The passion for smells of François Chartier (Quebec, 59 years old) is a matter of genetics. A gift that awakened in his childhood almost at the same time that he uttered his first words, and that led him to think more about that cinnamon that flavored the donut that he devoured after a hockey game than about the sport itself. “My brother always says that I was already thinking about aromas at the same time I started talking…” he reveals to El PAÍS. The best sommelier in the world of 1994 and author of the book Papillae and Molecules (Gastro Planet)which won the award for Best Cookbook in the Food Innovation category. Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards 2010, is in Madrid at the time of this interview. The reason for his visit is the presentation of an exclusive pairing for Mantequerías Arias and its specialty cheeses Caprice des Dieux and Saint Agur, a new step in the aromatic science of molecular harmonies that he invented decades ago to understand the impact of aromas on our lives, and specifically, in the world of gastronomy, wine and drinks.
Understanding the work of François Chartier involves getting to know the character himself, an energetic and talkative Canadian who one day left his architecture studies to delve into wine sommelier and create his own gastronomic treatise: “I am not a chef or sommelier, nor do I work in the gastronomy. Smells are my thing. For me, smell has a very strong evocative power. “It's Proust's madeleine,” he confesses. Since the eighties he has been tirelessly immersed in the so-called molecular sommelier, a genetic analysis of foods that allows deciphering the harmony or imbalance between various ingredients and drinks to give rise to surprising and perfect pairings, simply by sharing dominant molecules.
Or in other words, why foods like cilantro and parsley can enhance tabbouleh or cheese together. brie Harmonize with mushrooms and chopped almonds. “It is very simple. In a cheese of this type we find 280 molecules. If we reduce the dominant ones and compare it with our database that houses more than 300,000 references, we will obtain a list with ingredients and drinks that are unthinkable to combine, such as apricot, avocado or the skin of orange, but by sharing those same molecules they are harmonious with each other. In this way, a brutal synergy is created between the cheese and, for example, an avocado and anchovy toast, but also with mushrooms for their floral touch and walnuts or some chips strawberry and basil… The result is incredible!”, he expresses with true exaltation. “And no grapes or nuts,” she emphasizes, a culinary cliché that he recommends banishing completely, since grape seeds provide a bitterness that does not fit well with the acidity of the tannins of red wine. “Better served with fresh almonds, an IPA beer or a chardonnay fermented in oak barrels, since they share dominant molecules,” he suggests.
Another mistake we make when planning a cheese board, Chartier points out, is to think of variety as a sign of distinction. Mistake. “Put on the same plate a blue cheese, a caprice and one with goat is like having lamb and salmon on the same plate. I advise using the same family of cheeses in the same dish (if it is brie, different types of the same) and then play with the pairing of the rest of the ingredients. It is also important to pay attention to the wine we choose, since one wine does not go with all cheeses. I recommend not mixing.” And be careful not to let ourselves be carried away by that usual romantic tandem that chocolate and strawberries form. Chartier suggests that we celebrate love in another culinary way. “It is nonsense to combine them because they do not share aromatic DNA, if we want to add a fruit it is better to be peach or apricot. As for drinks, dark chocolate is enhanced with a gran reserva cava better than with a young one, since there is nothing in the aroma that they share.
Everything is collected, he emphasizes, in his book Papillae and aromas, a culinary bible for cooks around the world that not only discovered the world of hidden flavors in food and wine, but reflects on theories dating back to the Paleolithic. This is the case of the existence of the bitter taste as a sign of survival for the human species. “For 10,000 years we have associated a food due to its bitterness with something that can be bad for our health, since its flavor is reminiscent of poison. It is an animal reflex. That is why it is the most difficult flavor to pair. On the other hand, sugar dominates our lives because it is an easy flavor and we take it from our childhood in breast milk.”
Talking to this passionate about impossible pairings is like having an oracle in front of you to know exactly what we do wrong and what we do right in the kitchen. And no room for error. “It is an exact science because it is based on the DNA of food. Just like we have eyes or hair of a certain color, or our voice sounds a certain way, each ingredient is configured with molecules. “It's a genetic issue.” And he concludes that “human beings have between a 60 and 80% chance of receiving things in the same way through the nose. There are some exceptions. “Almost 30% of men cannot stand truffles because of their smell, and the reason is simply because it is in their DNA.” The same thing happens with cilantro, he explains, a cooking ingredient that generates both fans and detractors: “It's because of each person's genetics.”
Chartier speaks, however, in empirical terms of something as opposed to reason as emotion or pleasure, capable of generating emotional synergies such as invoking the memory of a family member through a glass of wine. “My grandfather gave roses to my grandmother, and she always kept them in the drawers of her room. Now when I try a glass of Gewurztraminer, that grape from Alsace that smells like roses, its smell takes me back to that memory of my childhood self when I entered her bedroom. That is the evocative power of aromas.”
In 2018, after several stays in Japan, he began to discover an overflowing passion for sake, crystallized in a successful collaboration as master blender from Tanaka Shuzo, one of the oldest distilleries in the country that bears the Chartier name on a line of artisanal sake. His relationship with the Japanese country goes further, through an Artificial Intelligence project applied to gastronomy that is being developed together with Sonybut also prepares a book focused on the sensory stimulation of the little ones, Papillae and molecules for children. “It is very important to educate children's senses. It would be very stimulating if there was a class in schools so they could learn to smell things. With smell you learn to identify a food, increase your vocabulary and understand what you eat or drink. “Children would better understand what is good for their health when they are adults and thus diseases such as obesity would be avoided,” he reflects. Because as that old proverb says, we are what we eat… And also what we smell.
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