There are scents and flavours that dig deep into our memory, taking us back to emotions and memories we thought were forgotten forever. La patisseriemore than any other culinary art, has the ability to bring back images and reminiscences; to tell stories, just like a book.
And he does it with extraordinary strength. He tells us Luigi Biasettoone of the Masters who turned sweetness into a universal language, capable of speaking directly to the heart.
"Pastry tells us what belongs to our deepest memories," he explains. "The reason for this peculiarity is first of all linked to our innate ability to perceive smells. The nose allowed our ancestors to understand where to look for food; today, in an extremely dynamic world, we have lost this aptitude, but a newborn baby, just resting on the belly of the mother, instinctively heads for the breast, attracted by the smell of lactose. Sugar is the human being's first source of energy, the first need for survival; it is that element that in our memory calls us back to life'.
'Without dessert it is not life' revealed Biasetto in a book, testifying to this very close connection and our desire for sweetness in moments of consolation, as well as in those of celebration and festivity.
But if glucose is the first food of life, it is equally true that 'baking is not nourishment, but an act of passion.
Dessert is one of the greatest expressions of love in the kitchen'. The Master Biasetto he says this while recalling the skilful hands of grandmothers, who used to make exquisite sweets, and making us reflect on the fact that among the places that symbolise community and tradition, in every town in Italy, apart from the church and the town hall, there is always a pastry shop.
Memories, a sense of belonging, but also slowness among the gifts of thepastry art. In a fast-paced age, in which everything seems to be sacrificed to speed, baking remains an activity, a talent, that requires time, dedication and precision. "There are moments when one must act quickly, like when the dough must not cool or overheat, but there are others when one must slow down, isolate oneself, get in touch with the material. One of these is decoration, an intimate, almost meditative moment. When decorating a cake, one has to slow down, take time to give oneself; and once again, each mouth-watering creation tells a story, and perhaps more than one.
Creations that, today more than ever, must reconcile gluttony with the new requirements of lightness and well-being. In fact, Luigi Biasetto explains that our taste has changed over time due to the need for less energy intake: 'Once upon a time, Sicilian cassata had 800 grams of sugar per kilo of ricotta, today we are at 300. Our palate has evolved, it recognises excesses, such as too sweet or too fatty, and rejects them'.
So too has its iconic Seven Veils been transformed over the years. "Today,' he explains, 'the raw materials are better. We use the gentile hazelnut from Piedmont with an arranged roasting, to
retain the scent and cleanliness that unroasted hazelnuts have. We sought an even longer and cleaner Madagascar chocolate in the mouth, without extremes in acidity. We reduced the sugars of 15%, eliminated the flour and replaced it with the more precious almond powder. The cocoa in the icing is a single origin from Ecuador, red, exciting. The Sette Veli is certainly a cake in continuous evolution'.
And speaking of evolution, here is experimentation as the necessary engine for a discipline that combines chemistry, technique, physics, architecture, and that must be capable of a common thread between tradition and progress. Because in pastry, as in cooking, we have not yet discovered everything and pastry still has many secrets to reveal. "I believe,' Biasetto reflects, 'that at some point we have to take all the knowledge we have acquired and put it in our rucksack, like a scout does, and keep it. Today, we have new raw materials, such as sunflower flour, which improves the preservation and intensity of flavours; there are technologies that allow us to refine ingredients, such as rice flour, which is finer than double-zero flour... Our task, in short, is to carry on acquired knowledge, but questioning everything, through and thanks to new ingredients.
Sweet delights that are more and more up-to-date, in line with the new demands, which today, as in the restaurant world, speak of simplicity and informality. "There is a great return to puff pastry, to sweets that are eaten with the hands, almost archaic in their immediacy." - reveals the Master.
After all, the secret of a great cake lies in its ability to bring us back home, to a memory, to an emotion, even through the value of the essential.
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