Is happy. It's premiere. Jordi Cruz (Manresa, Barcelona, 45 years old) has just started a new edition of MasterChef, a competition in which he has been a jury for 12 years, along with Pepe Rodríguez and Samantha Vallejo-Nágera. He receives EL PAÍS at the ABaC restaurant in Barcelona, where he has served as head chef since 2010. Here he also debuts this week with a new tasting menu. And that gives him a rush. He confesses that he sleeps five hours a day and clears his mind by watching documentaries at night, even though he now has a great reason to go home soon, his son Noah.
Ask. How are you?
Answer. Well, on the mouse wheel, trying to sift through a little the things we do, those that add to me and those that add less to me. A little more mature, more coherent, more sensible, aware of how lucky I am to work a lot, to have great teams, that I do too many things and should synthesize, that time is finite and that the body is not a machine infinite, but very grateful. I have the tools to do cool things. There are no excuses, I have visibility, equipment, tools, capacity, desire, although I would like to do something that transcends a little.
Q. For example?
R. A dish that is really interesting. We already do new techniques and things. I'm a little frustrated that MasterChef turns off this gastronomic side and that the things we do creatively at ABaC are not given hype. It's a toll because the MasterChef character is very big and adds a lot, but in the restaurant we do a lot of techniques, R&D, which I do between meals, on a plane or a train. My team follows me, we materialize cool ideas, unique things that are not eaten anywhere else in the world, and it would be cool to give it that importance. But it is normal because MasterChef reaches many more homes and many more people. And I'm going to cook all my life, so I'll have time to hype up what I do in the restaurant. I add many things, I am pythagorin, and I like nutrition, nutriaesthetics, knowing what food is, how food affects the human body. In Barcelona there are many hospitals and I am already starting to go to doctors, because I could join this and improve aspects of nutrition, aesthetics and care. I want to do something as a chef that transcends the mere role of gastronomic server, cook, hunger suppressant or soul feeders, which is what we are and that is very good.
Q. As well as a television star.
R. No, I'm a cook. Popularizer, if you want, because I like to tell and explain the benefits of gastronomy and food, the attitude to face challenges, in addition to entertaining, sometimes fighting with Pepe, in a friendly way because we are friends.
Q. Recently, in a radio interview, he lamented that no one had asked him how he was feeling after losing a Michelin star. Can one have the perception that by being famous for having become a television character, one is already happy and does not suffer?
R. I didn't want to be sad, but it's true that the cook wants everyone to be happy. And I try, in my private life and in my different occupations, for everyone to be that way, and there comes a point, when you are of an age and your back hurts because the stress affects you at a muscular level, that you want to do things that sum. I fell in love [su pareja es la arquitecta y diseñadora brasileña Rebecca Lima] and I wanted to go home and now I have a baby and I want to go home even more. I spend all day giving gifts, all day having a hard time, I don't worry about myself or going to the doctor, and on top of that no one asks me how you are.
Q. These things hurt him.
R. When Angle lost a star, a news story came out that talked about Jordi Cruz's carefree reaction. That rubbed me the wrong way. It's one thing for him to try to make light of something that had affected me and my team. I accept the decision made by Michelin with all its discretion, but we must continue working. It was a reflection out loud and I have no right to give any kind of pity, even though now people stop me on the street and give me hugs. I liked the reaction of the people. A flight attendant gave me a hug on the plane the other day.
Q. Why did they remove the star?
R. I have no idea. I have analyzed it a thousand times. But my goal is to work well, taking small steps forward, none back.
Q. What do you have about the character that has been created on television?
R. A lot, everything. If they tell you that you have to reflect your critical part, your picky and strict part, because this is the talent show toughest kitchen in the world, because you have to be strict, be serious and say things with frankness and demand. And then you look tougher than you are. People ask me if I'm as badass in my kitchen as I am on MasterChef. It doesn't even occur to me in my kitchen, because we are a team where I want maximum good vibes. People don't work well if you don't give them love. You have to be very didactic, rigorous and strict, but complicit. When you see the team that wants to do well and suffers, why are you going to get angry with them. I am very demanding, mistakes are not worth it, and laziness does not justify failure. You have to be ambitious.
Q.How is fame managed?
R. Since I don't manage it, I have no problems. The day people don't stop me on the street I will miss it. Even if you are a shy person like me, I have never encountered someone who says something negative to me. Because people think I'm bad, they approach me with modesty and fear, but when they see that I'm a normal guy, quite nice and polite, everything changes. I have a friendly relationship with the people who watch MasterChef, with the people who eat at my house and admire the gastronomy. I enjoy all this, because one day it will end.
Q. Are you prepared for when that day comes?
R. I have been for a long time. One of my virtues is that I like to analyze the things that are going to happen to me and I chew them and work on them, especially to normalize them. I have no idea when that time will come. It would be very pretentious to know when people will stop watching MasterChef.
Q. How much rope does MasterChef have left?
R. I have no idea. I thought we wouldn't make it past the first year. Pepe and I always tell each other that we have to enjoy each year because it may be the last. We are not TV people, we are cooks. We have learned what a Compartir four days ago.
Q. Have you ever been tempted to quit?
R. No, I have had tiring moments. The trips, problems in the restaurant, but suddenly you think that in the program we are like a family, like the one I have in the restaurant and in my house. People who have created something with you and although I am not the most important or necessary, it feels bad for you to leave a project hanging. What would Pepe and Samantha do without me, who would they mess with? Then it would have to be Pepe the bastard, because he doesn't know how to do it.
Q. And in the kitchen, where do you set the limit?
R. I want to do something unique, make coming to my house worthwhile, make people enjoy and be happy here, and do something that transcends me. Make that recipe, be it cannelloni, an escudella or a traditional dish, that in a hundred years will become part of the gastronomic legacy of this country. It would be the most beautiful thing in the world. And earn the respect of my colleagues.
Q. Does not have it?
R. I got it. The one who doesn't have it is me. I always say that they don't love me, they don't take me into account, and then I get together with them and they tell me that they love what I do, and that they have had my books for 25 years. I'm a crybaby.
Q. Well, he seems very confident.
R. Forget. I'm sure that I give it my all, that I work like a bastard, and I like what I do. That gives me security. Today we have a new menu, the waiters don't know what it is about, but it is very good. That's my security. On TV I am a soldier, I do what I can and I try to do my best, but I am not the protagonist.
Q. There are those who say that the haute cuisine model is exhausted.
R. I'm missing the ball. I'm not a futurist, but whoever says that is a daring person. After a gastronomic revolution like the one we have had, with Ferran Adrià at the helm, and there being an ultra-cultivated generation, saying that it is over is impossible. Another thing is that there is wear and tear, that the world is cloudy, and that managing a company is not easy. Many things can happen, but saying that is nonsense. Because there is a generation of kids with a lot of ambition and capabilities to do great things.
Due to medical and psychological prescription, I take Sundays off, but I have started going live on social networks making food for the family.
Jordi Cruz
Q. Are the contestants who go to MasterChef part of that group of ambitious people? Do they want to be chefs, famous, or both?
R. They want to change their life. There is a media impact and that also changes your life. What we aim to do is change the life of someone who likes the job of being a cook, and plans to make it part of their life. The celebrity It's something else, she wants to be known more through cooking. After 12 years, there is a good list of people who have ended up in gastronomy. Of the 200 applicants, 20 or 30% are doing gastronomy and succeeding. There is no other contest that has generated so much real business once the program has ended.
Q. Will he pack his bags like other chefs to open a restaurant in the Arab Emirates?
R. No joke. I respect what my colleagues do and you have to get the numbers in a business. I like being in the places I open. I want to be able to go over to my joint and see how it is. And Emirates catches me a little far away.
Q. Where do you get the time?
R. I can't be doing nothing. Due to medical and psychological prescription, I take Sundays off, but I have started going live on social networks making food for the family. Another job, without need and without earning a dime, when what they told me was to take a day off.
Q. Do you have stress problems?
R. I have had bad moments, with anxiety. My body doesn't rest, I always have it in a scared attitude. When your machine is under tension somewhere, it hits you. Mine is all muscular.
Q. Are all your businesses profitable?
R. We are profitable. We earn just enough, 5% or 10% after covering all expenses, taxes and payroll. We pay our employees very well, we have about 200 people. We retain talent, people tend to last us a long time, because it is a friendly house, where they work the hours they have and little else, and we treat people with affection. I have a moderate salary.
Q. Will they pay you well on television?
R. I imagine. I don't know if they pay me well or badly. What I have never done in my life is ask for a raise.
Q. What is overrated in a restaurant?
R. He Show. You can do aesthetic things, but what people go to a restaurant to do is enjoy the food.
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