QUALITALY_131

October/November 202 2 V MAGAZINE knows what result he will achieve. What is more, cooking is an even higher art form because it tickles many senses. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A YOUNG PERSON WHO WANTS TO ENTER THE WORLD OF COOKING? I would tell them that this profession is made up of hard work and continuous study and that without passion it doesn’t work. I would tell them to study, to get a diploma, not necessarily at hotel management school, or to learn a language. After school I would advise them to go to a restaurant and learn through work what cooking is really like, the real life of a restaurant. Only at this point, in my opinion, is the right time to attend one of the excellent culinary training schools that are out there. It is not enough to come out of one of them to know how to be a cook, if you lack the background that only working in a kitchen can give you. WHAT ADJECTIVES WOULD YOU USE TO DESCRIBE YOUR CUISINE? The first is inclusive. My cuisine tries to please everyone, to fuse tastes from distant lands with local ingredients, to broaden horizons. I was in Japan for a cultural exchange and my cuisine is contaminated by the tastes I got to know on this trip. Then I would say balanced and practical. It is very difficult for me to make an extreme dish: too sweet, extremely acidic... I always try to find a balance. WHAT INGREDIENTS ARE A MUST IN YOUR KITCHEN? There must always be meat, certain types of fish, game, poultry... The menu has to be built with a focus on the region, but keeping up with market fluctuations to be able to offer dishes at the right price. For example, my menu has never lacked duck leg or goose leg cooked at low temperature. Today, because of the bird flu, the prices of these ingredients have risen a lot and I am considering what to do. Then there are the spices, even those far removed from Mediterranean tradition, which allow me to make my cooking more inclusive. Apart from the ingredients, there can never be a shortage of vacuum- packing bags: I love this cooking technique very much as it allows the ingredient to be respected and enhanced to the maximum. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE SALSOCARNI AS YOUR SUPPLIER? I have known them for 30 years. I appreciate their professionalism, reliability and competence. I buy about half of the ingredients I use from them, especially meat. I have a lot of confidence in them, even in the management of the economic and commercial aspects of our relationship. There is mutual honesty and transparency. __________________________________ RECIPE SEGOVIA PORK BELLY - potato millefeuille, lemon-scented marinated vegetable shanghai, sweet and sour sauce Ingredients for 4 persons • 1 suckling pig belly, • 1 60x30 cm vacuum cooking bag, • 2 celery stalks, • 2 large carrots, • 2 white onions, • 1 daikon, • 6 potatoes, • 2 red peppers, • 1 natural lemon to finish the dish with a grating of peel, • salt, • sugar, • pepper, • chilli, • oil, • vinegar, • melted butter QB Belly Marinate the belly with balanced salt, cook it at 78°C for 12 hours or 82°C for 10 hours, divide it into two cubes of about 80 g each. Lightly flour them and fry them in plenty of boiling oil Vegetables Cut celery, carrots, onions, daikon into thin strips with a mandoline and marinate them in olive oil, vinegar and salt Potato millefeuille Using the mandoline, slice the potatoes very thinly and season with salt, pepper The Chef with his wife Daniela Bertozzi, sommelier Chef Strinati with his staff. From left to right: Dario Degermeni, Gianluca Bosono, Chef Simone Strinati and Michele Filiberti