and on stage, during the awards ceremony, I thanked him by telling him “Merci chef”. He replied: “C’est bien, well done, celebrate with dignity”. And then he added: “Yes, I helped you, but you took the two stars.” Alléno taught me a lot, on a technical, professional and human level and also helped me to have the right people at my side in this entrepreneurial adventure. I am one chef patron (owner chef), I don’t have the money of big restaurants, no investors behind it, if the restaurant is full profit, otherwise not. And this recognition was also important for the speed with which we achieved it: it doesn’t happen so often and my colleagues in Tours also pointed this out to me.”

Do you miss not working alongside Alléno anymore?

MR: «I miss the daily comparison, yes, but I’m happy to have a place of my own. I think I took this step at the right time with the correct maturity, experience and age. In this journey it was important to find an identity different from that of Alléno because when you create a cuisine for many years alongside a chef like him you need to differentiate yourself.”

What is the identity of your cuisine?

MR: «It is certainly very creative: I use bitters a lot, I like contrasts, I create a cuisine based on technique and sauces. When you come to eat with us you eat from a chef and by this I mean that there is substance, nothing is superfluous, you don’t find trends. My Italian side is pushed into memories, not in the dishes, I could say in the Mediterranean to summarize the concept of a cuisine that is nevertheless French, courageous, powerful, strong. I’m proud to be Italian, but I don’t seek Italianness at all costs.”

Italy wins the Pastry World Cup in Lyon – Italian Cuisine

Lorenzo Puca, Massimiliano Pica and Andrea Restuccia win the world title in Lyon: for the third time our team takes home a victory … very sweet!

In Lyon the Italian team takes his home third World Cup. According to Japan, France is third. In the ten hours available, the team made up of Lorenzo Puca (team captain and candidate for sugar processing), Andrea Restuccia (pastry chef who in the world past had sculpted ice) e Massimo Pica has achieved, competing with ten other nations: the chocolate dessert to share, the ice cream cake, the restaurant dessert, the 165 cm tall sugar sculpture and, with the same height, a chocolate pièce.

The chocolate dessert to share (ph Sirah)

"This world championship – comments the team coach Alessando Dalmasso, also president of the Club of the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie Selection Italy – which was thought to be subdued was instead a great competition that saw all the participants not give up despite the pandemic and continue to train to get the best result. Our guys gave their best and proved to be a close-knit, professional team and to work with the heart. We have won, it is an immense joy: today we have written history ”.

The winning desserts

The dessert to share it is developed in layers on a base of shortcrust pastry flavored with vanilla and orange, enriched with a chocolate custard and sponge cake, vanilla diplomatic cream, exotic orange-scented jelly and again by a chocolate diplomat with dripping sauce. For the ice cream cake instead, made as a real “matryoshka” it had a central part made up of a strawberry and raspberry jelly, semifreddo with mascarpone and raspberry, almonds and passion fruit. The innovation was the internal cylinder made with a meringue donut with an exotic compote to divide the sorbet; the dessert was completed with an almond, vanilla and lime ice cream and a base of sponge cake with pistachio, then raspberry and almond. An important part of the competition was also the realization of the restaurant dessert: “This is a discipline where fantasy and freedom are expressed more explicitly. A challenge in which talent is exposed, where the personality of the pastry chef and also his mood can be guessed.

The jury and the first comments

“It is the most magical and ephemeral moment in pastry making”, he comments Jordi Roca, new member of the new jury composed to evaluate the restaurant desserts. In addition to the pastry chef of the El Celler de Can Roca of Girona, other four of his colleagues (Sébastien Vauxion; Brandon Dehan; Giuseppe Amato; Eunji Lee) in addition to three chefs: Glenn Viel, Sang Hoon Degeimbre and the American Dominique Crenn. And with this passage throughout the Pastry World Cup, the pastry chef recognizes the fundamental value he has within the catering system: "You are learning – he comments Giuseppe Amato of the three-star La Pergola in Rome – how important the dish dessert is and identifies a profession. In Italy we were among the first to recognize it, but today there is no workforce, there are no young people who want to follow this dream ”.

As honorary president of the race too Patrick Roger, an artist sculptor of chocolate, who often uses nature and animals as a source of creative inspiration: "I draw from nature, from current events in the world, from my travels. I have my own style, which is expressed through plants, animals and minerals ”, he comments. And just the nature theme led this edition of the competition today chaired by that icon of world pastry that bears the name of Pierre Hermé. Among the innovations, in addition to eliminating the ice sculpture test, there was also a greater attention to the sustainability. “The World Pastry Shop is the reference point for anyone who is committed and responsible in pastry making, at the service of a strong love for food, a vector of emotions. The world of pastry also has an essential role to play, but it must retain its essence: taste, pleasure and love for good food and this by acting better for the environment and the planet, "said Hermé.

Solidarity gastronomy, José Andrés wins the Basque Culinary World Prize – Italian Cuisine

The Spanish-American chef founded the World Central Kitchen association, bringing together chefs from around the world and mobilizing them to provide a global response to different emergency situations

He won the Basque Culinary World Prize 2020 (a sort of "Nobel" for solidarity gastronomy) for his important work with the World Central Kitchen association (WCK), and has already divided the prize in money – 100 thousand euros – among the ten other chefs who deserved special mention.

Solidarity that passes through the kitchen

José Andrés, Spanish-American chef, owner of a restaurant chain in the United States, founded WCK 10 years ago, bringing together chefs from all over the world and mobilizing them to provide a global and collective response to different emergency situations. He has supported political and humanitarian causes, he has cooked for free for disaster victims natural, such as Haiti and Puerto Rico, Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas and forest fires in Australia, has spent years promoting immigration reforms and occupational improvements in the restaurant sector. With the great awareness that the kitchen can be an engine for social change.

During the crisis caused by the pandemic, the WCK association played an important role. When the spread of the coronavirus started to intensify, in March, José Andrés mobilized, both in the United States and in Spain. The WCK managed around 150 solidarity kitchens in 10 cities with the support of local chefs, food banks and the Red Cross. It facilitated access to food in the most troubled regions, provided support to staff dealing with restaurant and bar closures, and incurred government spending on ensure food for the needy.

As the owner of a large chain of restaurants in the United States, José Andrés says that "those who work in the restaurant sector can help revive the economy and at the same time rebuild communities".

We are proud to announce this year's Basque Culinary World Prize 2020 winner is José Andrés @chefjoseandres! Chef José Andrés was chosen for providing a global and collaborative response from gastronomy to the most pressing challenge of our time: COVID-19 pandemic. # BCWP2020 pic.twitter.com/xYJv7Xa8qP

– BCulinaryWP (@BCulinaryWP) July 23, 2020

"After long reflection, we wanted to focus the award on the challenge facing the entire planet due to the coronavirus pandemic," explained the jury president, Joan Roca (El Cellar de Can Roca). «A challenge that chef José Andrés has faced with courage and a titanic effort: his admirable dedication to work, his ability to face humanitarian crises and his current and evident leadership have been a source of inspiration for many people who have joined to the World Central Kitchen initiative worldwide. It is a project that has also made visible the work of the volunteers they have transformed gastronomy into a strong social tool.

Thanks to Andrés' generosity, the winners of the 10 special mentions will also receive 10 thousand euros for their projects. "Each of these people will be able to change the world in many different ways, "explained the chef. "The money will allow each NGO to move forward."