Luca Montersino

You call yourself a contemporary chef, this is a clue to frame you in a very update reality , isnt’it ?

Being contemporary in cooking does not mean being creative or modern, in my personal payoff means the teaching.I ‘ve always been a teacher in cooking and in pastry , that’s very contemporary in comparison to the past .
In the past you had “to steal” recipes to chef and pastry chef. Masters pastry gave to you some recipes only when they really trusted on you, and, often, even that was not sufficient.
When I was very young I used to work for 4 years in a pastry in Pinerolo (Piedmonte Region in Italy) I have never seen to knead a shortcrust pastry, a typical pastry product .It was always kneaded during my day off, perhaps not by chance .
Being contemporary means teaching, teaching means sharing your job, your skills with others.

Your answer gives a link to next question. You are a born popularizer, you like to give your messages , your skills , throw your digital courses , your web site so easy, amazing and chic, and your books. You are completely different from your colleagues, who are, usually, more “one man show”

As I told you, I’ve always enjoyed teaching, teaching means sharing with people, no secret at all. This is the difference between the show cooking activity and the school.
In show cooking the Montersino is on stage, tells the story of a huge cake, most of the people, not only does not understand but also will never remember what they are looking at , and ,at the end , the Montersino will get off the stage to applause.
I’m less dramatic and fussy, but during my course I teach process, chemical and physical aspects of some ingredient , some features, how to make a cake , a recipe, and that’s is training. That’s the difference between show cooking and school.

Which was your purpose in “ Golosi di salute” adventure ?Can you tell us?

I have always had high goals, pushing ahead, discover new horizons. Being a pastry chef was not sufficient for me , there are a lot of pastry chef able to make a good cake, I wanted go beyond a well done cake. I wanted new advanced concepts of feeding combined with safe and gourmet feeding
Before Montersino ,at that time there were already safe nutrition concepts.
Then I started doing experimentation to make people convinced that safe and nice cake can exist.It was not an utopia combining healthy with sweet , I mean if I make a cake without this and that , probably the cake will be not so good.
If I make a cake “without some ingredient “ and if I don’t use new ingredients , of course the cake will be not good. If , on the contrary, I will susbstitue some ingredients as milk, butter, flour and sugar with others, after having worked so long on them , I will make high level pastry , but with a safe attitude .
At a certain point of my professional life, I began transferring and teaching these concepts to pastry chef, before my company “Golosi di salute “was born
I had a lot of success and many pastry had success as well with what I was teaching to them .That’s why I have decided to do something on my own, till that time , I was a free lance , and perhaps , the moment to make something owned by me, had arrived .
At the beginning, I must say,Golosi di Salute was a total failure .
My colleagues,who had dedicated a corner to the safe pastry inside their pastry shops , have a big success, but my pastry shop, totally dedicated to the safe pastry was not a success at all. It was 2005, people came inside my shop asking if was I making cake for ills or diabetics.
It was just too earl. Today, even the ones who, at that time were criticical about my job, make later, some gluten free recipes o recipes with healthy accents, after 15 years.
Perhaps I was too early at that time ….but sometimes being too in advance is not right .
Company must have the vision, but they must dose the output of their ideas in step with the times.
Just to give you an example, I’ve always been an Apple addicted and I think that Steve Job has had a vision, but he decided to go to the market with Apple watch only 15 years after inventing it .
At the end of the 4th year of my entrepreneurial adventure called Golosi di Salute , when I was about to close , suddenly the turnover increased to 10 times thanks to the sudden success, all the media, television channels noticed my entrepreneurial adventure .My ideas were too in advance , but this was not a plus .Anyway I must say that those 4 years were an investment in the future.

Can you tell us something about your international background? From San Diego to New York city, from South America to Tokio ,the opening of important luxury hotel like Esedra and Aleph in Rome , your collaboration with important chef pastry school, do you have 48 a day or are you very good at managing your time ?

Both are true , I manage a lot of things during a day , I began working at 13 years old , I had clear ideas, I used to speak loudly : I want to start making this job.
Having beginning early in my life, let me anticipate experiences, I must say I’m very lucky.
Second reason is that I can manage my time , today for example , I’m going to Milan to make the Easter emission at the Rai TV at the cooking program with Mrs Clerici , on the road I ‘ve already done a meeting with a company , now I’m doing the interview with T&C Truffle , and this evening, coming back home , I have another meeting. Last but not least, every day I always work from 6a.m. till 12 p.m ….
My international approach was born because I want to fill the gap. Being a pastry chef means you travel around the world with just a little case and I did not want to regret not to have done an experience abroad , besides that , I wanted to learn English.
When I was 26, I found myself single in a moment with a great desire to go and see America and add this plus to my skills.
I come from le Langhe area(Piedmonte region) in Italy)and I wanted to open my mind .
With Eataly I became the official pastry chef so I made the opening in New York city, in Brasil and I was in Tokyo for 2 months, a big international experience that has enriched me.

Last but not least let’s talk about truffle. What do you think about your experience with our truffle based products ?

Yesterday I cooked a piedmontese steak and I added your fine truffle cream, the result was really tasty. I must say that I have always been skeptical about truffle based products as a person coming from Alba according to me , truffle must be fresh.
Many times all is already prepared is enriched of aroma, truffle aroma.If this aroma is not added in the right way , the truffle based product smells as fake not natural.
Many times all is already prepared is enriched of aroma, truffle aroma.If this aroma is not added in the right way , the truffle based product smells as fake not natural.
I’ve always thought that truffle was too expensive to be used in pastry, it could be a forcing. But let’s try it together, only stupid people don’t change their ideas, I can taste other products by you and question myself .
When somebody in the past in Alba asked me to make a cake with truffle , I have always said :no .I have always said that it is so expensive that much better leave it over fried eggs or tajerin egg pasta , better not to make forcing .But , who never knows, I can change my ideas.

We understand very well what you are saying. Sometimes, abroad, people don’t understand our truffle based products because they are too delicate , with a right balance .
T&C has always sought delicate taste , and a right use of balanced aromas using the highest level of aroma that reproduce truffle scent in a natural way.

One must taste the right level of aroma, sometimes I’ve taste some inedible truffle oil , they tasted of hydrocarbons, nothing to do with the real truffle .
The fact that in your product the truffle scent is very balanced is a plus according to me.
So next appointment is to live the truffle search experience by you