Dear {NOMEUTENTE}From Tuesday till Thursday last week, the tenth edition of PizzaUp took place in Milan. The annual event was organised by Molino Quaglia for nine years in their headquarters in Vighizzolo d’Este, Padua, and it doubled on this occasion. This first trip abroad will be followed by a new event in Vighizzolo in February.
People never speak enough of quality, so events like this are welcome. They contribute in creating new generations of pizza chefs and protagonists who sometimes are not so young but are experienced professionals who at one point chose to take a turning point and approach new ideas that will allow them to increase the quality of their products.
Training is essential and this should also apply to communication. In October a peculiar event happened. I won’t say where as there was nothing to complain about the pizzas served, so much so the restaurant will be included in the Guida di Identità Golose 2017. I was surprised by something else. At the end of the lunch, I asked if I could take away the menu. There were too many pizzas for me to copy the list, and taking pictures was uncomfortable. No, it was not possible, they said: «We don’t even have it online».
Jealousy? Who knows. If a competitor pays a visit to copy, he’ll take his notes and will certainly have no problem repeating this or that. So who’s affected? Normal clients, press, bloggers. And why? When they post the pizzas on social networks or write about them on a magazine this inevitably means advertising, so why say no? It’s an unsolved mystery.
Paolo Marchi |
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PizzaUp: history and future PizzaUp ten years ago represented a sign of encouragement for all catering professionals, starting from us, inducing us to start a journey of quality in terms of ingredients, techniques and communication so as to release a great part of Italian pizza from junk food and become an example of a dish that is both popular, tasty and healthy. This starting from two basic ingredients without which there would be no pizza: flour and yeast.
Thinking back, ten years later, that task could only be taken by a mill, and with a pinch of pride I’d say it could only be taken by Molino Quaglia, which was already the only one in Italy that could put together a meticulous selection of wheat from the field, the presence of an established kneading and leavening school and the most advanced technology in Europe applied not only to wheat stone milling, but most of all to absolute decontamination from mould and natural toxins that are very dangerous for human health.
Later, edition after edition, PizzaUp condensed the enthusiasm of new pizza chefs who, having come into contact with the event and attending the activities organised by Università della Pizza throughout the year, made the messages and techniques learnt concrete, building together with us an alternative to "soulless pizza" and adopting the rules of the Manifesto della Pizza Italiana Contemporanea, written and shared by the most influential Italian wine and food journalists in the 2012 edition.
PizzaUp’s tenth anniversary thus arrives at a historic time, different from when it was born: today Italian contemporary pizza has a very precise look, as proven by the endless imitations, which once again “lack in soul”, of those who misappropriate labels and words so as to identify themselves and their products as gourmet without really understanding the basic idea and sharing the attention to real high quality research.
This is why PizzaUp will follow a double track this year: a version open to all, which is to spread the rules of pizzerias that want to acquire the same dignity as the best examples in Italian cuisine, starting from Dubai.
And a second version, scheduled on 15th and 16th February 2017, at Università della Pizza in Vighizzolo d'Este, reserved to our Petra Selected Partners, to get them involved in the continuous process of technical and technological development of our school, urging them to become an example of high quality in the world of Italian contemporary pizza.
Piero Gabrieli |
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All the speakers at PizzaUp 2016 in Dubai To celebrate its tenth anniversary PizzaUp chose a location abroad, in Dubai, with an essential topic, What is the future for Italian pizza?, after living mother yeast (2007) and the meeting of pizza with fine dining (2016), passing through the Manifesto della Pizza Italiana Contemporanea(2012). In the Emirates it summoned the best protagonists in the Italian art of pizza, together with international professionals. Because if you question the future, you have to be ready to a wider view, which you can only enjoy from a prestigious stage, open to the most varied and contemporary contaminations.
Here is the complete programme, but it’s worth stressing the most important aspects. For instance Paolo Marchi coordinated a debate on Pizza as a model of simplicity – The search for yeast and dough to balance taste and digestibility with the participation of our Renato Bosco, Corrado Scaglione, Nicola Cavallaro, Giovanni Marchetto e Gennaro Nasti, together with Reif Othman of Play in Dubai.
Beniamino Bilali, Massimo Giovannini, Lello Ravagnan, Antonio Pappalardo e Fortunato Ostacolo instead participated with Russel Impiazzi of Galeries Lafayette Le Gourmet in Dubai in the debate on Pizza as a model of lifestyle – Nature in the dish, starting from whole wheat: the answer of artisan pizza to consumers who want to eat well so as to feel good. Then there were Franco Pepe, Simone Padoan, Giulia Miatto and Tony Nicolini, with Gary Rhodes, of Rhode Twenty10 in Dubai discussing Pizza as a model of authenticity – the Italian dilemma: dough and informed selections of origins for an Italian-speaking pizza in the world.
Finally, there were three case histories on The future of the pizza business: with Mario Caramella, patron chef at In-Italy Singapore and Cvci president; Luigi Acciaio, pizza chef and president of Associazione Vera Pizza Gourmet; Gennaro Miele, pizza chef and entrepreneur in China with the La Pizza a Beijing chain.
This on 10th of November while in the previous two days participants were able to interact with The Speciality Food Festival which also hosted the Italian Cuisine World Summit 2016.
CP |
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Peter Brunel’s nikkei non-pizza Many great chefs have recently approached the world of pizza. We lately wrote about Ugo Alciati (here), Moreno Cedroni (here), Nino Di Costanzo(here), Andrea Mattei (here). Peter Brunel is also in this list. His approach, however, is different: he offers a sort of non-pizza, a nikkei pizza, «a concept that starts from different traditions but then blends with made in Italy ingredients».
Brunel knows the lesson of his friend Renato Bosco, «number one when it comes to dough, while Simone Padoan has no match with topping». The base is completely different from the classic one: «Two parts of powdered quinoa and one part of white flour, with almost 50% water. You let it rest, then you cut it out». It is then fried very quickly and later dehydrated in the oven, «it goes in the drier at the moment of serving it», so as to obtain a hot and crispy disc. Below, stressing again the connection with Peruvian tradition, a spiral of cream made with an emulsion of white corn: a game of soft and crunchy textures.
The topping is made with fresh tuna marinated in a soup of miso, grated raw daikon, red onion and citrus fruit juice, cooked on a high heat «so it recalls the taste of oven baked pizza». Then there’s hot red onion (put in brine with salt, sugar and vinegar, cooked at 85°C for 35 minutes, so as not to break the fibres and keep it crispy), guacamole (a very ripe avocado with lemon juice, seed oil and spices), some more white corn sauce, sweet chilli pepper sauce (boiled with onion, ginger, honey, apple and rice vinegar, then blended and strained). The chef is also studying a new version with sturgeon instead of tuna.
At Borgo San Jacopo Brunel also serves a pizza-pudding, «a totally different concept». He cooks the flour and a vegetal mix (cauliflower or daikon or celeriac), and then processes it in the bimby. They become a base later enriched with celeriac and potato cream, mozzarella, semi-candied tomatoes, blanched squid, marinated scallop, oyster leaves, then seasoned with powdered salicornia. Final step: the broth outside is slightly burnt.
Carlo Passera |
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Rome, at Gazometro 38 young Seu is inspired by the masters  In Ferzan Ozpetek’s Le Fate Ignoranti the Gazometro, also known as the steel colosseum and now an icon of industrial archaeology is the protagonist in many of the most significant frames. The emblem of the Ostiense neighbourhood in Rome inspires the name of one of the most interesting places in the capital, Gazometro 38 (in Via del Gazometro 38, of course). In this metropolitan design setting, on top of serving excellent cocktails and dishes, they also serve high quality pizza thanks to young Pier Daniele Seu, winner of the Pizza Chef Emergente d’Italia 2016.
A self learned pizza chef, he started by chance – he didn’t want to work with his father – and thanks to his love for Mastro Titta, a pub with wood oven also known as the “restaurant for restaurateurs” as it’s one of the few places in Rome where you can eat until 4 in the morning. It is here that Pier Daniele learnt the ropes, and came into contact with many great chefs, such as Davide Scabin and Antonino Cannavacciulo, and pizza chefs such as Stefano Callegari who initiated him to the world of high quality pizza, encouraging him to study and test colleagues Giancarlo Casa and Gabriele Bonci, and great restaurants.
He got noticed and arrived at Gazometro 38. He works on dough and creates a blend of his own, with a long maturation, made with a mix of stone milled 00 and Type 1 flour, brewer’s yeast and extra virgin olive oil, so as to offer a crispy Roman pizza but with Neapolitan style bubbles», cooked in a gas oven.
Thanks to the collaboration with some chefs such as Marco Claroni of Osteria dell’Orologio in Fiumicino, he learns to balance ingredients and creates unconventional toppings that are nonetheless based on simplicity: «I believe it’s very important to respect seasonality, so much so our menu changes four times per year. I also try not to exaggerate with the seasoning, and alternate always three basic ingredients that include a fat, a vegetal and a protein component».
The Tutte le cose che non mi piacevano da bambino pizza is an example of this. It’s a contemporary take on pizza boscaiola where he adds sausage from Mangalica, scamorza, a drop of persimmon and berberè sauce to the oven baked porcini and the chanterelle mushrooms, ingredients he only appreciated as an adult as «palate changes».
The menu at Gazometro 38 is divided into white pizzas, red pizzas, focaccias and pizze38 (or special) in an interesting mix full of simplicity and creativity, research and excellent raw materials, fantasy and tradition.
Tania Mauri |
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Berberè Milano: wow! And now Aloe arrives in London too In the photo by Tanio Liotta, the pizza with Fiaschetto tomatoes from Torre Guaceto, capers from Salina, fiordilatte, oregano, basil and pepper tasted a few days ago in the new Berberè Milano, fifth restaurant in the series after Castel Maggiore, Bologna, Florence and Torino. The result is the same: excellent.
The toppings are perfect, but what strikes you the most is the dough, including the day special, in our case made with spelt, S. Daniele Prosciutto, burrata, oil aromatised with oranges, fiordilatte.
The arrival in Milan of new high quality pizzerias thus continues, but Londoners are soon to rejoice too: Radio Alice is opening in December, a project brothers Matteo and Salvatore Aloe will run in the British capital. The name is a tribute to Bologna and the radio emblem of the underground culture in the Seventies.
The new place will open early in December at 16 Hoxton Square and was born thanks to the meeting with Emma King, an Australian friend who’s been living in London for a few years now, the co-founder of Gail’s Artisanal Bakery and now the marketing manager of the new restaurant. She convinced the Aloe brothers to export their pizza to the UK. The location for the pizzeria will be and old school in Hoxton Square, in the heart of Shoreditch, one of the liveliest and most dynamic neighbourhoods in town thanks to artists and designers. Radio Alice will present a menu with the same pizzas that have made the success of Berberè: long maturation, seasonal ingredients, use of living mother yeast and of semi-whole wheat.
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In Romagna Marco Farabegoli’s Roman-style pizza «We wanted to make something different, not the usual pizza you eat around here: thick, soft and spongy» says Marco Farabegoli, born in 1973, telling about the birth of pizzeria Da Neo “number one”, still open in Cesena and run by his family. The Farbegolis were and are famous in town, «I started working at 18 as a butcher, because we had a grocery store and three butchers’ with other partners».
In 1993 came the first turning point: they closed the shop and opened a pizzeria between the stadium and the hospital with a different concept. «A friend suggested we speak with Angelo Iezzi, a historic pizzaiolo and the first promoter of Roman-style baking tin pizza. He showed us a new dimension and we decided to make that style our own».
The second turning point in 2009, when Marco Farabegoli decided to leave his family and work solo, opening his restaurant in Gambettola, 10 km away (Via del Lavoro 1, tel. +39.0547.653833). The name? “Pizza Da Neo", because his father’s name – Neo – is a famous local brand from the years of the grocery shop, with a 30-year long history, the SuperConad Da Neo.
Da Neo “number two” has a similar type of pizza, «but pays even greater attention to quality. Not that they use bad ingredients in Cesena, quite the contrary. But I only choose absolute excellences», a gourmet change that followed Farabegoli’s meeting with Renato Bosco: «I met him some 10 years ago, when he was less famous than today. Those at Molino Quaglia put us in contact because I wanted to meet someone who could teach me something». Mission accomplished: from that moment on, research has grown more and more.
Today at Da Neo in Gambettola Farbegoli offers a dough made with Petra 1 mixed with 5-10% Petra 9, «I make the poolish, I don’t use mother yeast, I believe Roman-style baking tin pizza doesn’t need any». It leavens for around 36 hours, then electric oven.
The challenge is offering this different pizza in a town with 13 thousand inhabitants and «14 traditional pizzerias. It’s not always easy. Besides, I never make compromises when it comes to topping. For instance, I’d never put French fries». On the contrary, he adds the best produce he can find in the market, according to season, «and though for instance I always use tomatoes, I pay attention to buy Sicilian ones and not Spanish».
The seasoning offer is tempting and changes all the time: cooked cabbage, mustard seeds and crispy pancetta from Prague, or Fried rapini with chilli pepper, sausage and mozzarella «a typically Roman variation».
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Emiliano Aureli knows what he wants A pizzeria with a view. We’re talking of La Taverna dei Corsari (Via Vittorio Veneto 10, tel. +39.0765.279279), in Montopoli Sabina, in the province of Rieti. The slang term for the local people is “corsari”, perhaps because of the proud, brave and even bully personality of their ancestors. Now: Emiliano Aureli, young pizzaiolo at the above mentioned Taverna, is a corsaro who knows where he wants to go.
His parents made “real classic Roman pizza baked in a tin” and he’s born with his finger in the pie. Ten years ago he takes an important decision: he takes the opportunity to buy a pizzeria in a beautiful place that the local authorities had just renovated in the historic centre of Montopoli, between the ancient tower and the abbey of Farfa, with an incredible panoramic terrace.
Emiliano’s ideas are clear: pizza served in a plate, stone-milled flour and local ingredients. This is made sounder by the meeting with Petra flour and Università della Pizza in Vighizzolo which allows him to learn new techniques with flour and dough, on top of being able to share his experience with many colleagues.
He thus begins “to play” with Petra 1, Petra 3 and Petra 9 mixing them or using them by themselves, creating four or five blends with long leavening, cooked in the electric oven and then topped with the best local produce, starting from the excellent extra virgin olive oil from Sabina.
His menu changes according to season, though always keeping “great classics” such as Margherita with a crispy Petra 1 base, peeled tomato, fiordilatte and basil, as well as some special toppings (such as Red prawn, gallona peach form Sabina, mint and burrata).
For a very autumny pizza, before it gets really cold and icy, he’s invented a topping with local wild herbs (wild carrots and rapini, caccialepri, pimpinella, crespigna, wild hop …) seasoned with extra virgin olive oil, garlic and anchovies, all added after the cooking on a base with tomato sauce (a blend of Petra 3 and 9) to which he adds, at the end, drops of ‘nduja and a sprinkle of pecorino sabino.
TM |
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The Delli Poggi are doing well at Charlie in Orvieto In the historic centre of Orvieto there’s pizzeria Charlie (Loggia dei Mercanti 14, tel. +39.0976.3344766), established in 1989 by the Delli Poggi brothers, who were born in the business as their parents opened a tavern selling pizza baked in baking tins back in 1978. Located in the majestic Torre Polidori, with a garden and a courtyard surrounded by ancient walls, the pizzeria gradually became a point of reference for pizza (open only in the evening. Closed on Mondays).
It is family run, and today it’s managed by Stefano, sommelier and dining room manager, his brother Claudio, an expert pizzaiolo, and William, the 25-year-old son of the latter who for two years now has been working beside his father at the oven.
Claudio was born a self-trained pizzaiolo and then attended the courses of the Scuola Italiani Pizzaioli in Caorle (Venice) and in 2011 arrived at Università della Pizza and discovered a world that changed his profession for good: being a pizzaiolo is not just about improvising but it’s a journey of research, understanding and sharing.
Having signed the “Manifesto della pizza italiana contemporanea”, today he presents two blends with mother yeast and Petra flour for different pizzas: a classic Neapolitan in two versions, one with Petra 1 flour and 10% Petra 9, the other completely whole wheat with Petra 9; cut in slices, or made in a small pan, thicker, also with the first blend of Petra 1 flour and 10% Petra 9.
Even the ingredients for the topping come from an accurate research: he studies the characteristics of the product, for instance he has two different types of fiordilatte which he uses in different ways depending on the pizza, so on the classic “red” pizza he uses cheese from Monti Sibillini which is more humid and wet, while on the “white” pizzas he uses fiordilatte from Agerola which is drier.
Paying attention to seasonality, he offers a couple of daily specials such as, upon our latest visit, Pumpkin cream, fior di latte from Agerola, white stewed onion and pancetta in the classic white version and Sesame focaccia with fried broccoli and sausage, a traditional must, even though the pizza that represents 50% of the sales is Burrata, Parma prosciutto and Petrilli organic tomato.
Among typical starters, salads and cheese, the plate desserts and the panettone with raisins and homemade candied fruit stand out. They’re made with Petra flour and mother yeast. You can take them out or eat them paired with some cream and a glass of wine.
TM |
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Ciro Oliva, the young face of Neapolitan pizza Born in 1992, Ciro Oliva is an erupting volcano. Partly by character, partly because representing, at such a young age, one of the new faces of Neapolitan tradition looking at the future must be exciting, «I sensed that pizza as a product must be enhanced in terms of excellence, emphasised through dough, flour, raw materials and research, creativity, passion at the service of consumers. I don’t deny tradition. It’s the base of pairings that are sometimes irreverent, elegant, following a philosophy based on quality».
What’s nice is that this happens in the heart of Naples, as Ciro, fourth generation of pizza chefs, the son of Antonio, who’s little over 40, is the designated heir of Concettina ai Tre Santi, that is to say he has the purest Neapolitan roots: the pizzeria was established in 1951 thanks to Concettina Flessigno. Like many women in popular neighbourhoods in Naples, Concettina first began to make pizze a credito, “ogge a otto” (that is to say “eat today, pay in eight days”), so as to contribute to the family finances. She did so outside the ground floor, with a table to roll out and season the dough, and a large pot with sizzling oil. This in the famous/infamous Rione Sanità.
Jump ahead in time: a couple of years ago, together with his father, Ciro decided to run the family restaurant towards new gourmet pizza frontiers. The success arrived also thanks to a format based on a dough made following the rules of the most traditionally delicious Neapolitan pizza, using very simple ingredients: water, salt, brewer’s or mother yeast and flour. 12-14n hours of leavening in the summer, 20-24 hours in the winter. Accurately selected raw materials. It’s no coincidence that Ciro is part of Alleanza Slow Food, a network of chefs who defend food biodiversity around the world.
In a recent tasting in Milan, we had the chance to taste some classic pizzas, some special and some new ones: the Vedova (with celery, goat’s milk cacioricotta from Cilento, red smoked salmon from Alaska and pink grapefruit), Genovese Tricolore (with caramelised onion from Montoro, beef, smoked provola with Piedmontese chestnut honey, 99% dark chocolate, pecorino bagnolese irpino matured 12 months, basil and extra virgin olive oil) and Doni della Natura (with preserved apricots from Vesuvius, 67% dark chocolate and pecorino bagnolese matured 12 months).
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The chef from Alto Adige who’s charming Siracusa Friedrich Schmuck is from Bressanone in Alto Adige. He has lived in Rome and makes good pizza on Sicilian ground. This unique professional has an across-the-board profile. He opened Piano B (the name says it all), in Isola di Ortigia, in the heart of beautiful Siracusa (Via Cairoli 18, tel. +39.0931.66851).
His passion for baking was born after a past in the tourism industry. By meeting Molino Quaglia and attending Università della Pizza, he discovered the world of Petra flour. He thus took a new journey with different, light and highly digestible dough blends, and toppings that express the best Italian excellences, with particular attention to Lazio and Sicily.
«Something is changing here on the island too, in terms of pizza: people start to understand that what you put on top is not the only important thing, but the dough supporting it is even more important. I’ve always loved Roman pizza, which is crispy and thin; today instead I prefer the thick one served in slices, which allows you to appreciate the texture and deliciousness of the base» explains Schmuck.
Every day his menu offers four types of dough: a dough made with Petra 1 and 9 with poolish for the shovel; a direct dough of Petra 1 and 9 for classic pizzas or round with a thick edge; a 100% whole wheat dough with Petra 9 for pizzas in slices; and finally the rolled out one with hydrolysis. On Wednesday there’s another option too: a dough made with spelt. Clients choose their preferred dough and match it with the most suitable topping.
The favourite pizza? Nebrodi, of course, with smoked provola, stewed leek, potatoes and pork jowl from black Nebrodi pigs added after the baking.
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Franco Pepe’s new pizza inspired by Pietro Zito “Travelling means returning richer”. Surely this quote by Luis Sepúlveda has inspired Franco Pepe when he visited chef Pietro Zito at restaurant Antichi Sapori in Andria in August. Paolo Marchi had recommended a visit and Pepe was struck by the pasta with tomato compote made by the Apulian chef. Back in Caiazzo, he couldn’t get this magnificent dish out of his mind and decided to use it as inspiration for a new pizza, asking the help of his friend Nino Di Costanzo (find out about their relationship here).
This is how La Scarpetta is born, a pizza with an intense flavour on which some fiordilatte and Grana Padano matured 12 months are added to the baked disc, and then Pepe adds his compote of tomatoes – after baking – made with a cold blend of three tomatoes and various aromatic herbs – and then Grana Padano 24 months and basil flowers or lyophilised basil in the winter (the latter was a suggestion of chef Giuseppe Iannotti).
Sweet and savoury flavours and contrasts follow one another in this easy to like pizza which Franco serves cut into slices and recommends you eat with your hands, so you can then use the edge of the pizza to collect the leftover tomato. Another good reason to visit Pepe in Grani; but then Caiazzo is a more and more delicious destination even for other reasons, as we wrote here.
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La Gatta Mangiona dinner event with Identità Golose on 21st November Another event totally dedicated to pizza within Le Tavole di Identità Golose: it’s set for Monday 21st November at restaurant Bioesserì in Milan. After Enzo Coccia, Renato Bosco and Franco Pepe, the protagonist will be Giancarlo Casa of the famous pizzeria La Gatta Mangiona in Rome.
The menu includes Pizza with endive and salted codfish (Bioesserì), Hop! Hop! Margherita (La Gatta Mangiona), Pizza Agro Romano, primo sale cheese, late tomatoes, puntarelle with garlic and anchovies (La Gatta Mangiona), Pizza Ri-cotta alla carbonara (La Gatta Mangiona), Persimmon semifreddo with vanilla sauce and hazelnut mousse (Bioesserì), and finally an excellent Lavazza coffee
The price is 40 euros including paired drinks. For reservations call 800.825.144 (from Monday to Friday from 9.30 am to 6 pm) or Bioesserì at tel. +39.02.89071052. |
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