[title]
If you haven’t gotten the chance to try Gucci’s new Italian restaurant by now, it might be a bit before you can head to Rodeo Drive and dig into some tortellini at the osteria.
Fortunately the chef behind it—who just so happens to be one of the most famous culinary figures in the world—is teaching you how to cook to tide you over. We’d always allow Massimo Bottura into our kitchens, but now he’s especially welcome.
The Michelin-starred chef is energetic as ever, and just the jolt of optimism we need as millions enter into quarantine to mitigate the spread of the virus. While some in isolation are turning to the best delivery in their cities, others are using the time at home to jump into their own kitchens, and Bottura wants to help with a nightly, free cooking series he’s launched via his own personal Instagram page.
View this post on Instagram
Kitchen Quarantine’s lessons are always taught in English, despite the chef’s Italian provenance, and come to you live via Bottura’s own home where he’s holed up with his family. (Famous chefs, they’re just like us!)
The vibe is warm and folksy, with his children, wife, dog and even novelty mugs making appearances and helping out—or, you know, just waiting for him to finish cooking so they can eat dinner.
So far the force behind L.A.’s Gucci Osteria and Modena, Italy’s Francescana Osteria has taught us how to make a veggie-packed Thai curry, salad, tortellini in a thick parmesan sauce, and a New York-inspired pasta. What’s on the show next? We’ll have to wait and see; Bottura likes to keep the meal under wraps until the nightly airtime of 8pm CET (or noon, here in L.A.).
But Bottura wants to be clear that he isn’t just teaching kitchen skills. “This is not a cooking show,” he said in a short video this afternoon. “It’s just a way to share with people from all over the world… we just want to be part of the world. There’s a beautiful sentence in Italiano from a poet, Franco Arminio [translated roughly to]: yes, we are here, home, but we are talking with the whole world, so we are sharing with the whole world.”
A few of his tips so far? Try to limit food waste by using every scrap and byproduct you can, and always—“always, always”—wash your hands, and wash them correctly.
Check out his first Kitchen Quarantine, below, via Fine Dining Lovers:
Tune in to Kitchen Quarantine at noon daily by following Massimo Bottura on Instagram and watching his live videos.