Gourmet Italian Cruise Cuisine
Molecular Gastronomy With Top Chef on Gourmet Italian Costa Cruise
If you go on a Costa Cruises holiday, you can try a Michelin starred chef's funky Italian 'molecular cooking'.
Costa Cruises is the ideal cruise line for lovers of Italian cuisine. The company, which has just launched its 2009 brochure, is Italian owned -so the menus on all their cruises have a distinct Mediterranean flavour. On each voyage, the company say that the kitchen uses up to 50 types of pasta (which must be pretty well every shape in existence) and the wine lists are chosen by the Italian Sommeliers’ Association. They might even hold a pasta festival while you’re on board.
Italian Cuisine on Cruise Flagships
As an Italian company, Costa aim to create a relaxed atmosphere on board their ships. The cruises offer dream holidays that take you all over the world – but on board ship you’ll always find Italian hospitality and style. Go on a cruise on one of their flagships, Costa Concordia or Costa Serena, and you’ll also be able to enjoy the culinary creations of Executive Chef Ettore Bocchia, who holds a Michelin star. He brings a contemporary twist to traditional dishes with his version of ‘molecular cuisine’.
Molecular Gastronomy
If that sounds like science in the kitchen you’d be right. It’s a style made famous in the UK by chef Heston Blumenthal of the Fat Duck restaurant in Bray (that's Heston of snail porridge fame), and involves creating dishes with unusual cooking methods – such as using liquid nitrogen which, at –196C, freezes food without cooling the mouth. This adds intensity to flavours – and drama at the table. Another technique of 'molecular gastronomy' is to cook fish wrapped in leek leaves with a melted sugar mixture instead of oil. It apparently cuts cooking time, retains moisture and creates a fat free dish.
Ettore Bocchia menu
A typical Ettore Bocchia menu for Costa Cruises might feature cold tomato cream soup, with mozzarella, toasted almonds, olives and basil oil; handmade ‘bigoli’ pasta with lamb and artichoke ragout; lascagnetta with vegetables and smoked Scamorza cheese with cream of peas, and a dessert of white chocolate tart with a ‘liquid heart’ of raspberries and liquorice sauce. Well, you don’t go on a cruise to lose weight, do you?
New Cruise Routes for USA
For 2009 Costa Cruises are introducing two new flagships, Costa Luminosa and Costa Pacifica. The former will be contemporary with features like a 4D cinema, golf simulator with 37 virtual courses and a roller skating track. Both will offer luxury accommodation.
In their 2009 brochure, Costa Cruises are offering around 100 different itineraries. There will be a cruise from Italy to Argentina and up the Amazon; cruise routes in Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia, and new cruises in the USA and Canada (with calls in places such as Boston, Quebec and New York). Mediterranean cruises will call at Capri, Elba and St Tropez.
