«I sensed that pizza as a product must be enhanced in terms of excellence, emphasised through dough, flour, raw materials and research, creativity, passion at the service of consumers. I don’t deny tradition. It’s the base of pairings that are sometimes irreverent, elegant, following a philosophy based on quality».

What’s nice is that this happens in the heart of Naples, as Ciro, fourth generation of pizza chefs, the son of Antonio, who’s little over 40, is the designated heir of Concettina ai Tre Santi, that is to say he has the purest Neapolitan roots: the pizzeria was established in 1951 thanks to Concettina Flessigno.

Like many women in popular neighbourhoods in Naples, Concettina first began to make pizze a credito, “ogge a otto” (that is to say “eat today, pay in eight days”), so as to contribute to the family finances. She did so outside the ground floor, with a table to roll out and season the dough, and a large pot with sizzling oil. This in the famous/infamous Rione Sanità.

Jump ahead in time: a couple of years ago, together with his father, Ciro decided to run the family restaurant towards new gourmet pizza frontiers. The success arrived also thanks to a format based on a dough made following the rules of the most traditionally delicious Neapolitan pizza, using very simple ingredients: water, salt, brewer’s or mother yeast and flour.

12-14n hours of leavening in the summer, 20-24 hours in the winter. Accurately selected raw materials. It’s no coincidence that Ciro is part of Alleanza Slow Food, a network of chefs who defend food biodiversity around the world.

In a recent tasting in Milan, we had the chance to taste some classic pizzas, some special and some new ones: the Vedova (with celery, goat’s milk cacioricotta from Cilento, red smoked salmon from Alaska and pink grapefruit);

Genovese Tricolore (with caramelised onion from Montoro, beef, smoked provola with Piedmontese chestnut honey, 99% dark chocolate, pecorino bagnolese irpino matured 12 months, basil and extra virgin olive oil);

and Doni della Natura (with preserved apricots from Vesuvius, 67% dark chocolate and pecorino bagnolese matured 12 months).

Carlo Passera
source: http://newsletter.identitagolose.it/email.php?id=634

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