Maurizio Santin & II Cuoco Black

Maurizio Santin was born in Milan, Italy in 1966 to his Great Chef father, Ezio Santin, and his mother Renata, and his parents owned Antica Osteria del Ponte outside of Milan.  As he grew up in the kitchen of the restaurant and trained by his father, Maurizio made the desserts for the family at home.  The thunderbolt that conquered his art of pastry, came through a holiday in Nice, France when he met and watched Jacques Maximin prepare his chocolate millefeuille.  Chef Santin read, and still reads a lot of pastry books and changes up to 60 dessert recipes per year.  Following school, he was sent over to France to study under Joel Robuchon, Georges Blanc and at the Taillevant restaurant in Paris, (all Michelin three-stars).  Following that, he worked for Alain Ducasse in Monte Carlo, before returning to the Antica Osteria del Ponte.

In the summer of 2000, the Great Chefs television team was at the family restaurant in Cassinet de Lugagnano outside of Milan to tape his father, Great Chef Ezio Santin.  Chef Ezio explained to the crew that his son Maurizio could prepare a better dessert than he, so Great Chefs taped Chef Maurizio creating wild strawberries with cream and honey, for the Discovery Channel’s Great Chefs of the World, episode 233.

Chef Maurizio, whose nickname is now “”Cuoco Black” because of his own television shows “Sweetly” and “Ready Steady Cook” on the Italian RAI 1 TV Network, has opened his own restaurant in Rome called “II Cuoco Black”, complete with a rich dessert menu.  He also is the artistic director of the school of haute cuisine, Mise en Place, in Naples.