Traveling, second Carlo Cracco, it often has a jarring limit: focusing too much on the goal without enjoying the journey, losing all those goodies that stand between us and the destination to be reached. Dinner Club, the new food travelogue produced by Banijay and available on Amazon Prime Video from 24 September, tries to undermine this principle and to help the viewer discover those destinations that are neither street nor apparently worthy of a stop: in each of the six episodes available on the platform, Carlo and his guests will come into contact, in fact, with the most typical flavors and preparations of the most beautiful and, perhaps, less known areas of Italy.
From the oysters of the Sacca degli Scardovari to the Malandra of Monopoli; from the pistoccu bread lasagna with sheep ragù to the Cilento white fig, up to the Maremma ricotta soup and the Bastardoni rosolio in Sicily. All told with curiosity and desire to do, with a soft irony that, especially in this period, is essential to overcome adversity and look forward lightly.
When we asked the “Virgil” Carlo Cracco and two of his traveling companions, Pierfrancesco Favino and Valerio Mastandrea, who respectively visited Cilento and Sicily with him, the food that managed to break into their hearts during the adventure of Dinner Club, the answers were different. For Favino it was the Cannoli by Dattilo, «Which, to tell the truth, remained on my stomach more than in my heart. They weigh eight ounces each ». Mastandrea, who does not eat white things, including mozzarella and cheeses, with the exception of Parmesan (“which, in fact, is not white”), solves the question with a simple “we are what we cook and, since I don’t cook , they are not “, while Carlo Cracco has no doubts: the dish that tickled him the most during his trip were meatballs “stolen” from the home of a family from Aragon. «There were so many pots ready, we went into the kitchen and, before the hostess arrived, we made ourselves comfortable» jokes Cracco.
The most precious lesson of this experience, which came four years after his farewell to MasterChef, for Carlo it was, however, the discovery of little-known realities and dishes that deserve more consideration, at the table and not: «The fact of being able to go deeply into places, towns and villages where you normally would not go was the best thing. Generally, one focuses on the goal and forgets the route, while a Dinner Club we did the opposite: we chose a route, we divided it into stages, and we did it all. Obviously trying to grasp what was best on the road: this is the most beautiful luxury we have granted ourselves ». A luxury also shared by Favino, which he describes Dinner Club as the unique opportunity that allowed him to re-savor “the freedom of travel and discovery” in a period when leaving the house was a danger, and by Mastandrea, who even if he has not learned to cook can always say that he has known a new friend, Cracco, “whom I think I like”.
Watch our video interview with Carlo Cracco, Pierfrancesco Favino and Valerio Mastandrea above >>
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