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Cooking

Quality

The style of our food has several precise characteristics: the importance of produce, all produce is rigorously selected on the basis of quality, provenance and seasonality; simple technique and maniacal care in execution result in dishes with great purity of flavour.

Our suppliers are all small boutique producers who have been selected throughout Italy after many years of research, this ensures we have access to the best quality produce possible. We do not adhere to a zero food miles philosophy as we do not want to forgot the opportunity of using the many flavours and aromas of produce from other Italian regions.

Azienda agricola La Gramola

Seasonality

Our menu changes monthly, with the exception of our “evergreen” dishes (Ratanà signature dishes that are always on the menu), ensuring that it fully reflects the seasonal character of our produce as well as the ethical approach to agriculture adopted by our suppliers.

Our wine list is also in continuous evolution and never static; there are always new discoveries to be made, established producers offering new interpretations or stand-out vintages to be had.
Some bottles are kept in our cellar to mature so they can be better enjoyed at a later date.

 

Ethics

The ethics upon which the Slowfood movement is based represent a model for RatanĂ , many of our choices are guided by this model. The concept of good, clean and right is not only relevant to produce itself but also to the work ethic adopted by our suppliers.

A great chef looses before he  even starts if his choice is to work with produce obtained from intensive and unsustainable agricultural methods, inevitably these products will  be soulless. Only when a chef chooses to work with produce that is produced in a sustainable way can its inherent quality and territorial character be expressed through the flavours and aromas of a dish.

10 mottos for the cook

by Cesare Battisti

A Decalogue for chefs according to Cesare Battisti

  1. Cooking is not a narcissistic act but something that is fed through the dialogue and exchange of ideas between chefs, suppliers, colleagues and dinners, this dialogue is a necessary pretext for cooking good food.
  1. Cooking is both a humble and democratic act: a dish should never intimidate and should be able to be appreciated by an audience that is as wide as possible.
  1. Cooking is a critical reading of tradition: it never accepts dogmas, it creates doubt and continuously questions its own fundamentals as well as its base preparations which themselves change in time.
  1. Cooking should aim to lighten and modernise traditional recipes, emphasising the flavours of single ingredients which should never be too many and individually perceptible in a finished dish.
  1. Cooking needs to value the work of virtuous primary producers, without their work it is impossible to evolve technically. The chef’s task is to study and get know as best he can the produce he works with, identify and isolate its essence in order to return it to the consumer.
  1. Cooking is based on the freshness and seasonality of all produce: it is vital for a cook to await the optimum ripening or maturity of produce and to work it when its flavours and aromas are at their height.
  1. Cooking must value produce and ingredients in their entirety, that is, all their edible parts.
  1. Cooking is not independent of the concept of sustainability, referring not only to the process of production or cultivation but also to the way a business is run, free of exploitation and conflicts of interest.
  1. Cooking should explore methods of conservation and preservation, these are able to enrich produce and increase its longevity.
  1. Cooking needs to pay great attention to the temperature at which a dish is served, this is vitally important to bringing out all of its flavours and aromas, ensuring its maximum enjoyment.
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