Pirelli Presents ‘Miles And Meals’

BUTTON AND GROSJEAN ARE THE CELEBRITY CHEFS AT MONTE CARLO IN A CULINARY ‘RACE’

LIVE FROM THE MOTORHOME KITCHEN

 INGREDIENTS TAKE TO THE TRACK AS TYRES, CARS AND MECHANICS

TO RACE IN THEIR OWN ‘GRAND PRIX’

Monte Carlo, May 23, 2012 – Jenson Button and Romain Grosjean were the celebrity chefs in the Pirelli motorhome, with the two champions going head to head in a culinary race this time under the watchful eye of Paul Hembery, the Italian firm’s motorsport director.

The challenge between the two drivers and a tasting of some of the Pirelli motorhome’s specialities, formed the backdrop today to the launch of “Miles and Meals – handcrafted by Pirelli”: a recipe book that reveals the secrets of Pirelli’s chefs and looks behind the scenes at the work of Pirelli’s personnel.

“Miles and Meals”, a limited edition gift for guests and friends of Pirelli, is a playful way of illustrating the similarities between tyres and risotto, as well as compounds and ingredients. It’s an alternative look at how the world of tyres works, bringing out the lighter side of life in the motorhome.

“Making a good tyre is like making a good risotto,” writes Maurizio Boiocchi at the start of the book: Pirelli’s research and development director and the ‘father’ of the Formula One P Zero and Cinturato tyres.

The book opens by drawing a parallel between kitchen recipes and tyre compounds. Both are the result of top quality ingredients and the harmonious balance between them, as well as constant checking, years of experience and undivided attention to the end client: whether it’s a team using tyres or a privileged guest in the motorhome. Another element in common is human know-how. The touch of an expert is crucial in the kitchen and no less vital when it comes to dealing with the cutting-edge technology that that characterises the production of modern competition tyres. This essential element is reflected by one key word in the book’s subheading, “handcrafted”, and also by the photographs that depict Pirelli’s engineers measuring, analysing and preparing the tyres for competition.

“Miles and Meals” brings together the recipes of Pirelli’s head chef Fabrizio Tanfani, overseen by hospitality manager Cristian Staurenghi. The book takes in some of the best dishes to emerge from their kitchen, race after race across all four corners of the world. Accompanying the recipes – all naturally based on Italian cuisine, but often influenced by the flavours of the countries visited during the year – are strikingly original photographs of the ingredients in a Formula One context, particularly when it comes to pasta.

So the agnolotti are in the shape of racing cars going head to head around a corner, the paccheri are single-seaters driving down a straight flanked by tyres made out of tomatoes and pine nuts, sprinkled sea salt is a gravel trap, a basil leaf is a green light, and even an octopus takes on the form of a mechanic with eight arms – ready to launch into the fastest pit stop imaginable.

Each recipe is accompanied by anecdotes that tell the story of every circuit from the point of view of the tyres and of the kitchen. So we find out that Australian Angus beef is the best possible choice for a typically Italian steak, in the markets ofDelhiit’s possible to find plenty of ingredients normally used in Tuscan cuisine, if you look hard enough, and that avocado can be the best accompaniment to a Mediterranean seafood salad.

There is also plenty of behind the scenes stories and atmosphere from the Pirelli motorhome and the company’s engineers. This takes in moments of relaxation such as the ‘Italian Sunday’ – a short break originally designed to beat the equatorial heat of Malaysia – to the everyday hard work of meetings, strategy analysis, data collection and calculation of camber and set-up for each race.

The recipes from “Miles and Meals” will shortly be available in digital form as well, to download from www.pirelli.com

Photographs from the “Miles and Meals” book, as well as images from the challenge between Button and Grosjean, are available at the following link: http://www.pirelliftp.com/share/f1/2012/monaco_event/page/index.html

PIRELLI’S HOUSE NUMBERS

Meals served per day: 180

Meals served per year: 21,600 (during 20 grands prix and 4 test sessions)

Meals per grand prix: around 600

Kilograms of meat: 18 kg per day – 90 kg per grand prix

Kilograms of fish: 12 kg per day – 60 kg per grand prix;

Kilograms of pasta: 10 kg per day – 50 kg per grand prix;

Oil: 15 litres per week;

Bread: 50 baguettes per day;

Water: 1500 half-litre bottles per week;

Coffee: 2000/2500 coffees per grand prix;

Milk: 100 litres per week with cappuccino and tea

Fruit: 35 kilograms per week

Total seats: 38

Each table is turned around on average about four times at lunch; between team and guests around 150 meals are served.

Number of people who work in the hospitality: 8. Three waitresses, two sous-chefs, one manager (Federica Marini) as well as Cristian and Fabrizio.

Size of kitchen: 2.50 metres wide and 7 metres long.

Motorhome size: 85 square metres.


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