Starchefs International Chefs Congress 2008

[docsconz]

As Ana Sortun was winding down, the next presentation, the last of the day, was winding up.

Both Joan Roca of El Celler de Can Roca in Gerona and Cándido Lopez of El Mesón de Cándido in Segovia, Spain, were accompanied by an entourage of Spanish media.

Each would work with the same medium, but in different ways,

For Cándido

The mis-en-place was brought out to the stage.

Cándido placed one of the piglets in the oven, belly-side up.

A last look at notes for Cándido.

Joan ready to go...

Edited October 20, 2008 by docsconz (log)

[docsconz]

CANDIDO LOPEZ AND JUAN ROCA - Tradition vs. the New: Two Interpretations on a Suckling Pig

Once again providing translation services, Tona Palomino interpreted for the two seemingly disparate Spanish chefs.

The two chefs wanted me to let you know that they are here to represent the fact that there is great harmony and spirit between both the traditional and modern styles of cooking in Spain.

Their point was that the two approaches are not mutually exclusive, but instead all part and parcel of a culinary tradition that continues to evolve as it preserves what is worthwhile from the past as well as the present.

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Candido Lopez - Traditional Preparation of a Spanish Pig

Lopez started discussing his pigs:

I would like to thank the organization and Juan Roca for the chance to come and talk about pork, one of the most historical and influential foodstuffs of humanity. When we talk about pork we can also view it as the main divider between two currents of thought: historically, those who have embraced it as a foodstuff and those who have eschewed it. In Spain pork has always been a very large part of the culinary culture, especially in Segovia where it is really not just a food but is also a larger part of the economic makeup of the region.... The kind of suckling pig that we work with in Segovia is usually live and weighs between 5-7 kg and it gets to about 3 weeks old and has only been fed by its mother. One of the important things is that the mother receives a balanced diet of corn, wheat and rye. Because of the importance of what the mother eats. we are very careful that our pigs be between 4 and 4.5 kg and that the skin be white and the flesh rosy. We make sure for it to go straight from the cutting table to the oven, a maximum time of 2-3 days. We start by opening up the suckling pig and salting it with kosher salt to help it along, with a little bit of porkfat, especially on the skin because one of the goals is a very crispy skin when it is done.

Depending on the size of the pig we usually keep it on its back and splayed for about an hour at 180ºC.

Lopez brought the uncooked pig over to the oven and exchanged it for the one that had been roasting inside.

Since the suckling pig would take too long, we have skipped a step. We introduced a suckling pig to the oven, and about an hour and 15 minutes later it comes out with the skin brown and crispy, so we flip it.

to be continued...

Edited October 20, 2008 by docsconz (log)

[docsconz]

Candido Lopez continued...

We are going to brush it again with pork fat, and depending on the size we are going to keep it on its front for about 45-60 minutes. 

A little bit of water in the pan because it has evaporated.

We are going to cover the ears and the tail in foil because they are sensitive and prone to burning.

What’s singular about our pig in the way that we cook it is that we are able to create such a crispy skin that it holds all the moisture of the pig inside it. There is the problem of dehydration in the oven, but because of the placement of the pig we are able to make sure it has crispy skin but very tender and moist flesh. We have placed it back in the oven so it can finish cooking, we will give it 45-60 minutes at 180ºC. At the end we would like to show the difference between really crispy skin and succulent flesh.

to be continued...

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Candido Lopez continued...

Lopez gave a little history of his restaurant...

...the suckling pig is really our star dish at the restaurant. It was my grandfather who set down the tradition of roasting a suckling pig and then using the edge of a plate to cut it. In 2003 we celebrated the 100th year of my grandfather’s birth, and founded the Candido Foundation to pay an homage to his spirit. This is almost a workshop for us to innovate and look forward and integrate ingredients from our region. Some of what we try to do is incorporate parts of the suckling pig that were never really in vogue and make them the stars of new dishes.

Lopez demonstrated some of these new dishes.

For this one we are going to take the jowls of the suckling pig. What we’re trying to do is meld 2 very oldstanding traditions, the Segovian tradition of pig jowls and Japanese yakitori sauce. We cooked these jowls sous vide at 70º for 12 hours, and afterward Joan will expand on this technique. We add some sake, soy sauce, and the juice of the jowls, and we let it reduce.

to be continued...

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Candido Lopez continued...

Another thing that we will be using is its ears. So we are going to try to make souffles out of the pig’s ears. We confit the ears at 60º for 6 hours and then drop them into hot oil.

We are going to plate the souffle very quickly with some corn shoots and coriander sprouts, but we have found that putting it in a salad works very well. We are just trying to showcase the ears, but I feel that it would be perfectly used as a salad.

Pig ear souffle with corn shoots and coriander sprouts.

to be continued...

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Candido Lopez continued...

In the meantime, the suckling pigs continue to roast...

to be continued...

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Candido Lopez continued...

The third dish is a sort of cookie we made from the skin of the cheeks, which we dehydrated and turned into a powder, to which we added egg whites. We take this mixture and roll it up into wax paper and allow it to dry, after which we take a cookie cutter. We then fry them in very hot oil.

Savory Cookie of Pig Cheek Skin

More from Cándido to come when the suckling pigs are finished.

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Joan Roca - Sous Vide and Low Temperature Cooking

Joan Roca stepped up by saying that no one knows more about the suckling pig in Spain than Candido Lopez. The suckling pig used by the Rocas is similar to those used by Lopez, though they are from a different region and are Ibericos. Roca described in a nutshell, how they handle cooking suckling pig at Can Roca:

We portion it into 6 different parts, and we cover it with e.v. olive oil and salt. We will cook it with a circulator for 12 hours at 70º. After 12 hours, we have our suckling pig that has been perfectly cooked. One of the reasons that we use this new technique is that the method reduces loss of water, and there is no loss in yield and you are able to retain all of the essential qualities. You are also able to mark very well the way that it was seasoned. Once we’ve cooked it to the point that we want, we can pasteurize it. We are able to store all of our portions so that when they are ordered, in 20 minutes, we can produce a dish that is tender and has all of its gelatinous properties, with crispy skin. Once somebody orders some suckling pig, we put our bag back into the immersion circulator bath at 63º because the pig has been already cooked.

He continued:

Another advantage that we have seen through sous vide is that we are able to reclaim the cooking juices which we can add to a suckling pig jus which we have made with by reducing the broth of the bones of the suckling pig.

In order to get the skin crispy, it must be seared. we weigh it down with something that will allow the skin to touch the pan in all its surface, but that won’t crush the suckling pig.

Other elements include onions that we glazed with some orange juice, roast suckling pig and clove. Our sauce is just a classic suckling pig jus, reduce it down and there you go. This is a dish that really incorporates some of the older trends in Catalan cooking, where you can see the burn marks, and the preference for sweet and savory in the same dish. Our pan may have been a little hot, but the important thing is that the skin be very very crispy,

He plated the pork on top of a line of glazed pearl onions. Around it he drew a line of jus, another of reduced orange juice and finished with peashoots.

to be continued...

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Joan Roca continued...

Roca narrated a video:

I would first like to explain some of the dishes that will be shown here. What you’ll see here is our version of a classic .... dish, usually made with octopus but we will make it with squid. The relationship between smell and taste is very important to us, and here through the use of smoke we try to connect the two. We try to turn our crystal bowl into some sort of receptacle. We have in the bowl a little bit of pimentón, which is slightly smoked. A little bit of plastic wrap, very taut across the top. We use a very hot spike to seal the edge s we can tear off the rest of the plastic wrap. We poke a little hole in the plastic wrap. This is simply a potato puree, mashed/smashed, covered with a very thin layer of squid which has been seasoned with pimentón. The strips of squid have been seasoned, we freeze it and are able to slice it very thinly. A few drops of squid ink, and some tiny squid tentacles on top of the potato, with a hand held smoker we insert smoke through the hole, so when you eat it you are able to perceive a mixture of the smoke. The plastic wrap is very tense, so you have to be like a drummer to get smoke rings to come out of the container....

...up ahead is a utilization of the sous vide technique but with fish. We try to serve our fish perfectly cooked so we also use sous vide as a means of cooking things a la minute. We like to cook things to order, unlike with our suckling pig demonstration. We put the cod in the bag with some garlic oil. It will go into an immersion bath at 50º for 10 minutes. The fish station at home always has a bath at 50º for occasions like this.... what you see here is squash/pumpkin microplaned  so it looks like spaghetti squash. After 10 minutes have elapsed we have a perfectly done piece of cod, and you can really taste the garlic oil on top of all its perfectly preserved qualities. We add our cooking juices to a classic pil pil which is a Basque sauce, in addition to cod stock and garlic, and we add some candied pumpkin seeds on top of the spaghetti and some roasted peppers, and some sauteed squash bits which was blanched and pureed, and the pil-pil which was an emulsion of the previously mentioned ingredients. Oregano blossoms as well....

...now we will look at even another application of sous vide for a much longer preparation at a temp of 63º for 30 hours. It is a preparation of goose (oca). The stuffing is made up of pigs jowls, foie gras, bread, milk, sherry, cepes and shallots. this is the goose meat that has gone through the meat grinder. What we are trying to achieve is a kind of terrine or pate that will be very creamy. It is based on the traditional hare recipe, spread upon plastic wrap and wrapped into a cylinder, with foie in the middle, seal it, and it goes into the immersion bath for 30 hours at 63º, shock it once cooked. and once it is portioned into medallions they isolate it into baggies with goose jus, and it goes back into an immersion bath when ordered, at 63º. Its very creamy, gelatinous and delicious. It is plated with an apricot compote, it has beet sprouts and other flowers, and we have cooked it at such a low temp to ensure that the texture of the center of the terrine is not at all compromised.... Now you will see the last dish that Jordi, youngest brother, the pastry chef has come up with. We start with caramel that has been tempered. An air pump inflates the caramel to achieve the shape of a beet. It is complicated and requires the use of an air pump and torch and halogen lamp to maintain the correct temperature to ensure solidity. “Beet roots” are attached. they make a tiny incision in the caramel sphere, what you see on the plate is “dirt” and the “beet” is filled with beet foam, which is really beet juice and egg whites. Baby beet sprouts are added. The dirt is a meringue made of squid ink and cocoa to make it look like dirt.... The last thing i’d like to show you is how we go about making our "dirt." For a while i had been thinking about how to incorporate the smell of dirt into the cooking because we think that it is a big part of our region. We didnt want to make an infusion because we wanted to convey the volatile aspects of the product. So what we used was a piece of equipment that allowed us to capture the most volatile essence. We have some water and dirt, and it goes into the distiller in a water bath at a very low temperature. We were able to boil the water in the beaker by creating a vacuum, even though it was only at 55ºC. what happens is vapor is created that eventually precipitates into another beaker. We are able to capture the aroma of one of the surrounding forests, a smell that we have been very anxious to convey. We add a little bit of something called triglycerate to add some texture and turn it into a sauce, which is what we put on top of the plate underneath the beet.... This last dish is simply an oyster with the dirt distillate, trying to capture the surf and turf which is very much a part of our region. What we were trying to do is simply synthesize in a mouthful what it meant to have both the land and the sea in a mouthful, a very powerful taste sensation. We have surrounding the oyster some filtered ocean water and some sprouts on top, we call it "treasure island."

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Lopez & Roca -The Suckling Pig

The first suckling pig was ready to come out of the oven!

Cándido Lopez removed it and placed it on the chopping block.

Lopez said:

You can hear how the skin crunches when poked. It’s crunchy. As I commented before there is an old tradition in Segovia, to prove that it is perfectly roasted, we will cut it with the edge of a plate.

In a show of unity and tradition, both Lopez and Roca took plates...

...and cut the beautifully roasted piglet.

With the pig perfectly crunched, the two Spanish chefs embraced.

to be continued...

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Lopez and Roca continued...

The two Spanish chefs fielded some questions from the audience as the intoxicating aroma of the suckling pig wafted through the air.

Q: for Joan Roca: When i saw you do this demo, I asked you why do you do sous vide?

A: JR - i use sous vide because I understand that it is a very acute way to cook things to perfect doneness, but also in terms of logistics in a restaurant it is a very practical way to cook certain parts and hold back the bits that you do not use.

Q: What do you think about restaurants that cook with a convection oven?

A: JR – I do not use just an immersion bath, I also use a steam oven, I would like to point out that water is one of the most efficient things because it is very stable and even.

Q: With the duck sausage, you indicated a cooking time of 30 hours. How do you get to 30 hours, and not 5 hours, or 10 hours, or 15 hours?

A: JR – Empirical knowledge, they tried and tried over and over and the point of the experiment was to get the usually tough gooseflesh to a very edible and perfect temperature. If they had used a higher temp, the foie within probably would have melted.

Q: For Lopez: How many little pigs to you serve a week?

A: CL -  It is really the star dish of the restaurant and we sell about 10,000 a year. Probably 300/400 a week.

Q: Cándido, how old is your restaurant?

A: CL – The opening license as a tavern is from 1786.

Q: For Roca: What is your opinion on sous vide-ing cod that doesn’t need to be improved upon, as opposed to a tough piece of meat that may need to be sous vide in order to tenderize it?

A: JR – We seek the same degree of control in cooking fish as we do in cooking meat for extended periods of time. We have gained our experience through trial and error, and we have found that there is a greater amount of control from sous vide as opposed to searing it or putting it in an oven.

[docsconz]

The demonstration was over, but the pig's aroma continue to saturate and intoxicate the nostrils of everyone present. Fortunately, there was plenty of piglet to be shared as the audience eagerly gobbled up samples. This proved to be by far the most delicious presentation of my two days the this Congress. The suckling pig was simply amazing. The crackling crackled while the flesh remained succulent, moist and hot. This was just so wonderfully good!

My son and I even got a taste of Lopez' pig cheeks - mmmm.

Taking pictures was starting to get in the way of a very, very good meal!

Edited October 23, 2008 by docsconz (log)

[docsconz]

As the day's demonstrations ended, the evening segued into the always wonderful Starchefs All-Star cocktail party with cocktails made by the best in the business. This year would be no exception to that rule.

I spilled out into the Product Fair, immediately stumbling upon Eben Freeman of Tailor and his "The Waylon", a cocktail of "smoked coke" and Woodford Reserve.

Alas, we had to drive three and a half hours home that night, so all I could do was taste and spit!

Nearby we found some more tasty nibbles courtesy of Pichet Ong and P*Ong.

A short while later, I came upon our very own Alchemist, Toby Maloney of The Violet Hour, who made a tasty cocktail. Unfortunately, the local lighting did not make for good photography!

Audrey Saunders of Pegu Club highlighted gin with an alluring "Gin-Gin Mule".

Dave Wondrich, of course, concocted a marvelous punch.

Junior Merino of The Liquid Chef, Inc. made a variety of delightful cocktails.

I wish that we could have stayed...

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Grant Achatz - New Tools of Gastronomy: Service Ware, Re-Imagined

Fortunately I couldn't be at the last day of the 3rd Starchefs ICC, because I had someplace else I had to be that was even more important and satisfying to me personally that day. I had to bring my son to my college alma mater, so that he could begin his own college orientation there. Needless to say I am very proud of him. That was one of the few things that could have kept me away without feeling the sting of missing the culmination of this great Congress.

Still there were a number of presentations that were quite disappointing to me to have to miss. Foremost amongst these was the culminating presentation of Grant Achatz of Alinea. Much has been said and written about the comments the previous Sunday by Marco Pierre White and Anthony Bourdain taking potshots at culinary creativity and elaborate tasting menus. Very thinly veiled, White's comments, in particular, attacked Chef Achatz as well as other chefs of a similar bent. Bourdain piled on and Ruhlman, though not an active contributor to the controversial discussion, did little, as moderator, to defend that particular style of cooking. I have not been shy in stating over the past few years, that Alinea is my favorite restaurant in North America and second in the world only to elBulli. Even so, I could not and would not want to dine at that or any other restaurant or eat any one particular style of cooking every day. However, for those rare occasions when I have made it out to Chicago and Alinea, the total experience has always been sensational and special.

I spoke to Chef Achatz prior to my leaving the Congress. He told me that he would have a response to the vitriol launched at him and others and that he would share it with me. True to his word, several days later, he sent me a transcript of his remarks, from which I take this quote:

Hello everyone. Thank you for staying for the last presentation and what I am sure was a long 3 days of networking, learning, and perhaps in some cases drinking. 

We should all feel lucky that a venue like this  exists in this country.  The opportunity to Teach, learn and grow  on such an international scale is really a privilege.

The popularity of culinary congresses worldwide…. the Spanish leading the charge…..are a telling sign of the explosion of interest in food and cooking globally. And help perpetuate the momentum that is all good for everyone in this room.

Let me take a moment to thank Starchefs for organizing a fantastic event. Just like what we do everyday, pulling something like this off requires a great deal commitment, hard work and vision. We should thank each member of the Starchefs team that helped make it happen. 

It is sometimes difficult to figure out what to say, what to show, what to explain when standing in front of a bunch of your peers. 

Apparently it is less difficult to roast a particular restaurant, chef, or style of cooking as we witnessed Sunday afternoon.

An interesting start to a congress where it seems a large part of the energy is based on the respect, professionalism, and innovative nature of dining and cooking, that makes being a cook honorable and exciting.

Maybe they are right?

Maybe the food that myself, Heston, Ferran, Wylie…

and hey if we are going to include multi-course menus of considerable length

let's throw Keller, Trotter, Jean Georges, Arzak, Joan Roca, Bras, Mugaritz, ….do I need to go on?

Maybe the food is pointless, overwrought, tastes bad and is worthless? If that is the case let's just shut em all down.

Shut down the best restaurants in the world, they are not important anyway. What everyone should be cooking is a roasted fish on the bone with olive oil, lemon, and salt……. Right?

Well…….. since it is unlikely that these restaurants will close anytime soon… due to lack of patronage, or lawsuits resulting from guests being rendered into blob like forms of gaseous matter after marathon meals.

Let's take  30 minutes to talk about why the most important restaurants in the world are, in fact, important, and some of the tools they use to craft the experiences they create.

As we speak about the responsibilities of being chefs…. I feel that is one of my responsibilities.

To try to break down the stereo typical thoughts that sometimes are attached to modern cooking. To show in fact that evolution and progress…forward movement in whatever medium….whether that be social structures, technology, craft, art is critical to our development as a well-rounded, engaged society.

What are we without creativity?

Without diversity and ingenuity?

Americans pride themselves on these traits – and without them, our industry would be stagnant… static. Without  boundary pushing, cooking would be homogeneous, dining would be monotonous. Cooks and diners would be mindless.

By challenging people we force them to think, is that really a bad thing?

As Heston pointed out in his Keynote speech - food and the act of eating fulfills many aspects of human needs. 

Obviously sustenance, but I am not here to talk about the importance of a well balanced diet, caloric breakdown, and nutrient analysis.

Of course food and eating includes many environmental and social issues. Chef Trotter talked about the expectations for charitable impacts

Chefs Seaver and Moonen talked about the need to stand up for the environment.

All of these points, and more…. are important, and I am glad those subjects have already been covered.

Food and dining can be exciting, provocative, fun, and entertaining.

  It can be satisfying on physical and mental levels.

Food and dining are important on an artistic level. As I mentioned earlier…. Congresses all over the world celebrate the shifting perception of cooking.

TV shows chronicle.. in documentary style…. the amazing meals that are being put forth by visionary chefs.

The internet hums with participation - cooks, foodies and people looking for insight.

 

Strangely some people do not recognize the fact that even the simplest foods and meals based upon them are emotional experiences. Certainly some of my greatest meals were 

while conjuring memories…

due to the environment where they took place…

and eating the kind of food that comforts rather than confronts.

This only proves the point that food and eating can be an emotional experience. At it core and most simple food and dining evoke emotion

And if in fact eating can be emotional

The act of cooking can be art. 

According to the dictionary, the definition of art is:

A. an occupation requiring knowledge or skill

B. the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects

C.the emotional reaction brought forth by perception of the senses

Chef Achatz went on through the rest of his presentation discussing many of the functional elements his restaurant has become well known for, including the wide variety of function-specific serving and centerpieces. It was, however, his initial remarks that will likely be most remembered. Somewhat reminiscent of what has come to be known as "santamariagate" in Spain, during which Santi Santamaria attacked the creativity and even food safety of Spain's leading creative chefs, the comments from White and less-so Bourdain, reflected intolerance and a self-centric view of the world. It is one thing for someone to state and acknowledge a personal preference for food or anything else. However, it is quite another for someone to state that if something does not conform to one's personal preference that it must therefore, be no good to anyone else, which is essentially what White said. As such, it was important for someone like Grant Achatz, as Ferran Adria did in Spain, to stand up against culinary totalitarianism and rigid orthodoxy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the perfectly roasted fish with lemon, olive oil and salt. That can truly be sublime, but then so can a full tasting menu at Alinea. I'm just glad that it is possible to do and enjoy both.

This concludes my presentation on the third annual Starchefs International Chefs Congress. Thank you for reading and commenting.

[Kerry Beal]

Again Doc, thank you so much for this. I have enjoyed thoroughly living vicariously through you this last while. The pictures are fabulous, it's wonderful to see the people I hear so much about on eG and elsewhere, and to see the food they produce in it's intended state.

I spite of the not quite lifeless eyes in that little suckling pig, I still want to eat his crispy skin and suck the fat off my fingers...

[Renn]

Thank you once again Doc (and thanks to your son as well!)...given that this thread might be the only in-depth source of coverage from the event, you do a great service to all of us unable to attend. It's been fascinating...and fun!

[docsconz]

In addition we had some tasty lamb burgers prepared by Chef Franklin Becker.

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The full description for Chef Franklin Becker's Lunch was "Grilled American Lamb Burger with Wisconsin Feta, Pickled Onions, Golden Raisin Ketchuo and Shawarma Spice."

Thanks Kerry and Renn for reading. I appreciate the feedback!