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As much as we love complex tasting menus, unique pairings and the delicious surprise of top technique in the kitchen, sometimes we all just want to enjoy a pizza.
Now imagine if that pizza could have as much dedication to detail as a Michelin tasting menu. This is the idea of visual effect artist Michele Benigna who makes pizzas inspired by the dishes of world famous chefs and posts them at Flour and Gold on Instagram. (A beautiful account that deserves a lot more followers).
Benigna has reimagining dishes from the likes of Massimo Bottura and Gordon Ramsay and his creations look amazing. "I love fine dining and I also love pizza," he told Fine Dining Lovers. "I love eating it and the whole process of making it. I learned from some of the best in Italy, including Simone Padoan and I worked in a Michelin star restaurant when I was living in London. I believe that pizza can be much more than the humble popular, junk food we are used to, especially outside Italy. My project is a way of expressing my love for the two worlds of fine dining and pizza."
The passionate pizzaiolo, who also works for Peter Jackson's Weta Digital company in New Zealand, has replicated five famous dishes and he takes this stuff very seriously, providing details on the toppings, the original inspiration and the specific dough for each pizza. For the Bottura dish, Benigna made the toppings from the chef’s iconic Five Ages of Parmesan dish and steamed the dough in Parmigiano Reggiano broth, for Heston Blumenthal's legendary Sound of The Sea dish, he added kombu seaweed to the base.
Below you can see some of Benigna’s creations, be sure to visit the Flour and Gold website for more details on how each one was made.
Heston Blumenthal's Sound of The Sea.
Made with Kombu seaweed dough and topped with king fish sashimi, turmeric marinated scallops, sea urchin, green mussels and edible sand.
Massimo Bottura's Five Ages of Parmesan Cheese.
Made with dough steamed in Parmigiano broth and topped with Mousse, air made of Parmigiano crusts broth, Parmigiano and ricotta souffle', creamy Parmigiano sauce and a crispy, oven-roasted tuille.
Gordon Ramsay's Lobster Ravioli.
Made with a turmeric infused dough and topped with Butter poached lobster tail, salmon mousse, caviar, pea tendrils, lobster bisque.
Daniel Humm's Beetroot Salad.
Made with caraway seeds and rye dough and topped with Red, golden, orange and white roasted beetroots, pickled beetroot carpaccio, goat cheese mousse, caraway seeds tuilles and micro basil.
Gualtiero Marchesi's Il Rosso E Il Nero.
Made with active charcoal dough and topped with spicy gazpacho, monk fish marinated in squid ink, pan fried with its marinade and finished off with a squid ink mayonnaise.
