An Edinburgh schoolboy could be the next big kitchen star after his baking demo video was distributed throughout Italy.
Rocco Truffelli, 11, pulled on his chef’s whites and delivered an accomplished tutorial on how to make chocolate brownies while giving easy-to-follow instructions in Italian.
With Italy under a strict quarantine as it struggled to contain the coronavirus, families were compelled to stay at home and children were not permitted to venture outside.
Family entertainment specialists Il Mondo di Scimpa devised new ways to engage with customers, and in an effort to keep children occupied the video “In The Kitchen With Rocco” was sent to more than 400,000 subscribers.
Dad Marco, who is from Liguria in north west Italy, watched over the budding Tom Kitchin and dealt with the hot oven, while Rocco laid out the ingredients, explained how they should come together and baked one of his favourite dishes, before polishing it off with a large helping of gelato.
The Edinburgh Academy primary seven pupil has always taken an interest in what is being cooked up by Marco and Scottish mum Morag, and he is interested in becoming a baker when he is older.
And Morag, a sales manager at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, is sometimes tasked with taking Rocco’s dishes in to the office to be graded by colleagues on taste and appearance.
Morag said: “We’ve always encouraged him in the kitchen and are not really surprised he has taken an interest in cooking. Marco is very much in to Italian cooking and I take care of the British side of things and Rocco gets involved with both of us.
“This was the first time he had made chocolate brownies and they were actually lovely and he has baked them since. He gives me things he has made to take in to work and it gets marked from 1 to 10 and he gets feedback.”
The video was such a success that Rocco is planning his next cooking demo. He said: “I enjoy being in the kitchen and want to do it again. I am going to try an amuse bouche next time with avocado, mozzarella, anchovies and maybe some cavolo nero on toast. School is still giving us a lot of work to do, so I like it when I can have a break in the kitchen.”
And a pro tip from Rocco – “The original chocolate brownie recipe has Golden Syrup but after a while we decided honey would be yummier.”
Stephen Rafferty is a former crime correspondent at The Scotsman and was a staff reporter for the Daily Record and Edinburgh Evening News. He has freelanced for many of the Scottish and UK national newspaper titles. Got a story? Get in touch - stephen@theedinburghreporter.co.uk
