Matteo from Canavese, gold medal for young chefs at the Olympics: “After graduation, I want to travel the world”

Nineteen years old, from Strambino, he attended the Ecole Hôtelière in Châtillon. The compliments of the mayor Cambursano

WEIRD. The highest step of the podium and the gold of the Young Chefs Olympiad 2022 arrived last February 4 in Italy, from the eighth International golden trophy, organized by the Iihm Best hotel management college in Calcutta, India. The champion Matteo Cignetti is from Strambino, he is 19 years old and is attending the fifth year of training as a chef at the Hotel Institute of Châtillon, in the Aosta Valley, where he will graduate in June. The young chef won his gold medal by beating 42 colleagues (one per nation) from 42 countries around the world after being chosen, the only Italian, by the Italian Federation of Chefs, following the success of 17 colleagues (one for region) at the National Competition held last November in Treviso.

Matteo Cignetti is a young man with very clear ideas. “I had the good news of my victory while I was at home where I live, a few meters from my father Marino’s software company, on the road to Carrone, where I was connected online with the Calcutta jury in India – he says – and I was obviously very happy and surprised by my victory, but also by Italy, in this sector which represents excellence. Now, after the imminent graduation, I intend to travel the world for at least five years, working to deepen my research on new food raw materials, recipes and culinary experiences from other countries, in which I am very interested, and then return to work in Italy, where my girlfriend Letizia lives ».

Matteo Cignetti will be able to travel and travel the world, supporting himself with his work (certainly there will be offers), but also thanks to the 5 thousand dollars of the first prize of the Olympics for young chefs.

The young chef achieved Olympic success by preparing the two dishes for the grand finale, indicated by the international jury of the competition with a view to reducing food waste. The first recipe cooked by Matteo and awarded with Olympic gold was that of Granny’s roast chicken – chicken breast cooked with aromatic herbs on its bone, vacuum-packed sweet potato pastry with perfumes, fake leg made with chicken wings, Baked red onion stuffed with chicken liver and mushroom pate, sweet potato cream and brown chicken stock, with a side of chicken thighs and peppers ragout with a sweet potato mousse. The second, a nice dessert: Choco & citrus – Shortcrust pastry tart with self-produced butter, albedo cream, orange and lemon jam, apricot jam, chocolate namelaka. To complete lemon zest in syrup, orange jelly and leaf-shaped thuile.

In the preliminary phase, Matteo Cignetti had prepared other dishes, favoring the use of all parts of the various ingredients, under the careful control of the international judges, some of whom present in the kitchen of the Ecole Hôtelière of Châtillon, for tasting, others go online to evaluate the technique, cleanliness and hygiene in preparing dishes.

The regional councilor for cultural heritage, tourism, sport and commerce of thein Valle d’Aosta, Jean-Pierre Guichardaz congratulated: «Matteo’s high level of preparation, motivation and vocation were a guarantee of an excellent result; the highest podium makes us proud and motivates us more and more to invest in selection, in stimulating work and in high quality training. We wish him to always be at the top and to carry the name of our institution high “. In Canavese, one of the first to congratulate was the mayor of Strambino Sonia Cambursano, who underlined the determination with which the young man achieved the first milestone of his career and concluded by expressing the pride of the community. Good boy!