“A chef is different from any other, he is equal only to himself, an ever-evolving self, for him tomorrow is a range of infinite possibilities, an immaculate tablecloth on which to write one's future”: this sentence, taken from book "Francesco Bracali and the Revolution in Tuscan cuisine", published in 2015 to witness the long journey that led two brothers to success, Francesco Starred chef, indeed, double starred, 47 years old, standard bearer of Tuscan cuisine in Italy, and the brother Luca winemakerindeed, more than an oenologist, in love with wine, he expresses well with what spirit Francesco Bracali has climbed all the steps of gastronomic affirmation arriving to sit among the greats who make Italian cuisine great in the world.
A long journey that starts from a bar in Ghirlanda, a small fraction of Massa Marittima in the province of Grosseto that his grandfather, Gino Bracali had opened in a strategic position, at a crossroads on the Massetana along the obligatory passage for those traveling towards the Tyrrhenian Sea. Quite a few people stopped by that bar almost by obligation, and business immediately went well. His son Francesco and his wife Manuela thought it best to take advantage of the situation by opening a small family-run restaurant, obviously based on traditional Tuscan cuisine. It is there that little Francesco spends his free time next to his mother Manuela and grandmother Igina, he watches them as they get busy cooking the dishes for the customers, he likes to see how pasta, meat and fish take on flavour, color and above all consistency under their hands and under their eyes in the short time of culinary elaboration. “Being in the kitchen was the natural complement to something I had inside and that it came out spontaneously” he recalls going back to his childhood. He becomes so passionate that soon everything he learned in the kitchen of the family restaurant will no longer be enough for him. Certainly a great experience, but the first thing he realizes as a cooking enthusiast is that the products offered by that beautiful corner of the land that is his Maremma could give much, much more, very different sensations to the palate and stomach. In short, one could not stop at the originality of the Maremma cuisine, one could and had to go ahead by opening oneself to riding new unexplored culinary prairies of its fantastic Maremma.
The first step at the court of Paracucchi, then Gaetano Trovato and Valeria Piccini
Francesco begins to do what all self-taught people do, study, buy books, go around smelling flavors like a truffle dog. He goes round and round and he manages to get himself accepted at the court of Angelo Paracucchi, one of the recognized fathers of Italian creative cuisine, among the first 7 restaurateurs and chefs in Italy to be awarded a Michelin star at the end of the 70s, among the first to open restaurants abroad, in Paris - that's all to say - and in Osaka Japan. In his celebrated “Locanda dell'Angelo” in Ameglia, whose structure was designed by none other than the archistar Vico Magistretti, Francesco Bracali observes and begins to learn the rudiments of the culinary art. But the most concrete first training of him occurs with Gaetano Trovato the grand master of many young promises, patron of the Arnolfo restaurant in Colle Val D'Elsa in Siena, a real talent scout who loved to surround himself with young people and dedicate great attention to them, guiding them towards starry skies. And there is another debt that Francesco Bracali matures in his professional growth, the Tuscan cooking school of Valeria Piccini of Cain in Montemerano, which on Identità Golose con efficaci immagine has been defined as “a contemporary Calliope, an extraordinary example of how the identity and pathos of a civilization can be transmitted with ladles and forks”.
With these premises it is clear that Bracali is an integral part of his Maremma, in that Maremma, so bloody and so rude Francesco is immersed up to his neck, but he is anything but a brusque and direct Grosseto that explodes at the "piggy Maremma". On the contrary, his manners are reserved, his gentle trait, perhaps the result of his great youthful passion: art, design which constitute the imprinting of his character.
Its first creed is territoriality, has a strong bond with that territory, to the point that in his restaurant in Massa Marittima the suppliers of meat and other raw materials, local businesses or virtuous artisans who have to work with a love far from any consumerist logic are rigorously reviewed, and this must emerge from their products. The second is seasonality, because for Francesco excellence understood as the highest quality and uniqueness of sensory experiences derive from respect for the times of nature, the sole creator of fullness of taste, for this reason Francesco gets his vegetables from his own vegetable garden located not far from the restaurant. And where his own vegetable garden does not reach, he resorts to raw materials from a very short and certified supply chain. Among these stands out the main ingredient of his repertoire, the Maremma onion from which he obtains his creamy Cappuccino with bacon and caramelized orange, true poetry of the palate. His dedication to this precious vegetable from his countryside reaches such all-encompassing levels that the cultivation of this splendid Rosato bulb has become the subject of an important partnership with the Department of Agricultural, Food and Agro-Environmental Sciences of the University of Pisa which aims to enhance the organic cultivation practices activated locally in the total defense of biodiversity. More Tuscan than that, more tied to one's land than that, one dies.
Artist's cuisine: all things that excite can be defined as art
Territoriality, therefore, seasonality, but above all rigor.
Absolute, uncompromising. Nothing in his culinary conception is left to chance. The memory of his youthful passion for art follows him like a mantra. As a painting is born from the study of the subject, from infinite rules of volumes, of relationships of shapes, of colors, so his dishes follow the process of an artistic planning at the table. There is a first sketch then a second then a third always pursuing a goal of formal perfection that puzzles him. Because cooking for Bracali is art: study, knowledge, interpretation and, in the end, aesthetic sense, why “all things that give emotions can be defined as art” and the secret of the intrigue of the taste experiences that he offers in his restaurant lies in a constantly sought-after balance between a careful study of detail even in the presentation and an almost scientific approach to food and wine.
And just to stay on the subject, for Francesco the attention to detail - reminiscent of his youthful design studies - is also evident in the choice - always careful - of dishes, cutlery, objects and decorations: the chef relies on big names in the sector ( among others, Richard-Ginori), on the basis of personal ones ideas, sketches and drawings, jealously guarded in a notebook, vivid testimony of his creative flair.
From his teacher Gaetano Trovato he inherited the pleasure of coming into continuous creative contact with young people who aspire to great careers. “Not feeling arrived is part of my philosophy of life, for example I love to surround myself with prepared young people, people who want to share experiences, this keeps me on the tightrope, but it also makes me understand how much, as a cook and as a person, I am deeply linked to my profession".
It is this philosophy of life that led him to burn all the stages.
Already in 1994 he entered the Italian section of the Young restaurateurs of Europe, the exclusive group that welcomes young excellences from all over Europe, and an exception is made for him, he is two years away from the minimum threshold established by the association's statute. But the presidency decides to derogate. Five years later comes the great consecration of the Michelin star. We are in 1999 Francesco is not resting on his laurels, he is always animated by his desire to improve, to learn, to know. He begins to travel, divides his time between the Atlantic, between New York and Tokyo, experiments and studies two culinary philosophies that are in some ways very distant but which are fundamental for him to achieve an even more refined style, consolidate the his professional figure working above all on the raw material. Right choice because in November 2010 the Michelin guide awarded him the second star.
Francesco Bracali's cuisine has come a long way from the family-run trattoria set up in the room that housed a bar on the road that led to the sea, but he has never actually forgotten those origins. He has only learned how to arrive at a balance of sidereal level capable of creating a rich and enveloping cuisine by harmonizing rich and pure contrasting flavors but with his feet deeply sunk into the land of his Maremma. “For me it is the sense of harmony is fundamental which does not mean a perfect balance, but the sense in which the person finds that common thread that refers to a feeling of well-being".
But in the end, in order to transfer this feeling, you have to dig deep into the instinct of its creator because "The instinct, the esprit de finesse reach where the 'spirit of geometry' cannot: because the palate, like the heart, has its reasons, which reason does not know".
And here we are in front of his colorful nettle dumplings that have become a classic, presented on foie gras pudding garnished with a rain of grape juice caviar and chopped hazelnuts, a dish that intrigues and seduces for its components so distant yet so masterfully blended; to rigatoni stuffed with capocollo and thin sheets of raw scallops completed by the acid tones of the spelled sauce with drops of orange and the final drizzle of licorice flavored oil. And what about the Bresse Chicken, the only one in the world to have obtained a denomination of controlled origin, with a pearly skin, the cooking of which required a long experimentation to enhance the juiciness of its meat. For which the thighs are cooked for hours at a low temperature at 67 degrees, the body separately for 4 hours to then finish cooking in the oven, with roasted potatoes and served with a delicious celeriac purée.
In short, on that "immaculate tablecloth" ours still has a lot to write and draw about its future...
