By Simone Bandini
The story of Luca Caroti and Patrizia Fracassi of ‘Maleducato’ speaks and intertwines with sentimental and family life. It is immediately understood, meeting them, how this restaurant is the kingdom of their complicity: freedom and choice to be together, first of all, and to do the things that belong to them. Starting with the love for beer that builds – and does not suffer – a completely original gastronomic proposal. It all starts from here, from this alchemical fermentation.
Today they are parents of three children (Lapo, Brando and Rubio) and, like many other families, they juggle the commitments of professional and family life.
Luca and Patrizia met in a restaurant in Montepulciano when they were still two boys. Then since then they have always worked together in different hotels and clubs in the area: “We moved as a couple,” smiles Patrizia.
“Since ’99 we have started to produce beer in an artisanal, homemade way. A passion that has increased over the years, after my experience in England, with the culture of its pubs that I brought back home – also here at the ‘Maleducato’ in its industrial and minimal style – involving the family in all the necessary processes: from the grinding of the malt to the bottling. Finally, I specialized at Cerb in Perugia (Research Center for Beer Excellence) becoming a master brewer,” Luca tells us.
What they produce are completely craft beers, using raw materials of great quality and selected origin, depending on the style: “They are absolutely unique, exclusive beers. They don’t taste like corn at all, which we avoid because it’s a dye – and develops sugars.”
Specifically, 8 types of draft beers are available: “Our most drunk one is a double ipa (Rubio, like my son). Ours are beers that are more complex than lagers, which have a uniform and more ‘draining’ taste. They boast an aromatic and articulated bouquet. I am very fond of ‘Zio Ciro’, produced with a percentage of rye malt, rough, pasty, around 6°. I could also tell you about a ‘Belgian’. The ‘Testimone’, made with rosemary and pepper, so aromatic and drinkable,” he confides.
In short, everything originates from this philosophy of beer, a culture transferred to pairing with the restaurant’s dishes: “We build our proposals in the kitchen to enhance our beer, and not vice versa. To this end, the necessary work is not to weigh down the flavours,” they confirm. Our beers are also sometimes used in cooking.
Luca then stretches out – betraying a deep passion in his gaze – in describing his love for spirits, borrowed from his stay in England: “At the time of the first home experiments I researched what could be done with the waste of the threshing machine and I discovered that it was possible to make whiskey!” From there the study and the frantic selection: as we speak, a friend with whom he is in negotiations for a cognac of Grande Champagne, aged a hundred years, calls him! These admirable spirits, especially rum and cognac, are offered at the end of a meal with desserts, as perfect finisseurs.
But let’s get to the kitchen, to understand their orientations: “We try to make everything ourselves, from bread (we make 4 or 5 types a day) to homemade pasta, to desserts, up to the search for new flours”, Patrizia tells us. We include among the specialties tagliatelle with hemp flour, pici with senatore cappelli and gnocchi with oatmeal. A lot of (bio)diversity, a lot of quality on the plate.
There are few but robust guidelines that guide the philosophy of the first courses: “We have a season to honour, taste and sustainability to pursue, respecting the times, the essence and the cycles of nature. We love to offer our cuts of pasta with local sauces, we are lovers of cod and octopus”. Speaking of appetizers and main courses: “We make use of modern techniques such as cbt cooking (at low temperature) and sous-vide, especially in fish dishes: “So you don’t lose flavours and aromas while the taste ‘tightens’ in hyperbole of flavours.”
“Our guests always find vegan dishes and we always have off-menu dishes such as chickpea hummus. Our workhorse is definitely the cbt duck breast in all its forms”, pink, soft and juicy to the bite, we confirm by tasting it.
Cod, as already mentioned, has a high lineage in fish main courses: “We ‘touch’ the fish as little as possible and it is cooked vacuum-packed at very low temperatures; Today we serve it with red lentils and caramelized onions”, a delight.
But let’s go back to the genesis of the name ‘Maleducato’ which may arouse curiosity: “It derives from our particular, irreverent formula, whereby in a land of wines we combine all our dishes with beers, moreover self-produced”.
In our tasting itinerary we try the ‘3 cabbage pies’ with cannellini cream combined with ‘Lapino’, a light beer, lager with the addition of hops, so to speak counter-disciplinary. The three pies are made respectively with seasonal vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli and Roman cabbage, for fresh combinations of early spring with still winter echoes. We’ll see what late spring has in store for us!
Then come the ‘Cinta livers cooked in cocoa butter with sautéed chard and panforte’, a delicacy with a thousand kaleidoscopic references: “A territorial dish revisited in our own way, handmade right from the raw material”.
The ‘Duck breast with herbs with broccoli and potatoes’ is served with ‘Rubio’ beer: the savoury and ‘fatty’ meats are gradually sweetish, balsamic with herbs. For this they need a more important beer that stands up to comparison and is fruity enough.
Desserts are in Patrizia’s realm, as well as bread. She is the one who recommends her special version, the ‘Birraghiottone’, with mascarpone cream and biscuits soaked directly in beer. Most of her proposals are of this kind: light and digestible, often lactose-free.
Info and reservations: ‘Maleducato – Birrificio e Ristorante’, Via F. Turati 12/14, Sinalunga (Si) / Tel. 0577 554252 / www.maleducatobeerfood.it