Food, Home & Lifestyle
Introduction
Lesson time 06:03 min
Meet your new instructor: Massimo Bottura, chef of the three-Michelin-star restaurant Osteria Francescana. Massimo explains why he believes in evolving classic recipes, developing your palate, and embracing creativity in the kitchen.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: It All Starts With the Palate
Teaches Modern Italian Cooking
Massimo Bottura teaches you his take on traditional Italian cooking—from risotto to tortellini—and shares techniques for reimagining your own recipes.
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[MUSIC PLAYING] - I am Massimo Bottura, and I'm an Italian chef. We are in Emilia-Romagna. In the heart of the food valley where I was born, where I live is the land of the slow food and fast cars. We are in the middle of the country, 14 minutes from my restaurant Osteria Francescana. Here, I have my garden with my fruit trees. The vegetables, the flowers-- they will use in Osteria Francescana. Cooking is not just the quality of the ingredients, but the quality of the ideas. At Osteria Francescana, we look at the world from a critical point of view, not a nostalgic one. We are three-Michelin-star rated, the best restaurant in the world, but it's much more than that. It's about feeding people with emotions. If we take our memories out of the past and bring them into the future, traditions can be improved. I want to teach you the way to evolve classic recipes from traditional Italian cuisine. And I'm going to show you how to be free to imagine, to dream, to transfer emotion. [SPEAKING ITALIAN] I'm sorry, I'm speaking Italian. I can't believe that. All right, good. So welcome, everyone. Today, we're going to start talking about something extremely important, maybe the most important thing. When they ask me, what is your favorite tool in the kitchen, I said this-- it's my palate. My palate is something that is telling me-- it talks to me all the time about the flavor, about the feeling, about what an ingredient is saying to me. You have to be connected with the mental palate that is talking to you. I'll give you an example. Everyone talks about the espresso. Espresso here. Espresso there. Most of the time, those espressos are shit. You know why? Because the coffee they use is just burned. So to understand exactly how to-- what you are drinking in the morning as an espresso, you drink the coffee, you feel it, and you feel, wow, that's a very good punch with espresso. I need it. And then you drink a little bit of water. That cleans the palate. And you feel exactly if the beans are beautiful or are just OK. If the beans are perfectly roasted, are beautiful, you feel nuts, you know, almond, and toasted, and you know, all these kind of flavor. If the coffee is too roasted, almost burned, you feel just something that is burned in your palate. But you don't have the perception before, you know, using the water. This is an important part of what you do and how to develop your perception in the palate. So what I'm suggesting you is like when you're home, just to have fun, you go shop. You go shop to Italy. You go shop to Whole Foods. You have so many places that sells amazing product. And you can do this even for fun, you know, even to try and to evolve your palate, even with the soy sauce. You can do with everything, you know. You can cook pasta. And you pick many different selection of pasta, you know. And you taste one, or the other, or the other. And you can make it with your friends, an amazing evening, trying to do th...
About the Instructor
Massimo Bottura, chef of the three-Michelin-star Osteria Francescana, treats his world-renowned restaurant as a laboratory of ideas. In his MasterClass, he shares how he transforms classic, regional Italian recipes into exciting modern dishes. You’ll learn how to make rich, flavorful tagliatelle al ragù, pumpkin risotto, and a MasterClass-exclusive Emilia Burger recipe. Develop your palate and embark on a culinary adventure.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Massimo Bottura
Massimo Bottura teaches you his take on traditional Italian cooking—from risotto to tortellini—and shares techniques for reimagining your own recipes.
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