As head of the brigade at Cracco Portofino and with numerous experiences in Italian haute cuisine and a great, unending passion for his work, Mattia Pecis is certainly one of the most remarkable contemporary chefs of recent years.
Young, fresh and full of creativity, Pecis (born in 1996) grew up in the Seriana Valley where he began his career while attending the Hotelier Institute in Clusone. His goals were clear right from the early stages, and it is this enthusiasm that has taken him from his alpine valley in Bergamo, Italy to the Tigullio jewel that is Portofino.
When talking to Pecis you realise that there is not much difference between the chef and the person. They are one, characterised by passion, vivacity, kindness and determination. But if we had to sum up Pecis’ personality (culinary or otherwise), the aptest word is undoubtedly ‘curiosity’. Curiosity for tradition and for ancient dishes and old-fashioned ingredients, but also curiosity aimed at the new, at the future of cooking.
When and how did you realise you wanted to work in the kitchen?
I inherited my passion for cooking and good food from my mother. Every morning of my childhood had the smell of freshly baked bread from the wood-fired oven, of homemade cake every day. Then when I was little there was the tendency to hear, “Do hotel school so you can go work on cruise ships and travel the world”. I never got on a cruise ship, but a dream was born to which I add a little piece every day.
When did you approach haute cuisine?
After an internship with Daniel Facen in Bergamo, one Michelin-star. There I realised that the basics that the hotel school had given me were only a part of catering, beyond that there was much more. At that moment I fell in love with this job, I discovered creativity and realised that starting from the basics, from tradition and knowledge of ingredients, one could create structured, contemporary dishes with a new life.
How would you define your cuisine and your style?
Before Cracco Portofino I could never have spoken of ‘my style’, it was here that I was able to truly express myself for the first time. Carlo gave me carte blanche on everything and today I can say that my cuisine is light, natural and with a concept of true sustainability.
Here we really try to do good for nature and the wonderful land that hosts us. We have our own vegetable garden and we source from local fishermen, but to really do sustainable haute cuisine is a more complex and structured matter. We try to keep the use of plastic to a minimum, consume less energy and also eliminate products from the menu that do not respect this philosophy. What used to be called ‘luxury’ foods I never use here. For example, I don’t use caviar because raising a fish for 15 years to then taking a few grams of eggs from it does not inspire me conceptually.
The new luxury is to introduce good, healthy and at the same time real ingredients. We value all parts of the fish, especially those that used to be called waste. We know everything about the products we buy and can therefore afford to make fish liver pâté. The most difficult thing is to reconcile this sustainability with the name we represent and the expectations it carries. Fortunately, our customers are aware and more and more people appreciate this philosophy.
What do you serve at Cracco Portofino?
We make Ligurian cuisine. We looked for old recipes from the area that were almost forgotten and adapted them to our time and style. One example is pissaladière, which is a kind of savoury pie of Genoese origin. I am very attached to history and I did a lot of research to discover that it is a preparation that is about 600 years old. We wanted to give it value and magnify it from a taste point of view by making a weave of local anchovies, marinated and finely chopped; the resulting weave is reminiscent of a fisherman’s net. This weave is then laid on a sheet of brisé pastry and inside we find all the characteristic flavours of classic Ligurian savoury pies – beets, caramelised onions, and pine nuts. It is an old dish that we have made very elegant and you can find it on our tasting menu.
What was your opinion of Carlo Cracco before you met him?
When I started school I didn’t know who he was, but I didn’t know anything about haute cuisine or Michelin stars either. The first time I noticed his name I was walking past a bookshop and in the window was his book, Se vuoi fare il figo usare lo scalogno. I said to myself, ‘Who is this guy? I would never go to work for him.’ After a year I was in his brigade.
And now?
I have been working with Carlo Cracco for seven years. He is the most passionate person I know about this job, he is an inspiration to me. When he tells me something or gives me an opinion or advice, it is incredible but he is always right. Since I’ve been here in Portofino I’ve called him to ask him for some advice and he has always turned my day around with things I had never even thought of. His great experience fascinates me a lot, everything he says makes deep and true sense.
You are not yet 30 years old and there has been a lot of talk lately about the difficulty of finding young people who want to do this job. What do you think about that?
I have also discussed this issue with colleagues and I am convinced that our sector has always been tough in many respects. During the pandemic, many people realised that there is not only work, but also personal time. I experienced this myself when during that long period I had dinner with my family after so many years. When the pandemic ended everyone wanted more: more money, more rest, more free time. But the market was not ready to satisfy all this in the very short term. Those who stayed were because they believed so much in this work and after a while those demands were met. We increased all salaries and all rest periods. These demands were and are legitimate, we cannot talk about food sustainability, zero food miles and small local fishermen if we then have people working 18 hours a day without ever resting. The human value of people is also sustainability.
René Redzepi started the conversation, many have even spoken of the death of starred cuisine. What are your thoughts on the future of haute cuisine?
Cuisine follows trends, which also happens with fashion for example. 10 years ago there was only talk of molecular cuisine, today hardly anyone does it any more. Trends are cyclical, time and evolution bring changes and this is always a good thing. There are more and more enthusiasts and we also owe this to the expansion of the web and easier and faster access to information. It used to be that hardly anyone went to starred restaurants, but today there are so many curious and informed people. In my opinion, haute cuisine will not die, it will change and evolve with time and all the factors related to it. That haute cuisine is for enthusiasts there is no doubt.
But is there anything you would like to say about the fact that it is not true that you leave a starred restaurant hungry and that (almost always) the bill is balanced against the quality on your plate?It is difficult to break down stereotypes when there is no knowledge. If you don’t try, you will remain with this judgement for life. We should think of a formula that involves young palates more by proposing four/five-course formats at a reasonable price and thus give them the opportunity to understand what is on the plate and also what is behind the scenes in a haute cuisine restaurant. Here, for example, there are 14 of us in the kitchen and about 10 in the dining room, all aged between 19 and 30, so the ambience is relaxed.
Let’s talk about ingredients. Are there any obsessions, preferences or ingredients you hate? And if so, why?
I don’t hate any ingredients, but I don’t like things that have been treated badly. I prefer food that has value, if I eat something that has been grown or bred by someone who puts care into it and if that someone is paid properly for that product, then I am happy.
What is the last restaurant you went to as a customer?
I just went to Positano and had dinner in a trattoria. I ate aubergine parmigiana, fried courgette flowers and pizza. When I go out to dinner I like to go to trattorias to taste the authentic flavours of traditional recipes, which are always the starting point for my creativity. Then I am a fan of the welcome and hospitality, these two things are true Italian excellence in my opinion.
Plans for the future?
I am very well at the moment. I like the team I work in, what we do and the environment that surrounds me. I have understood what my path is and I want to continue on it, I want to celebrate real cuisine from all points of view. I am here now, I don’t know what Carlo and the future holds for me.
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