Meat 360°: Paolo Cappuccio’s New Vision

Science, gastronomic culture, and haute cuisine come together in the Michelin-starred chef’s new book. Fifty recipes and a journey through the raw ingredients, from the supply chain to dry-aging to low-temperature cooking.

There’s a different way to talk about meat. Not by simply starting with a recipe, but by understanding what ends up on the plate: origin, rearing, characteristics of the raw ingredients, aging, processing, temperature, and time.

This is the perspective chosen by Paolo Cappuccio in Carne a 360° in CBT, the new book published by Leonardo J. Edizioni in the Star Chef series.

This book goes beyond the structure of a traditional cookbook to create a journey in which cuisine, nutrition, the supply chain, and technique interact with one another. At its heart, of course, is meat—but viewed from multiple perspectives and entrusted to the precision of Low-Temperature Cooking (LTC).

Meat, Beyond the Clichés

The book’s stated aim is ambitious: to ground the discussion of meat in knowledge, moving it away from oversimplifications and placing it within the broader context of nutritional balance and Mediterranean gastronomic culture.

For Cappuccio, in fact, the raw ingredient must not be constrained by technique. It must be understood.

“The present and future of Italian cuisine lie in tradition, which must nevertheless be renewed with courage, vision, and respect. Meat is a cornerstone of our food supply chain and our gastronomic culture. Every dish begins by listening to the raw ingredient: CBT isn’t meant to distort the meat, but to listen to its fibers,” explains the chef.

Low-temperature cooking thus becomes a precision tool through which to control the transformation of food and seek out textures, tenderness, aromas, and juiciness.

Not a technology used to impress, therefore, but a technique put at the service of the product.

When Cuisine Meets Science

One of the distinctive features of Carne a 360° in CBT is its multidisciplinary nature.

Alongside the chef, the book features contributions from professionals in the medical, biological, and nutritional fields, including Sara Farnetti, Susanna Compare, and Hilary Di Sibio.

The book thus explores the relationship between cooking methods and the nutritional characteristics of food, also focusing on the compounds that can form during certain high-temperature processes—such as AGEs and HCAs—and on the role that different techniques can play in meat preparation.

Marinades, aging, temperatures, and cooking times become part of a broader framework that connects gastronomy and nutrition.

The message running throughout the book is therefore not one of indiscriminate consumption, but rather one of awareness: understanding the product, its origin, how it is processed, and the role it can play within an overall balanced diet.

It all starts with the supply chain

Before getting to the stove, Cappuccio takes the reader back to the source of the raw ingredients.

Elisa Guizzo, an expert in the livestock supply chain and a journalist, outlines the main cattle breeds and different farming systems—including grass-fed and grain-fed—highlighting the relationship between the local area, production methods, and the characteristics of the meat.

With the Ballardini brothers, artisans from Trentino, we enter the world of maturation and salt-controlled dry aging.

This is an important step because it restores a story to the product that often disappears by the time it reaches the plate.

Behind every cut of meat lie the farm, the region, artisanal expertise, maturation, and preservation. Cooking is merely the final link in this chain.

Fifty recipes, from the Florentine steak to beef cheek

Then comes the time for cooking.

The core of the book consists of 50 signature recipes, created by Paolo Cappuccio together with his team: Tiziano Brichese, Antonio Dabraio, Antonio Dipalma, and Gennaro Pernice.

Beef, pork, lamb, and poultry are interpreted through a wide variety of cuts.

Alongside the great classics—filet mignon, Florentine steak, pork chop, and sirloin—there’s also room for diaphragm, picanha, flank steak, beef cheek, and oxtail.

It is precisely with the less familiar cuts that technique can become particularly interesting: understanding fibers, structure, temperature, and cooking times means being able to recognize the potential of a raw ingredient even before transforming it.

The recipes also play on contrasts: hot and cold, crispy and tender, texture and delicacy.

The visual aspect plays an important role. The photographs showcase the colors, textures, and composition of the dishes, making the book appealing to both professionals and enthusiasts who wish to explore a more technically sophisticated approach to cooking.

A specific section is dedicated to CBT and the sous-vide technique, with guidance on equipment, handling different types and cuts of meat, temperatures, and the various stages of preparation.

The book is rounded out by a Basic Recipe Collection dedicated to sauces, stocks, garnishes, and fundamental preparations, designed as a practical tool for professional kitchens.

Paolo Cappuccio: It All Began at Thirteen

Behind Carne a 360° on CBT, however, lies a story that also helps us understand the author’s approach to cooking.

Paolo Cappuccio is from Naples, and his first encounter with that world came very early on.

He was just thirteen when his father sent him to work at a relative’s pastry shop over the summer, so he could learn a trade and stay off the streets.

What could have been just a summer job became the start of a calling. Cappuccio developed a passion for that environment and decided to continue his studies in the field, attending the Posillipo Hotel Management School.

From Naples, he embarked on a journey that gradually took him to the great kitchens of the Italian and international hospitality industry.

Venice, Portofino, the Costa Smeralda, Cortina, Switzerland, France. Then New York, with his experience at Cipriani.

France represented one of the significant milestones in his training. He attended the prestigious Lenôtre in Paris, deepening his understanding of the culture of precision and technique that would remain central to his approach to the craft.

Throughout his career, he interacted with leading figures in international gastronomy and drew inspiration from the teachings of the great masters who transformed 20th-century cuisine, from Paul Bocuse to Gualtiero Marchesi.

But one of the defining moments of his professional journey took place in the mountains.

At the Stube Hermitage in Madonna di Campiglio, Cappuccio presents a cuisine in which the Mediterranean heritage of his origins meets a completely different landscape.

In 2009, he earned his Michelin star.

After the star, the quest continues

For Cappuccio, this recognition is not an endpoint.

His cuisine continues to evolve through study, experimentation, and research into food preparation techniques.

His interest in sous-vide cooking and low temperatures gradually became part of his professional identity, along with his focus on the relationship between flavor, plate composition, and nutrition.

In 2015, he also earned a master’s degree in Culinary Medicine from the Cucina Evolution Academy, expanding his work to include the study of balanced menus, sports nutrition, and contemporary approaches to wellness.

Today, Cappuccio combines his culinary work with activities as ateacher, consultant, and food designer. He works in high-end restaurant consulting, banqueting, and luxury weddings, and dedicates a significant portion of his time to training the next generation of chefs.

It is a journey in which he also recognizes the value of the teachings he received from his mentors Giuseppe Scuotto, Corrado Corti, and Ivan Catenacci.

And perhaps it is precisely this training that represents one of the most evident points of connection with “Carne a 360°” on CBT: the desire to transform the experience accumulated in the kitchen into knowledge to be passed on.

One ingredient, many stories

By the end of the book’s 224 pages, meat appears almost as a pretext for telling a larger story.

Because within a single food item coexist territory, livestock farming, craftsmanship, culture, science, and gastronomic memory.

Technique comes second.

And when it does come into play, in Cappuccio’s view, it shouldn’t erase that history but rather make it visible on the plate.

This is likely the most interesting aspect of Carne a 360° in CBT: remembering that innovation in the kitchen doesn’t necessarily mean straying from tradition.

Sometimes it means understanding it deeply enough to transform it without losing it.

Technical Partners

The project benefited from the collaboration of Ballardini Carni, Hotmix PRO, Besser Vacuum, Il Mercante d’Olio MDO, Boschetto Campacci, Veetaste, F.lli Molena Srl, and Cose Agency.