In Valtellina, in the Alps almost three hours away from Milan, we meet Stefano Masanti, chef and owner of the IL CANTINONE, restaurant in Madesimo. Cooking in the mountains, at 1,600 meters above sea level, is not easy.
He is a chef committed to recovering the gastronomic traditions and products of his Alpine valleys: goat meat, cheeses, medicinal herbs, roots. However, his cuisine is contemporary and creative: for example, he uses modern cooking techniques, lightening the use of some raw materials to give space to due attention to health.
Stefano, what kind of relationship do you have with suppliers?
I know every farmer supplier, his cultivation or breeding methods and the alternation of seasonal cycles. My collaborators and I, we proudly tell the origin of the ingredients we use and the stories of the farmers who produce them “.
Stefano’s passion for traceability of some products led to the creation, together with his wife Raffaella and colleague Stefano Ciabarri, of MA! – an artisan workshop that works mainly brisaola (an artisanal cured meat, formed of salted and dried beef meat, typical of Valtellina ), cold cuts with goat meat and jams with wild mountain fruits.
Marco Negro
Photo credits: Cristian Daniel Tam
