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waveco® machine, thanks to its innovative technique of induced maturation©, we had the chance to explore the classes and kitchens of Gambero Rosso Academy school, in the “Città del gusto” (City of taste) of Rome, where we met chef Cosimo Branca, the Chef Tech Pro teacher, a professional class created by Michelin-starred chef Igles Corelli and destined to the education of new professional figures in the food service field.

We discussed with chef Cosimo Branca how he is using his waveco® machine inside the Gambero Rosso Academy and which are the benefits achieved and the new culinary challenges he is overcoming thanks to induced maturation©.

When we met him, he told us how during lockdown his lab stayed dormant: “everything was left there, as if it was just waiting for our return in order to fully express its potential, explains chef Branca. Setting back in motion machines like waveco® was a bit like reawakening a world, with all its sounds and potential, just like in springtime”.

But how we could imagine, the craving for cooking and experimenting new things didn’t cease during the lockdown break: “A chef’s experimentation never stops – explains the chef – neither in his world nor at home. The research goes on with every means even at home, waiting for the moment when they can go back to their natural habitat, which is the kitchen, in order to fully express themselves. Machines like waveco® offer so many ideas to solve issues in everyday cooking that happen as well on a large scale in professional kitchens: issues such as the shelf life of ingredients, the safety of many food products, and the respect of organoleptic qualities of food products”.

All these factors explained by the chef are crucial for the post-pandemic restart of a restaurant business and, as the chef himself explains, having the chance to use innovative machines in the kitchen is a huge benefit: “In our country, during this phase of uncertainty yet of strong impetus, being able to adjust by the millimeters our work rhythm in the kitchen is crucial in order to avoid food waste and unnecessary costs. In this respect, waveco® is an essential help, ensuring an improvement in raw material shelf life thus adapting it to the new work flows and rhythms, something that allowed me to ensure every time both maximum freshness and minimum food waste. Having the chance – goes on chef Branca – to quickly process food products or food parts that we wouldn’t have considered before, like tough meat cuts or vegetables, gives us constant inspiration to reshape our work in a sustainable way”.

We all know how important it is for a restaurant business to reduce waste, a factor that can have a significant impact on management costs and can considerably affect the whole management of the raw material choice in the creation of the final dish; something that chef Branca remarks as well, offering an example from his research and experimentation activity with our machine: “When analysing the many practical issues occurring in a kitchen and experimenting, in many respects waveco® turned out to be an irreplaceable ally. We started from dealing with common issues, like the tenderness, taste and juiciness of white meat, a recurring topic in kitchens. Instead of focusing on what we were going to lose during cooking, we followed the opposite path. By using waveco® and the marinating techniques the machine allowed, thanks to its action on food fibers, we realised that we could re-introduce in meats like guinea fowl, pheasant and chicken the fats extracted from the skin and tissues of the same animals. This ensured at the same time an improvement in meat texture. Being able to save time on dry aging and to use all parts of an animal are now more than ever some evident practical and economic benefits; not to mention the ethical aspect”.

Our waveco® machine ensures that all parts of a chosen product will be used in order to create a dish, and above all it allows you to use – with surprising results, as explained by the chef – all those meats usually considered too tough or complex to be used in preparations, such as game: ” We’ve often used waveco® to process a meat very dear to me, I mean pigeon meat. Just vacuum-packing and treating the crown cut with our machine allowed us to increase considerably – we are talking about several days, as remarked by the chef – the shelf life thanks to the drop in bacterial load, and to achieve the tenderness we were looking for using an active, free-range animal whose meat is very firm. The processing of pigeon meat – goes on chef Branca – can now be replicated large-scale and used in winter even on game available only in a limited frame of time. This can help avoid blast chilling, long aging (which carries the risk of increasing the bacterial load), the loss of juices during cooking and, last but not least, it offers the chance to purchase more goods at a more affordable price”.

Before we leave the chef to his job, as is our custom we asked him to offer some advice for his colleagues on how to use this waveco® technology, especially concerning this long phase of restart. These are his words: “I think that technology applied in the food service field, something that before these months was still perceived with some skepticism, is now more than ever, given the current emergency, the answer to many unsolved problems. Machines like waveco® can make a big difference in dealing with everyday issues in your kitchen. We are all facing something unprecedented, and only new solutions can help us overcome this phase, by becoming stronger than ever. Many people and chefs are afraid that machines will replace men in every aspect, but machines need us in order to exist and express their potential, so we are not talking about an alternative, but a beneficial symbiosis. Constantly evolving techniques such as the induced maturation© performed by waveco®, will pave the way from the kitchens and food service of the past to the ones of tomorrow”.

Thank you chef and enjoy your work.