Miguel González kitchen in a charming restaurant, which bears his name, staying in a small rural hotel in the village of A Morteira, six kilometers from Ourense. Semi-hidden enclave on the slopes of a mountain that is accessed through a narrow and winding road and which the Michelin guide, which awarded it a star in the 2020 digital gala during the pandemic period, describes as a gastronomic treasure. It is not for less.
His professional history is summarized in some relevant milestones. He trained at the IES Villamarín school in Ourense, interned for a year with Pedro Subijana in Akelarre, and served as head pastry chef with the legendary Jacques Maximin, in Nice, in 2003, where he became an expert in the world of pastry. puff pastry. In 2018 he took charge of this enclave where stews and popular dishes were served to the small clientele in the area. Rural restaurant in which, despite the limitations that surrounded it, it did not take long to modify its offering in order to make way for modern market cuisine. “The star saved our lives,” he says. “We are in the middle of the mountains in an environment with limited gastronomic culture. For someone who lacks resources and does not have people to support him, as is my case, it was decisive.”
How and when did you start cooking with hot springs? I asked him: “I started in 2021. I was looking for something that would give us identity within the territory, an incentive for those who came to visit us. Ourense is the second thermal city in Europe due to the volume of its flows. Historically, since the Romans, the As Burgas springs, whose waters flow at more than 60º C, have been used for recreational and therapeutic purposes. And I began to study what had never been done before, its culinary possibilities. Nor is it anything new because years ago the bakers of Rúa dos Fornos used thermal waters, knowing its beneficial effects on yeasts. A potential in the making.”
He continued by telling how he contacted the University of Ourense, where “we started with a project aimed at analyzing the nature and composition of thermal waters, with varied organoleptic qualities depending on the mineralization of the subsoils through which they flow.” In his story he also highlighted “the long path begun, full of surprises from the analysis of potability and their respective contents of mineral salts, sulfur, potassium and fluoride. If the proportion of sulfur in a thermal water is high, the shell of the eggs tends to darken when boiled. With octopuses, their pigmentation increases and their sensory properties are accentuated.” In fact, his studies with the University have only just begun. “The thing is not about therapies, nor dermoaesthetics, but about cooking. We manage a diamond in the rough from which the gastronomy of Ourense can extract enormous benefits. Our project involves the preparation of a thermal map of the city and the province,” González continued, with uncontrollable enthusiasm.
How do hot springs affect vegetables, fish and shellfish? I insisted again. “In a thousand ways. They help to shorten the cooking times of vegetables and improve their textures. Yesterday I soaked some beans and after two hours they peeled off easily. I'm not telling you about turnips and collards, which are much more tender and accentuate their colors and flavors. Something similar with the gizzards. In hot springs they bleed out in 20 minutes and are cleaner, softer and whiter than usual, devoid of the impurities they leave in the water.”
How many paths remain to open in this sense? “Innumerable. They have told me a thousand times at the University that this is a long-term project. When you listen to their technicians you get scared: dehydrate, boil, freeze-dry, we can do everything. Last few days I collected two wild herbs, lemon verbena and lavender, infused them in thermal water and obtained the base of a different sorbet. The same thing happens to my meringue to which I add a thermal water syrup and it takes on an unexpected shine.”
I had to go from theory to practice and verify the reality of their work. I took a seat at his restaurant somewhat expectantly as in this house they modify their menus daily. “Our guests never know what they are going to eat and we don't know what we are going to cook that day either. Each of our menus is different, although always with one invariable parameter: the hot springs,” González told me.
“To make the gilda that you have on the table, Miguel combines thermal water with the vegetation water of the olives after crushing them, and as a thickener he adds less. xanthan of the foreseeable. We freeze the mixture in a mold, pass it through cocoa butter and let it defrost. Thanks to the thermal water we improve its texture and reduce its salt content,” Laura Novoa, González's wife, told me, who together with the sommelier Sergio Boada takes care of the room service. Great start. That gilda with a mimetic olive was one of the best she remembered.
A crab fritter boiled in thermal water followed with a umami remarkable. And as a third bite, a slice of mackerel marinated in equal parts sea and thermal water, glazed with soy sauce. I slowly savored the fourth pass on the menu, an egg yolk that had been poached in thermal water before being preserved in rosemary oil, accompanied by a boletus stew. The best until that moment, a memorable dish.
Prelude to the sea and mountain of scallops and lamb gizzards with which the menu continued. The scallop had been cured for 20 minutes in thermal water and grilled, and the gizzard was bled and blanched for three hours in thermal water before being glazed in Madeira wine and lightly browned on the grill. A convincing duo.
Halfway through the tasting I imposed an almost obligatory reflection exercise on myself. Beyond the possible nuances that the thermal waters could bring to each dish, until that moment Miguel González's cooking had excited me.
The crab boiled in thermal water with bay leaves in the Galician style revealed to me a seafood powerful in iodine and in umami. It appeared shredded and sautéed with shallots and butter, a splash of Fino wine and breadcrumbs. The San Sebastian-style changurro One in an updated version. Again excellent.
I wasn't convinced by his octopus recipe, tasty, but quite bland. After boiling it in thermal water, González fries it in a crust with choco ink, and places it on three sauces, one of seaweed codium, another thermal from the cooking broth itself, and a white from smoked San Simón cheese. The two fish that followed, sea bream and sea bass, had been cured (lañado in Galician terminology) in equal parts thermal water and mineral water before being steamed and drizzled with different seasonings. Splendid.
Prelude to grilled deer loin with butter from the Galician cheese factory Airas Moniz in the company of a cream of chestnuts boiled in milk and thermal waters, with the marrow of the deer and its own juices. With dessert, González himself burst into the room. “I present to you our thermal punch, which is actually a meringue in tribute to my grandfather. When I was young when I got up early to cut the grass I used to find him beating an egg yolk with sugar and a glass of cogna. I tried it one day and I could never forget it. At the bottom you will find a fermented apple pudding, on top of it a walnut ice cream, caramelized pineapple and the punch turned into foam. I add a syrup to the meringue that we make with sugar, thermal water and licorice infusion before adding it to the egg whites until stiff. Look at its brilliance, there is nothing like it.”
What motivates you in the short term? I asked him before saying goodbye. “Bringing to light the scientific and practical results of our work so that chefs who feel like it can use the hot springs as a culinary incentive. Something that contributes to increasing the gastronomic potential of Ourense.”
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