- 1. Give us a brief history of your career up until working with Gelato Messina?
Before working at Gelato Messina, I worked at A Tavola (renowned Sydney pasta restaurant) for 1.5 years as a senior Sous Chef. Before that, I worked as Head Chef at Pizza E Birra in Surry Hills.
- 2. What do you see as your career highlight?
Meeting Danny Palumbo! (part-owner of Gelato Messina and brother of gelato master Nick Palumbo)
- You are moving from being a chef to a gelato maker – how do you think this will be different? In what ways do you think this will be the same?
It is a whole new adventure! In saying that, there are still the same mechanics and formulas in creating something that gels beautifully, and I will still be called upon to use my creativity to introduce new flavours and combinations that work. I can easily transfer the skills I have acquired from previous jobs into the skills I will require as a gelato chef. My previous experience in food undoubtedly helps me in this job.
- How did you come to work at Gelato Messina?
I was approached by Nick to come and help him in the kitchen and to lend my creativity to help him devise new flavours – they wanted to dedicate more time to flavour innovation and experimentation.
- What does your job at Gelato Messina involve?
I assist Danny and Nick in the kitchen, formulating new recipes and flavours – with me on board there is more time allocated to dream up new combinations. We are thinking of new flavours every day! Some of the recent creations I have helped to create include ‘Persian Saffron and Pistachio Praline’ and ‘Pecan Pie’. Between the three of us I think we will see some great new, innovative stuff coming out of Gelato Messina.
- What will we see more of now that you are working with Messina?
As we have more time now dedicated to dreaming up new flavours and testing our ideas out, you will see more flavours coming in more often. As Nick and Danny have been so busy, they have not had the opportunity to actually make the flavours we wanted to – now we will! And additionally, my creativity and previous experience will add to the Palumbo mix, all three of us are very creative!
- What makes Gelato Messina different from other gelaterias? How is the process Nick uses different to other Gelaterias?
It is completely different Рat Messina everything is done from scratch. We use no bases, no pastes, no artificial flavours Рeverything is literally used in its purest and rawest form. For example, the hazelnut flavour begins with hazelnuts, which are then roasted, smashed, pur̩ed into a paste, for apple we peel apples and bake them with cinnamon Рit is like taking raw ingredients and turning them into ice cream. The banana flavour has such a high percentage of fresh banana because the colour darkens slightly in the tub across time, just as a banana itself would.
Naturally, there is a lot of trial and error in this process, and it is incredibly labour intensive, but ultimately that is why Messina produces such a superior product. I compare it to the way we made pasta at A Tavola, where we used eggs, flour, etc and put it together to create pasta, except here we use different raw ingredients to make this wonderful thing we call gelato!
- What are your favourite flavours?
I love trying to mix flavours to create a whole new taste, and trying to find new combinations that work, rather than having one specific flavour I love. At Messina, we are constantly searching for new, innovative blends that work together.
- What are some of the more innovative flavours you are planning to make?
At the moment, I am trying to work out a sherry combination, and perhaps try one with lavender – something pretty! We are a creative bunch, so you will definitely be seeing a lot more. As we are not limited by the ‘pastes’ or ‘flavours’ that are available, we can pretty much do whatever we want - once we figure out how to make it work! Essentially we are only limited by our imagination, because we start everything from its raw ingredients we can formulate it from scratch to make it work. It is like a science lab in here!!
- Why do you think that Nick’s gelato is so popular?
It is rare to see gelaterias that only have gelato these days – most seem to be morphing into cafes. But at Messina we only sell gelato and nothing else – gelato and gelato alone is Messina’s focus.
There is simply nothing like it that you can get from other gelaterias. Each flavour is just that little bit different each time it is churned, because it is an artisan product. It is so pure, natural and real – not to mention it tastes ridiculously good!!
