Gastronomic Region of Murcia
Rodrigo de la Calle and his radically vegetable dishes, the limitless creativity of Oriol Castro and the peaks of flavor of Alberto Ferruz star in the first day of the congress
A guy who is capable of putting a cauliflower on the menu of his haute cuisine restaurant is a brave man. It is good that a meeting such as the Gastronomic Region of Murcia, which brings together some of the most innovative chefs in the country, starts with a visionary. Rodrigo de la Calle broke the mold 12 years ago by radically introducing the plant world into his haute cuisine menus, eliminating the perennial role of animal protein, which according to the chef should cover only 10% of the intake.
“I wanted to take advantage of being in this wonderful orchard in Europe to celebrate those twelve years in which we began this daring adventure.” And he began with a statement: «I am a happy cook because I have found my way in the kitchen. I basically do whatever I want in my restaurant (Invernadero)». This son of a farmer -of caste comes to the greyhound- lived as a child depending on the seasons and crop rotations. This background and his passion for eating-“I like it much more than cooking”-decided on his ultimate vocation. «I am not a vegetarian, but there came a time when I was extremely bored cooking with meat and fish. I am a stickler for the Mediterranean diet.
His first tasting menu without a gram of animal protein as the protagonist was in 2010. “Too bad we wouldn’t do it because they gave us a Michelin star. And that saved the restaurant, because people were hesitant to pay a hefty bill at a restaurant without meat or fish.” She called it the Green Revolution. In the elaborations of it, the animal protein is perhaps the dressing or the garnish. An important leap was his proposal for vegetable glazes, dark backgrounds similar to those achieved with meat exclusively from vegetables and legumes, dishes that are true artistic interpretations of the garden, colourful, delicate and elegant that extend even to desserts.
He pulled us by the ears again and appealed to young chefs so that in the future on the menus of Murcian restaurants there are many more vegetables as the protagonists of the dishes.
Through the use of okra, a vegetable that contains a lot of mucilage, from other roots and wild reductions, he achieves caramelized funds without using animal protein. He discovered how ‘stale’ vegetables are actually products with less water and therefore with a higher concentration of both nutrients and flavor, “so it’s a big mistake to throw them away.” He showed the technique of cooking with salt, but instead of sea bream or meat, with vegetables or fermented drinks.
A wonderful green universe and a wide range of ideas, techniques and tricks to get all the juice out of vegetables is what Rodrigo de la Calle left behind.
Oriol Castro (Disfrutar, 2*) recognizes that it changes life when his is recognized as the third best restaurant in the world. Oriol, a pure-bred ‘Bullinian’ -he was head chef at the legendary Ferrán Adriá establishment-, owes this work «the passion and creativity that you have to put into everything you do; It was all learning. Team and harmony is a great foundation. For the chef, “we must not forget that Spain is a great gastronomic power and its movement of congresses, at a national and international level, is very important. Spanish cuisine has grown because everything has been taught, there has been great transparency. In this line, he especially valued the celebration of meetings such as the Gastronomic Region of Murcia.
Oriol reviewed many of the techniques developed in his restaurant, “doing different things every day; we must continue to evolve”, and defended that “creativity is above all work, a lot of personal and team work”.
Alberto Ferruz (BonAmb, 2*) began his talk ‘Sal, sol y tiempo’ declaring that “we make an evolved cuisine but always looking at our elders and our land, from the emotions”. Faced with exotic techniques as fashionable as the fermented ones, my grandmothers entered the restaurant one day and told us: ‘You say that you are doing Valencian things and it is not true. You have no idea’.” And they were taught a traditional technique of turning some fermented tomatoes into boats along with sea stones. Fascinating. Today, those tomatoes, with a couple of twists, are one of the stars of his restaurant. «The humble, the simple, with ancestral elaborations, can be a real treasure». The result, a liquid salting. “For me it is important that you eat truth”, concludes Alberto. Another technique: a brine containing Sherry vinegar matured in garum jars where lettuce is kept for a few months and finally crushed until a fermented cream is obtained.
«For me, the important thing when someone comes to my house is that they really eat»
Fermented, sweated foie gras, dehydrated in the sun, very long macerations… techniques with a single objective: to provoke strong sensations, to maintain high levels of flavor in the diner’s mouth.
Lastly, Francisco Cano and Cristina Figueira, from the restaurant El Xato (La Nucía, Alicante) reviewed the 100 years that this establishment has been open, with milestones such as the achievement of the Michelin star that it now boasts. The revised Mediterranean cuisine, from the creativity of Figueira is one of the keys to the longevity of its success. “Let clients come in and friends leave” is the motto of the chef, who serves a maximum of eight tables.
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