What is it?
Italy's greatest gift to modern gastronomy,
the three Michelin-starred, Modena-
based chef Massimo Bottura of the former
number one restaurant in the world
Osteria Francescana follows up his 2014
book Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef
with a compendium of recipes from his
charitable ‹soup kitchen' project Refettoria
Ambrosiano that he created for Expo 2015
in Milan set in Teatro Greco, an abandoned
and restored 1930's theatre. The project
continues to run as a community kitchen for
homeless shelters using waste food from
supermarkets.
What's the usP?
All the dishes in the book were created by
Bottura and dozens of other high profile
chefs from around the world from ‹waste'
food from the Expo including wilted veg,
bruised or over ripe fruit and meat, fish
poultry and diary close to their expiration
date that would otherwise have been
thrown away.
bread is gold
by Massimo Bottura & Friends
Cookbook of the Month
Who are these mysterious 'friends' who
share the author credit?
Massimo is a well connected guy and counts
the likes of Alain Ducasse, Rene Redzepi,
Daniel Humm and Ferran and Albert Adria
among his many mates (more than 45 chefs
have contributed to the book).
.
if refettoria Ambrosiano is a soup
kitchen, am i getting 400-odd pages of
soup recipes?
Not quite. There are a dozen or so soups
and broths including Redzepi's Burnt Lime
soup and Fish Soup with Bread Gnocchi by
Antonia Klugmann from L'Argine a Vencó
restaurant in Italy, but the 150 recipes cover
the usual starters, mains and desserts.
Given the nature of the project -a chef
jetted in for a day and improvised a meal
for a hundred people using whatever
ingredients were to hand - some repetition
of ideas and ingredients is inevitable. So
there's nine meatballs recipes, two for
meatloaf and dozens involving stale bread;
no surprise given the book's title.About that title, bread isn't gold is it?
Otherwise that loaf of sliced white going
mouldy in my cupboard would be worth a
fortune.
It's the name of a Bottura signature dish
created in memory of his late mother and
based on the chef's childhood memory
of eating zuppa di latte or milk soup for
breakfast which he made by grating leftover
bread into a bowl of warm milk with sugar
and a splash of coffee. The recipe, included
in the book, is made from layers of salted
caramel ice cream, caramel bread croutons
and bread and sugar cream topped with a
bread crisp sprinkled with edible gold dust.Why should i buy the book?
Food waste in profession kitchens continues
to be a big talking point and Bottura is
leading the discussion. The provides lots of
inspiration for how to use produce that might
otherwise end up in the bin which means
you're not only doing the world some good,
but it could well help you cut your food costs.
As well as the recipes, it's also a great read
with a one page introduction to each chef,
explaining how they prepared their meals
and telling the story of the project.What won't i like?
At £29.95, you might expect hard covers
and glossy pages. What you actually get is
soft covers and what appears to be recycled,
matt paper which means the images are not
as pin sharp as you might like. However, its
all in keeping with the ‹make do' ethos of
Bottura's Food For Soul charity that Refettoria
Ambrosiano is a part of and to which all
royalties from the book will be donated to, so
you can't really complain.Read more cookbook reviews by Andy Lynes
at cookbookreview.blog
Bread is Gold: Extraordinary Meals with Ordinary
Ingredients by Massimo Bottura and Friends£29.95 available from
http://www.chefpublishing.comby andy Lynes