The British chef, Sat Bains from his eponymous restaurant in Nottingham, UK followed the charismatic Scabin, speaking of his difficult upbringing and how cooking gave him a life when his parents kicked him out of the house at age 18. Bains' goal at his restaurant to bring something familiar, to do it in a modern way, but without having "lost its soul." The most important thing for him is the ability to still taste the original ingredients of a dish. He says, "The most important word in my gastronomy is flavor and I will sacrifice presentation to get flavor." Bains figures that in his kitchen, he doesn't try to "reinvent" things Rather, his effort is to "re-introduce." Bains talked about sustainability and demonstrated a dish built around mackerel, a "a very under-rated" fish found "in abundance" in the British Isles and a "perfect antidote" to the problems of overfishing as it is a "a beautiful fish with great flavor." Crafting a vibrantly colorful dish, as an homage to Italy, Bains first removed the skin from the fish by brushing it with vinegar. This caused the skin to come off easily after about 15 seconds. He then sears the base of the skin leaving the top raw.He then uses acid from a beet ketchup to counterbalance the oily fat of the mackerel. He covered the mackeral with Lardo di Colonnata. The beet ketchup is layered on the bottom of the plate and topped with several slices of salt-baked beet and fresh, wild horseradish mixed with parsley oil and the lardo topped mackerel. To "add a little bit of luxury" he added some caviar and some croutons "for texture." The idea is to get "some soft, salt, fat, earth and acidity from the whole dish." His second dish was one that he considered to be pure Nottingham, though some of its essential components are also seen in other cultures. For this dish, he "nurtured" beef cheeks by marinating them in Guiness to break down the fibers to make it tender. he paired the cheeks with oysters, reworking a traditional dish for a modern palate. The beef is served with an oyster emulsion, like a raw oyster mayonnaise to get a real flavor of the sea. He took this further by serving it with seaweed from the Kent coast. The dish is meant to be eaten by dragging the beef through the oyster puree combining freshness of vinegar from pickled onions with bitterness of beer. Bains invited a member of the audience up to sample the dish. His final dish showcased the strongly flavored mutton. He braised a salted aged shoulder of mutton in a pressure cooker. He used capers to provide acidity, a combination that has been used in the UK since the 17th century. Playing around with leftover fat, bains made candles from pure mutton fat and lights them while serving the mutton dish so that the diner gets a sense of roasting mutton even before tasting the dish and then they pour the drippings from the candle into the sauce (made with capers and brown butter) to augment the flavor of the dish. The dish is finished with deep-fried capers, shallots and an onion powder, which adds depth and flavor to the dish.
Paolo Lopriore, chef of Il Canto in the Hotel Certosa di Maggiano just outside of Siena, took the Congress theme of "The Luxury of Simplicity" to heart. e preparec two dishes, both based upon few ingredients and presented very simply. The first was a torn piece of freshly made, crusty bread with a bit of butter and an immaculate raspberry while the second dish was a version of shabu shabu using raw saddle of goat and a broth made with tea roses. The presentation was simple but effective and well received by the audience.
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