Column

We often underrate legendary hospitality icons as the generators and proliferators of memorable dishes, acting as a catalyst to change dining norms.

For example, the Cipriani in Venice is a byword for opulence, luxury and is considered a playground of the seriously rich.You do not identify it as a plate to eat great food. For those of us who cannot afford the obscene tariffs, there is always Harry’s Bar, the bar at the Cipriani which brought us the Bellini.

When I mean the Bellini I mean the real thing, not the stuff pedalled around in suburban restobars, the yellow peach puree disguising the cheapness of the fizzy plonk. The original Bellini is always made with good champagne and with a white peach puree (preferably French).Incidentally, the only place in Mumbai which offers the authentic Bellini is Pure at the Taj Land’s End.

Well, here is one for the books.I did not realise until recently that one of my favourite appetisers, the carpacchio, was also invented at the Harry’s Bar as recently as 1950. The term carpacchio is a reference to colour. It was named in honour of the great Venetian Painter Vittorio Carpacchio who is famous for hisreds and whites.

According to the owner of the Cipriani, Arrigo Cipriani, this dish was made
for a rather demanding client, the Contessa Amalia Nani Moncengo whose doctor placed her under prohibition from eating cooked meat.The rest is history.

Carpacchio as an appetiser is hugely popular and has outgrown its origins as essentially
finely sliced raw beef with a vinegary sauce. You now have a carpacchio of tuna (this worksbrilliantly providing the tuna is fresh), you can have a carpacchio of scallops, and for vegetarians, roast beet works beautifully, with some cheese shavings.

At L’Restaurant in Goa I once had a carpacchio of pear served with a sharp
stilton dressing.

What is the secret of a great carpacchio, how do chefs manage to produce such slivers of pure delight?The answer is to ensure that the meat, whether beef or tuna, is very cold when you cut it, and you slice it with the most razor-sharp knife.

In the process you may have to discard a few slices before you get that thin even slice so typical of a carpacchio. The sauce is milky white, made with egg yolk, white wine vinegar, a pinch of mustard powder, seasoning, three quarters cup of olive oil, a dash of Worcester sauce, a couple of teaspoons of milk and there you have it.

You drizzle the sauce over the sliced meat, once it is plated, and it gives that red and white look so redolent of the pictures of the artist Vittorio Carpacchio.

With the passion for raw food gaining ground, we only have to see the way our celebrities wolf down Japanese finger food and the popularity of sushi and sashimi. The carpacchio as an appetiser was ahead of its time in the 1950s and is very much in vogue now as probably the most popular and widely served Italian appetiser in the world.

The best carpacchio found in Mumbai (and this relates to meat as well as fish) is the carpacchio at the Olive or at the Race Course. Chef Max Ortelli does a serious one, as authentic as one would expect from a chef trained in Ravenna, the Venetian hinterland.