Respect for tradition, territory, typical and genuine products. This is the tris of adjectives which better describe your cooking style. Where do you take inspiration for always creating and innovating your dishes?
My inspiration comes from the territory. My journey into flavours has its origin and lands in nature. The good products of the earth, the authenticity of the raw material, the genuineness of aromas. This is the emotional tour that my cuisine aims to explore. My inspiration is linked exclusively to art.
The great quality product requires minimal processing and simple enhancement. The excessive treatment of the products alters the flavours and evokes poor quality. The excessive use of scents and herbs changes the taste of the dish and shows low attention to excellence. I chose to follow the natural cuisine style and it worth me the title of “Chef of Nature”.
My Michelin star is the farmer who provides me with the basic ingredients for my dishes. My guarantee mark is the healthiness of products.
Enhancing our regional flavours, together with the attention to superior quality, is a feature that I particularly care about. I am originally from the Marche region and now I live and work in Piemonte. This allowed me to directly experience the incredible richness of the variety and diversity of Italian regional traditions. When I moved to Piemonte, I fully embraced the idea of combining the flavours of my homeland with the typical Piemontese ones. I tried to propose a culinary narration that would combine the typical products of Italy. Each region has an incredible legacy of traditions, typical products, recipes and processing methods that converge in a great variety and richness of Made in Italy. An Italian uniqueness, envied by the whole world.
What does precede your creative culinary activity? What gives you the inspiration to create new ideas?
My creativity in the kitchen is preceded by the research of the genuine raw material that allows me to create better and better dishes. I am also a lover of natural and good food. I am not willing to accept any compromise on the quality of what I eat and what I propose in my menu.
Last week I was in Venice and I had the opportunity to promote my products and the high nutritional value of the food I propose. I tried to combine raw materials from different parts of Italy and, thanks to the constant interaction with others, I managed to create amazing combinations. The comparison is always a fundamental spur to my work and brings great satisfaction. The inspiration of the sharing creates the product, creates the dish, creates ideas.
I am 58 years old and my cuisine in the last few years has had a constant evolution, always trying to meet the high expectations of demanding customers. The international breadth of my business also forces me to continually update to keep up the name of Italian style in the world.
Let’s speak about your passion for cooking
I continually pursue the perfect dish, the quality of taste. This allows me to overcome myself every time and to grow personally and professionally. My passion in the kitchen comes from research and experimentation of the original mix of different tastes. The constant search for the genuine product is the basis of all my collaboration with suppliers, from whom I demand quality assurance.
Ten years ago I created, starting from these values, which inspire my life as much as my kitchen, the registered trademark Made in Alba. This brand is a guarantee of the quality of the edible products that I suggest, of their genuineness, far from chemistry and alteration. The high care I put into researching the raw material is made possible by the collaboration that I have established with the producers that embrace my own values.
The genuine product supplier is my brand ambassador.
An ingredient that can never be lacking in your kitchen?
There are a lot of essential ingredients to make a professional dish. Oil, for example. A good oil is able to make even the simplest dish superlative. It is like the right light for the photographer or the painter: he exalts every image, making it unique.
Flour. For my restaurant, I create a bread to which I dedicate meticulous attention.
Some raw materials are always fundamental to me. In the absence of certain products I struggle to realize the dish. Each ingredient enhances the other in a symphony of flavours for which the note of each instrument is essential. The marriage of the ingredients is an integral part of the construction of the dish’s identity.
However, I would be lost without two fundamental elements that I call “the base”: garlic and oil. Without These I can’t make flavors.
Let’s play a small role game … Which dish would you like to cook as a chef and which dish would you order if you were a customer of your restaurant?
There are two dishes that, in my opinion, should never be lacking in a restaurant’s menu. Traditional dishes that, revisited with a personal touch, make the tasting experience unique. Tomato pasta with oil and parmesan. An amazing dish, extremely simple and excellent. Exalting the uniqueness of simplicity is the real challenge of everyday life.
If I were a customer of my restaurant I would probably try to make a tasting experience as varied as possible in order to perceive the magic of the culinary offer. Spaghetti with guanciale is so good that it should not be missed. I dedicate a lot of attention to raw materials. The meat is produced especially for me without conservatives. I love cooking fish and cuttlefish with artichoke is a perfect wedding. In any case, if I were a customer visiting my restaurant for the first time, I would certainly not miss the chance to try the Alba truffle as a typical product of the area.
The cuisine as a work of art or rather as art brought to the table, what fascinates you most about your work?
What makes the kitchen a work of art is simplicity. Simplicity creates magic. The greatest charm is aroused by the creativity I use to exalt simplicity in quality. It is a job that requires patience, but the achievement of the goal gives great satisfaction. Cooking is a lifestyle for me and requires commitment, study and dedication.
How did your collaboration with Fedegari start? Which element combines your culinary experience with our company?
What connects Bruno Cingolani and Fedegari is the pursuit of quality at any cost. We create and build jewels. The research in my culinary selection is the same that Fedegari employs in the creation of its machines, its technological “jewels”.
The passion that Fedegari adopts in the realization of its solutions is peerless. The recipe for success is selection, waste reduction and attention to superior quality. What makes a Fedegari machine distinguishable at first glance is the same that makes my dishes immediately recognizable: quality and passion.
How would you describe your kitchen with an adjective if you had only one word to do it?
PHOTONICS. Visionary, futuristic, refined. A cuisine according to nature that goes to the maximum and that tries to overcome the boundaries going always further.