][1]Giorgio Locatelli was in Edinburgh last week to cook a special dinner with Mattia Camorani, Executive Chef at Cucina in the G&V Royal Mile Hotel.
Originally from Imola in Bologna, Mattia worked with Giorgio in London’s Zafferano. The two have remained in touch ever since with Giorgio coming to Cucina to cook once or twice a year.
The 5pm Dining blog grabbed five minutes with Giorgio to ask him about Italian cooking, his time with Mattia and his plans for the future.
What was Mattia like to train?
GL: He was great to train. He’s always been very passionate about cooking.
What is the most important skill or quality or characteristic you are looking for in a chef?
GL: His sense of taste.
Can you describe Italian food in five words?
GL: Seasonal, regional, historically connected & the most well recognised expression of the country.
Has Mattia pinched/borrowed/bettered any of your recipes?
GL: Everything he knows I taught him!!!!
A chef’s most useful tool is…
GL: His knife.
You can have anyone cook you a meal, apart from Mattia. They could be alive or they could be historical figures. They could be famous or family. Who will be at the stove?
GL: I would have risotto cooked by Marchesi and a pasta at Da Vittorio’s, Porto Palo di Menfi.
What was your most memorable meal?
GL: The bacon butty on the East Coast train to Edinburgh, it had no bacon in it… It was memorable for all the wrong reasons!
I really don’t like to eat…
GL: I like almost everything… once
Tell us one thing you wish you had known when you started out as a chef?
GL: Nothing, I’m grateful to learn new things every day, even now.
My next restaurant project will be…
GL: 21 days of pizza.
The best thing about being a chef is…
GL: When I was young it was that I could travel. Now I am getting older, it is so I can stay where I am.
And the worst…
GL: The hours.