Today we have the pleasure of interviewing Jacopo Ticchi, 26, partner and chef at the Trattoria da Lucio, a restaurant in Rimini with 80 seats, who has chosen to focus on the maturation of fish through an INOXBim climatic cabinet.
Jacopo, can you explain your choice of “aging fish”?
The Trattoria da Lucio has been open for a year and since the beginning we wanted to enhance the Rimini seafaring tradition, a local menu, genuine and attentive to quality. We were the first to focus on the maturation of fresh gutted fish, which allows us to increase its flavor and make it softer, both raw and cooked.
Around 80% of the fish we work in our kitchen is aged in an exposed climatic cabinet. Before cooking it, the waiters choose the pieces of fish that the customer wants. These are large-sized local fish such as sea bass, mazzole, amberjack, monkfish and tuna.
How does an INOXBim climatic cabinet help you?
Instead of storing fresh fish in ice or by vacuum packing, with the risk of losing consistency and flavor, we decided to gut it immediately and hang it to aging inside a climatic cabinet where it is possible to adjust and control the probe, ventilation and humidity cycles.
Thanks to technology 4.0 we can set the program that best suits the characteristics of each batch of fish we age. Furthermore, we can monitor the progress of the maturation process even remotely, allowing us to optimize the processing times of the entire staff. Finally, we appreciated the quality of a Made in Italy product, which allows us to be able to exhibit the product in the hall.
Tell us more about yourself, how was your passion for cooking born?
It is the road I have always dreamed of. I attended the hotel in Riccione and worked for several seasons in various restaurants on the Riviera. My passion then took me to Australia, Ibiza and Milan, where for four years I worked at the vegetarian restaurant Joia di Pietro Leemann.
My cooking is the result of all these experiences, and today, wearing the owner’s suit, I also have on my shoulders all the responsibilities of controlling everything that happens from the choice of suppliers and ingredients, from the preparation and respect of the menus, from the dish at the presentation at the table.
Our group manages 2 other activities in Rimini, the Necessaire Bistrot and the Enoteca Ferménta, we are all young, average age 28, and we like to revisit the culinary tradition of Romagna through more international innovations in combination and taste. For those who want it, I recommend trying our “from head to tail” tasting menu, which includes courses from raw to cooked, soup and offal.
We just have to book a table and stop to enjoy this experience of the palate.
