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 [...]
What are the ingredients for a good cheese? Obviously good milk and a cheesemaker respectful of the rules of cleanliness and tradition. Even before, however, it is important to feed the animals that produce milk! That's why the cheeses from the Alpine valleys are so extraordinarily good: there are no intensive farms, the animals graze outdoors for more than 8 months a year and [...]
Mountain herbs contain aromatic substances in high concentration. Alcohol is a good solvent for essential oils; it extracts them, making them usable for medicinal, therapeutic uses or even simply for creating liqueurs and bitters. Among the most famous alpine herbs we find wormwood, the predominant herb in vermouth. The use of genepì is much more limited. Among the gourmet rarities, the Genepì del Piemonte. [...]
The first time I "saw" someone playing the goat violino, it was in the hands of my friend Stefano Masanti, patron and chef of Il Cantinone Restaurant in Madesimo. Violin? Goat? Let's put some order to learn about this gourmet rarity, produced in Valchiavenna, a small alpine valley in North Como. Throughout the Alps there are different methods of preserving meat based on dehydration: [...]