New for 2017

For a (Delicious) Gelato Style.

For a while

I’ve been thinking about what I could do (i.e., “write”) that would be useful for gelato artisans. A great deal has been written in recent years. As a trade we have moved from recipes handed down from father to son, jealously guarded in locked drawers, to the “science and technology of gelato,” and even programs on USB drives for balancing mixes. In short, from a point of view of technical and scientific evolution today we can say that Italian artisanal gelato accounts for the lion’s share of culinary excellence.

Today more than ever, gelato must be of very high quality, the result of experimentation, study, and passion. Customers-consumers are becoming more demanding and competent, and each artisanal gelato shop must have its own gelato, unique and exclusive.

However, all this is no longer sufficient.

Gelato professionals must take another leap forward, just as they did when they started strictly following food safety regulations in the production area, and then when they abandoned empirical practice for a scientific attitude towards their product. For example, accepting to learn how to balance mixes to make a better quality gelato, paying attention to its nutritional quality, communicating with the customer in a way that often turns into the sharing of a path…

In this sense I am convinced that the contribution of the Gelato World Cup (GWC), even indirectly, has been greater than commonly thought. It is in that environment, in mixed teams of gelato artisans, pastry chefs, kitchen chefs, and ice sculptors, that gelato artisans have overcome their resistance, shyness, and inferiority complex with respect to other professions. It has become clear that excellent gelato can only be made by gelato artisans, and that this skill can be shared with other professionals in an equal exchange. In the GWC this awareness exists. There is much work to be done to ensure that it becomes common knowledge for all.

We said at the beginning that making a unique and excellent gelato is not enough. It is time for another revolution in this little-big world. To call into question all the presentation criteria that have dominated in recent years, from trays to disconsolately bare cones, semifreddos that are always sadly the same, monotonous parfaits, industrial-ish sticks. Let’s remember that before satisfying the palate, gelato must first satisfy the eyes, conveying its uniqueness.

And who better than Magni can show how it’s done? Pierpaolo is a great technician, founder and coach of the GWC Italian national team, a living historical memory, and his son, Riccardo, a courageous professional, forward-looking and deeply innovative, yet basing his high level of professional skill, developed mostly abroad, on the solid foundation of his father.

Leafing through this book, dear readers, you will understand what I am saying. Together with daring flavor combinations you will find new shapes thanks to the use of a new generation of molds; gelato dressed with colorful glazes, but prepared with natural products; decorations made with glazed flower petals and sugar-coated nuts. And so on. There is drinkable gelato, crunchy gelato, there are new bases for cakes and semifreddos along with frozen sauces, coulis, and gelatins, infusions and candying, and many recipes with precise explanations.

For the formulation of some of the recipes we asked for the input of Italian gelato artisans, just to reaffirm the value of the work done by professionals that needs to be a shared heritage and part of the beginning of a journey that we would like to be shared.

The form must not detract from the content and the content must reflect the form, rebuff bad taste, and open the way to a new style. This was our goal and we hope to have achieved it. You will be the judge.