Collection 01
Pure in essence. Radical in approach.
An essence is one thing, taken as far as it will go. Nothing beside it to soften it, nothing added to make it easier to like. What is left has to hold on its own. We work back to the root of the thing and leave it at full strength.
Treviso, Veneto · c. 1970
After Le Beccherie
Savoiardi, egg yolk, sugar, mascarpone, cream, Marsala, coffee, cocoa. The Marsala belongs there — it is in the Treviso recipe, and the versions that leave it out are the edited ones, not this. Nothing is added to make it hold: it stands because it is built cold and left overnight, and there is no gelatine in it.
Black Forest, Baden-Württemberg · c. 1915
After Josef Keller
Sour morellos, cream whipped with nothing in it to hold it up, and enough Kirschwasser in the sponge that you meet the spirit before the fruit. German law will not let a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte be sold as one without the kirsch, and that is the right law — take it out and this is a chocolate cake with cream on it.
San Sebastián, Basque Country · 1990
After La Viña
Burnt across the top, barely set in the middle, no base and no water bath. The scorch is the recipe — not a flaw we decided to keep.