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MANILA, Philippines - Who is the Spanish chef whose Celler de Can Roca was voted the second best restaurant in the world and whose dishes and desserts are inspired by perfumes like Calvin Klein’s Eternity?
Born of culinary parents, his earliest memories of cooking are with his mother in the kitchen of their family owned Restaurant de Can Roca, which served traditional Catalan cuisine. It is no surprise, then, that he and his other two brothers Josep and Jordi ended up in the restaurant business.
As the oldest, he was the first to show interest in food. He used to enjoy shopping with his mother in the market and watching her in the kitchen. He came to love the aromas, smells, and sounds coming from the pans. “It was a small kitchen, but our hearts were in it,” he says.
After his early, family focused beginnings, he went to study at the Hospitality School in Girona, where he learned other ways of cooking and serving food that complemented what he already knew about Catalonian cuisine.
He then spent short periods with prestige chefs like Ferran Adria in Spain, with whom he developed the famous “deconstruction” method; Santi Santamaria, with whom he learned new versions of standard Catalonian dishes; and then in France with George Blue, who taught him the French way of organizing a top level kitchen.
Upon returning to France at the age of 22, he opened a restaurant, El Celler de Can Roca next to that of his parents. That was when he started to develop his own personal approach to gastronomy starting out with tradition and adding know how learned on his travels and from personal reflection.
He and his team took inspiration for new menus from three sources the search for the perfect way to cook food, the roots of regional cuisine, and the aromas provided by nature. On a technical level, he studied the ins and outs of sous vide cooking, his aim being to preserve the maximum original flavor by carefully controlling. Sous-vide cooking is much less aggressive than traditional cooking, and guarantees texture while altering foods as little as possible.
This technique first appeared on the menu in 1995 with a dish that was to bring him fame, warm cod with Spinach, cream of idiazabal cheese, pine nuts, and a reduction of Pedro Ximenez. He subsequently perfected the technique and brought out creations such a foie Gras with honey, cirtrus fruits and vanilla, and saffron infused milk; and breadcrumbed dewlap of pork with green pepper samfaina.
At El Celler, both the quality of raw materials and technical innovation play a steller role. In parallel with research into vacuum cooking, R&D activities also took place in other areas on interest, such as the use of aromas of the high-end perfume market; how to obtain distillates and use them as flavor enhancers; how to use smoke in recipes; and cooking with wine, including offering bites of red wine.
Some dishes and desserts are based on perfumes like Calvin Klein’s Eternity; Carolina Herrera; Dior’s Hypnotic Posin; Bulgari, and Lancome’s Tressor.
El Celler continues to amaze food lovers. It has held a three star status in the Michelin Guide since 2009; and was voted the second best restaurant in the world for 2011 and 2011 by restaurant magazine.
It has brought tits chef many awards like the 2011 Grand Prix de l’Art de la Cuisine, a Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Gernona in 2010; the 2004 Award for Best Conceptual Innovation and the 2001 Award for Best Chef in the Lo Mejor Gastronomia Congress.
Last week’s question: Who is this 20th century Italian architect best known for integrating elegant glass, metal, and wood details into the architecture of medieval Venice?
Answer: Carlos Scarpa
Winner: Augusto Mendoza of Mandaluyong City
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