The three great chefs Andrea Berton, Carlo Cracco, and Claudio Sadler experiment with an ancient Portuguese pot: the cataplana

The three great chefs Andrea Berton, Carlo Cracco, and Claudio Sadler experiment with an ancient Portuguese pot: the cataplana

When simplicity touches genius
It often happens that in order to refine the most advanced technologies, recourse is made to the principles on which ancient tools were conceived and created, when man was sustained only by a great genius that led him to extraordinary insights. This is the case with the Portuguese cataplane. Its origin is Arab and North African, the Portuguese learned about it in the 1200s when they suffered several invasions by the Moors, and it takes its cue from the "tagine."
It is a pot made mostly of copper and formed by two hemispheres that close hermetically to facilitate very fast cooking by induction and steam. The result is amazing: once opened, the poultice will release an exuberant, enveloping aroma and offer perfect cooking. Sicuramente la cottura a pressione ha tratto il suo principio da questa pentola antica, considerata infatti “la trisavola della pentola a pressione”.
Today, thanks to gourmet writer Roberta Schira, who discovered and uses the cataplana some time ago, and thanks to the company RG Commerciale di Fontana Fredda di Cadeo, which has been importing it to Italy for about a year, the cataplana could find a place of honor on the menus of Italy's great restaurants.
In fact, Roberta Schira, with the collaboration of RG, has proposed to 3 of Italy's most ingenious chefs to experiment with new recipes and uses of the cataplana, which in tradition is particularly suitable for cooking shellfish and fish, poultry and vegetables. "I have faith in the talent and creativity of these genius cooks," he says, "but I hope that the cataplana can become a perfect household tool for everyone and especially for working women who can quickly obtain healthy and delicious dishes. The cataplana is not just a pot, it is a cooking method and at the same time a new way of conceiving cooking: half time, half fat and extraordinary result. It represents the modernity of the past."
The chefs to whom the idea has been presented and who have welcomed with great interest to study the cataplana are for the moment : Andrea Berton, Carlo Cracco, and Claudio Sadler.
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