Italian Food Lovers

Summertime is here, at least according to the calendar since today is June 21. Not much according to the season, as in Italy this year we experienced a very slow start of the season, with heavy showers up to a couple of days ago alternated to beautiful sunny days, but not so hot as we had up to last year (this is actually good news, as last year we couldn’t even breath for the high temperatures!).

What’s the most characteristic summertime food icon? Nine out of ten would say Ice Cream and sure gelato plays a big role in Italian gastronomy and food culture, so we decided to serve you a video on an event we hosted at the Academia Barilla Culinary School last month, for the Academia Barilla Short Film Awards, a satellite event to the well-know Brescello 2008 Film Festival.

During the gala event, Academia Barilla Executive Chef Nicola Bindini, helped by Chef Matteo Carboni of the Academia Barilla Chef Team, prepared and served to the participants of the event a very particular ice cream: liquid nitrogen ice cream.

We managed to get some video footage of the Academia Barilla Short Film Award Gala from TV Parma, who was partnering, filming and broadcasting the event. After some editing for the web format, and with the help of Chef Matteo Carboni whose voice-over comments the making of ice cream using the nitrogen freezing process, we are happy to present you the video on how to make a gourmet ice cream using liquid nitrogen.

Used in creative cuisine, as well as in many other applications including surgery, liquid nitrogen has the power to freeze instantly and, in the ice cream making process, really helps in reducing preparation time, while not affecting the ice cream flavor nor its organoleptic properties.

As Matteo comments, liquid nitrogen has a boiling point at -320 Fahrenheit degrees, and this is why the Chefs have to use protection gloves to handle the preparation. So please don’t try this at home before taking all due safety precautions.

The ice cream base is composed by milk, cream, sugar and egg yolks. As Chef Matteo Carboni reminds in the video, it is important to pour the liquid nitrogen very slowly and keep mixing the ingredients to avoid crystallization, and to keep the ice cream homogeneous and smooth.

All the fog you see in the video and in the picture above is the product of the fast evaporation of the liquid nitrogen, and it is safe to breath for the few minutes of preparation. As Matteo says, the ice cream made with liquid nitrogen has a fresher flavor and a finer and smoother texture than the traditional ice cream - yummy!

Happy summertime to all Italian Food Lovers from the Academia Barilla Culinary School!

Last week the Auditorium of the Academia Barilla Culinary School in Parma, Italy, has been theater of a gala event at the crossroad between movie culture and food culture: the Academia Barilla Short Film Festival Awards - Premio Academia Barilla 2008.

Academia Barilla hosted the 4th Edition of the special Gastronomic section of the Brescello Short Film Festival, that awards short films directors who tell stories about food through a short film. The section is named “Kitchen Stories” and feature special award prizes from Academia Barilla.

The gala evening at the Auditorium started at around 9.30 with a brief welcome introduction by Academia Barilla President Gianluigi Zenti, here pictured while awarding the First Prize winner Christian Carmosiano.

Gianluigi Zenti pointed out that “cinema gifted us in time with many images that made it into the history of Italian and international gastronomic culture”. The screening of the awarded films has been introduced by Virginio Dall’Aglio, President of the Brescello Film Festival, supported by TV Parma news presenter Francesca Strozzi and Filiberto Molossi, a journalist from the local newspaper Gazzetta di Parma.

The Winners of the 2008 Academia Barilla Awards are:

First Prize - La zuppa di pietra
Direction Christian Carmosino (Rome)
Production Year: 2007 - Time: 14’

Synopsis: Once upon a time there was a wanderer.. who roving from one village to the other, used to prepare a special soup. The main ingredient.. a simple magic stone, capable of knocking down the barriers of indifference and the fear towards strangers.
This short film narrates in an ironic way the origin of the famous recipe of Acquacotta, the renowned soup diffused in all central Italy.

Second Prize - Bellissimi
Direction Davide Vanni (Vobarno, Brescia)
Production Year: 2008 - Time: 18’

Synopsis: Few kilometers away from the port of Imperia, Liguria, immersed among the hills covered by olive trees, there is the minuscule village, Bellissimi. At the end of the summer, when the tourists begin to leave, something marvelous happens here.
Renzo, the last builder of hot-hair paper balloons, prepare the new ones which will color the sky during the celebration of Misericordia, the first Sunday of September. While women are up to the preparation of bread and spinach cake following the old traditions.

Third Prize - Dulcis in fundo
Direction Davide Abate (Pisa)
Production Year: 2007 - Time: 2’30’’

Synopsis: Dancing hands molding a special cake in a symphony of senses. 2 minutes of rhythm, sensuality and movement.

Special Mention - Filastrocca appetitosa
Out of competition
Direction, screenplay and photography: 5th grade school kids from the Primary School “Salvemini” of Turin.
Production Year: 2003 - Time: 2’18’’

Synopsis: A funny nursery rhyme which illustrates the correct principles for a good nutrition, a basic element for a harmonious and healthy life.

The Academia Barilla Short Film Festival Gala Awards has been delighted also by the Chef team of the Academia Barilla Culinary School who prepared special gourmet finger food for the gala participants, and also engaged in the preparation of nitrogen ice cream, a special recipe to make ice cream in a very short time: it takes only few minutes and the result presents very fresh and genuine flavor.

Just some picture of this nitrogen ice cream chef demo for now, but we promise you that we will soon inquire with our Chef, and will try to get you the nitrogen ice cream secret before summertime!

If you want to see the trailers of the three award-winning short films, check out this page at the Repubblica Parma website.