Catalonia, the Basque country and Cantabria are regions renowned for their excellent salt-packed anchovy fillets. These narrow fillets taste of the finest sea-salt; they are juicy and completely free of bones. For years, I’ve never missed an opportunity to travel to Santoña or Carril whenever I could. These are places nobody knows–well, almost nobody! But they’re places that make my heart beat that little bit faster. It’s where the best anchovies and sardines I’ve ever tasted come from. Between Bilbao and Santander, between the Laredo and San Carlos promontories, where the clear seawater meets the Santoña river delta. Three rivers empty into the delta, creating a rare and unique quality of water, a mixture of the sea salt, iodine, seaweed and plant-like particles from the rivers. The area is home to a world that is capable of making gourmets’ pulses race. This time, our meeting point is a simple guesthouse right on the coast. It’s off the main road, tucked away out of sight. I can’t remember whether it’s called “El Ancla”, “El Pescador” or “Bahia”. After many years, I met up with Ricardo again, one of the connoisseurs of Cantabria cuisine. We sat and ate everything that the lagoon and the sea offered us. Even the little appetizers, the tapas, filled me up! Anchovies in the finest olive oil, anchovies in spicy sauce, tuna in myriad variations, mussels, scallops, cockles, calamari and sea urchins. Ricardo ordered a simple house white wine to go with the meal –and it instantly matched the tapas and his story, which I followed eagerly.

“Anchovies and sardines are different types of fish”, he said, raising his index finger. “Yeah, I knew that already”, I thought. But then he took me into completely uncharted territory, explaining to me how the anchoas, as anchovies are called there, get into the can. “Today, just as in the old days, the anchovies are prepared and filleted by hand and then layered in a vessel –which in the best companies is made of wood. Once the vessel is almost full to the brim, it’s topped up with brine, covered with a round board and then weighted down with a stone, which slowly and carefully presses the anchovies down”.

Recipe by Eduard Xatruch from Restaurante Compartir in Cadaqués.

bulthaup granted the 2013 “b for bulthaup” award to the three chefs Oriol Castro, Mateu Casañas, and Eduard Xatruch, from the “Compartir” restaurant in Cadaqués, a project that he developed after the period he spent at El Bulli, as part of his quest to offer the best innovative cuisine in a unique setting.

Anchovies with black truffle, fir tree honey, and mushrooms

Preparation time: 60 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 8 anchovies
• 250 gr extra virgin olive oil
• 10 gr black truffle
• 70 gr corn oil
• 8 small mushrooms
• 200 gr olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• Salt
• 2 gr ground black pepper
• 1/2 bay leaf
• 10 gr toasted pine nuts
• 2 thin slices of toast
• 15 gr fir tree honey
• 12 fresh chervil leaves

Instructions

1. First, mix the truffle with the corn oil in a blender. Next, vaccum pack the mix and cook it for 3 hours at 64º C. Once it’s cooked, cool to room temperature and refrigerate for 24 hours.

2. Next, peel the mushroom stems, being careful to let them keep their shape.

3. Scald the mushrooms in boiling water with a pinch of salt for five seconds and mix the oil with the garlic, bay leaf, and pepper.

4. Heat the mixture in a pan and when the garlic starts to turn golden, remove from heat. Add the scalded mushrooms.

5. Simmer on a low flame for 20 minutes, set aside, and cool to room temperature.

6. To finish and serve, place 4 anchovy fillets on each plate. Cut the mushrooms in half and place the 4 halves between the anchovies. Pour the truffle oil over the mushrooms and the bottom of the plate. Then spread the fir tree honey and the toasted pine nuts over the truffle oil. Break the toast and lean the pieces against the mushrooms. Last of all, sprinkle the dish with chervil.

anchoas de l’Escala

anchoas Ana Maria de Cantabria

anchoas Revilla de Cantabria

las mejores anchoas de España

The only way to get a risotto that is both al dente and creamy is to use Carnaroli rice, from the plains of the River Po. The key to the preparation is simple – you have to stir, and stir, and stir…

 When I stood for the first time in the middle of the light green rice fields on the plains of the Po. I couldn’t help but recall the film “Bitter Rice”, which had been filmed at this location a good five decades ago.

Silvana Mangano played the lead as a poor farm hand, smiling a beatific smile, despite her arduous toil. Marina Vercellone, with whom I was journeying to this part of the world, added: “I like that film. It shows very realistically how hard it was to making a living from rice here. Just think of the swarms of midges that bite you. And you constantly have to bend over, so much so that you can barely walk upright by the end of the day”.

Marina Vercellone knows what she’s talking about. Her family has been cultivating rice for several generations on the Tenuta Castello estate, situated on the Desana plain. And not just any old rice, but a kind of rice that makes connoisseurs’ hearts beat that little bit faster. The Vercellones have made it their task to mainly cultivate and look after the old and less profitable, although superlatively flavoursome, types of rice –such as Carnaroli, which is the finest and most noble type of rice used in risotto recipes.

Many rice-growers don’s like Carnaroli, because it ripens slowly and infrequently – and cannot stand artificial fertilizer. Hence it takes a lot of sweat and hard work to cultivate. In the spring, manure is forked into the soil. In April, the seeds are sown and May, the weeding begins –and of course, it’s all done by hand.” This profession died out because rice-growers all kill weeds with pesticides. It’s a lot cheaper. We first of all had to find workers who would be willing to put themselves through all the bother”, explains Marina. After the rice is harvested, the grains are dried carefully and stored in silos at ten degrees centigrade, without any chemical agents against pests, mould or humidity. The compensation for this time-consuming process is scented rice with a fine, nutty aroma that retains its bite when cooked and is beautifully creamy.

Rice is known the world over-mostly as “daily bread” to ward off hunger. The fact that rice is also something that can be enjoyed is thanks to the Italians and their recipe for rice, risotto. Risotto has nothing in common with rice as a side dish, since first of all it is an exceptional, stand-alone dish and secondly it requires your full attention during cooking. In other words, all the ingredients must have been fully prepared and be available before cooking can commence. What’s more, you must enjoy standing calmly at the stove for around thirty minutes, stirring the rice. Because only then does the risotto become truly creamy, since it is by stirring constantly that some of the rive flour is released from the grain.

No trip the plains of the Po and its rice fields would be complete without having tried a true Piedmont risotto. I was delighted to take-up Marina’s invitation to join her in cooking a cep risotto. In the kitchen, the chicken stock was boiling away on the stove and a large onion was braising golden yellow in plenty of butter. The Parmesan cheese stood ready-grated on the kitchen table. Marina poured the Carnoli rice over the onions, and then she did something that took me by surprise. She left the rice to cook until the onions were brown. She saw me looking uneasy, and simply said: “Don’t worry, I’ve got everything under control. It’s very important that the rice sweats out the butter that it has absorbed. Only then can it take up the liquid”. As the spoke, she poured a final slug of wine over the rice and a few minutes later some of the stock. She added the dried ceps and the water in which they had been soaking, and only once the rice had absorbed this liquid did she add some more stock.

Stir, simmer and then stir again. This process was repeated until Marina pronounced the rice to be “all’onda”. Now, everything had to happen with lighting speed. With a sweep, she lifted the pan from the stove, mixed in a mountain of Parmigiano Reggiano, placed it on the table and immediately served up the portions into the plates with a big spoon. What can I say? I’d never managed to make such a tasty, creamy and yet al dente risotto in my life. “That’s exactly what all’onda mean”, explained Marina. “Once the risotto gives off a soft wave (“onda”), as soon as you shake the plate, it’s perfect”.

Christiane Strub

Every morning shortly after sunrise, Sa’id Ahmad walks through the winding alleyways of the old city of Sana’a to open up his little shop. When he gets there, he puts water on an old kerosene stove to boil, arranges small glasses on the counter, and waits for the local men to come to his shop after morning prayers at the mosque. What brings them to him is the specialty of house: Yemeni coffee.

Nobody knows when someone in the ancient capital of this barren land at the south-western tip the Arabian peninsula first hit upon the idea of roasting the fruit of the coffee tree on flat stones in the sun and then grinding them up and boiling them in water. All we know for sure is that when the first European seafarers reached the port of Al-Mukha in the 16^th century, the Yemenis had already developed a taste for a drink that was to become a major feature of world culture in the space of just a few decades. The coffee that Portuguese and Dutch sailors brought back from the place they called “mokka” on their travels round the Horn of Africa is know by the Yemenis as “bunn”. In the history of their country, this word is linked to a brief economic golden age. When shopkeepers like Sa’id began opening their own little shops in one European trading city after the next, Yemen still had the monopoly on coffee.

Yemeni beans are still sought-after today, and are a rarity on the world market.  After oil, coffee is the second-biggest traded commodity in the world, and 25 million people around the globe earn their living from it. However, ever since a Muslim pilgrim brought the seeds of the plant (officially knows as Coffea Arabica since 1737) to southern India, where it was discovered by Dutch traders and taken to Java, Yemen has hardly benefited from this circumstance at all. Today, coffee is grown on a massive scale in Indonesia and Central and Latin America.

The plant is believed to have originated in the highland forests of Ethiopia in the districts of Gamo-Gofa, Sidarno and Kefa (also known as Kaffa). This latter name sounds rather like the Arabic word for coffee, Qahwah, from which our own word for the drink is derived. However, language experts do not have any firm proof of this interpretation. We do at least know that the Arabic word for coffee is related to a rule of conduct applying to Muslims. “Qahwah” is the wine that followers of the Koran are forbidden to drink.

Early European coffee culture is very well documented. It began after the Thirty Years’ War in the mid-17^th century, when the first transport routes were opened up from the Arabian peninsula across the sea to Italy and overland through the Balkans. At the same time, trading cities were developing their sales networks. Although coffee houses roasted their coffee beans themselves, pharmacists and travelling Turkish salesmen sold the beans unprocessed to private households.

The main thing that coffee seemed to bring out in people was a penchant for socializing. In the mid-17^th century, it was considered fashionable in Europe’s royal courts to consume coffee in rooms decorated in Oriental style while wearing Turkish clothing. This trend was called “mode à la turque”. Like all fashions, it soon passed, as did the concerns of the Vatican, where Pope Clement VIII, fearing the hidden dangers of a possibly devilish drink, cautiously baptized his first cup before succumbing to its wonderful aroma.

Today, nobody believes that coffee is an aphrodisiac anymore. This is partly because the upcoming middle classes, many of them of Protestant faith and with a rational view on life, took a more objective approach to coffee drinking. At first, coffee beans were believed to be a substitute for the widespread alcoholism of the day. Later, having an early morning cup of coffee became a symbol of bourgeois industriousness and sobriety, coupled with a desire for good company and lifestyle. Coffee was drunk in various different places –in public coffee houses, the exclusive domain of men, or in private, largely female environments known as “coffee circles”

Coffee mobilizes energy reserves

Coffee drinking seemed to be the ideal symbol for a new social class that liked to take the old customs of the nobility and brew them up into new, more down-to-earth fashions. The love of all things decorative remained, as was expressed in the hand painted porcelain coffee sets for which people paid large amounts of money.

Coffee became popular among the working classes in the 19^th century, initially as a means of supplementing a meager diet. A sip of coffee –even if it came from a cheap tin or enamel pot at a street vendor’s stall –was in some way a substitute for a hot meal. People drank coffee in short breaks during long working days to help them mobilize their remaining energy reserves.

The increasing popularity of coffee and the ever-expanding growing areas in which it was produced stimulated the creativity of the roasting establishments and coffee houses. In Italy it was so well received that the Italian language developed a broad vocabulary for its legendary variations: cappuccino, macchiato, latte macchiato, ristretto, lungo, corretto, caffè latte…

And now, a little source of inspiration:

Viennese Coffee

Ingredients (2 servings)

100 gr semisweet chocolate

500 ml espresso coffee

200 ml whipping cream

Sugar to taste

1 pinch of cinnamon

• To prepare Viennese coffee, the first thing you have to do is make the espresso. This method is faster      and as a result the coffee is more concentrated.
• Pour the hot espresso into two individual cups. Add a teaspoonful of sugar and stir. In a saucepan,      melt the chocolate with 50 ml of the whipping cream, preferably in a bain-marie, and stir.
• Next, pour the mixture into the two cups of coffee and stir. If you wish, you can mix the coffee with the chocolate before serving it and beat it for a smoother texture.

Chocolate is currently going through a “devilish” revival, especially the particularly “sinful” sort with a high cocoa content. The best bittersweet temptations come from England, France, Austria and Belgium. The Norman, Michel Cluiz4el, introduced chocolate to the market with a characteristically high cocoa content. Over five hundred different cocoa aromas can develop during the roasting process. Cluizel “sniffs” his way discerningly through roasting houses and buys only the finest varieties of cocoa from Venezuela, Madagascar and Ecuador to create the bittersweet bouquet of his chocolates. Following similar path, Valrhona in the Rhone valley lays claim to the exclusive label “Grand cru de chocolate noir”: This type of chocolate contains cocoa from just one particular region, such as the Caribbean or Venezuela.

I have nibbed my way through nearly the entire world of cocoa flavours. Many chocolates were utterly unpalatable, many were acquired tastes and only a select few could be considered revelations! I personally think the primary requirement for chocolate is that enjoyable, and the fun stops for me when the cocoa percentage nears 57%. I can identify a good chocolate straight away: I put a small piece on my tongue and wait for euphoria to take hold of my body. A good example will leave me tingling for over an hour. When I read on the label, “an acquired bitter chocolate taste”, I’m ready turned off. I want chocolate I can savour! A delight that enraptures. There aren’t many that can do that! To me, pure cocoa is simply boring richness lacking finesse.

The world of chocolate is expanding its borders. Earlier, Zurich and Brussels were the only countries which made chocolate.

Today countries throughout Europe are trying their hand at it. And thank goodness. For me Zurich continues to be the centre of the chocolate universe. Creations from some of newcomers also make my mouth water. One of them is the Frenchman Joël Durand, whose chocolates perfumed with fruits and flowers are enough to drive a French chef mad with desire.

I love to finish a good day with chocolate. The only question is, which kind: semi-sweet, pure bitter or ratter a lavish, full-bodied milk chocolate. Or, is something milk chocolate. Or, is something missing? In my state of euphoria, I think about Trude Herr and her hit song “ I don’t want chocolate, I wanna man” Why not have both!

Christiane Strub.

 Milan is one of the strongholds of Slow Food, a movement that focuses on the simplest of pleasures, the culture of eating well, and the preservation of the best products.

At the Latteria on Via San Marco, every single chair is taken–as usual. Maria is firm: come back tomorrow.

Latterie are the Italian version of dairy shops. In Milan, they also used to prepare simple food, but over the years this tradition has been outrun by countless bars offering panini, salads, starters (pasta, risotto), or simple daily specials. In the center of the Lombard capital, which the presence of so many Italian regional cuisines has turned into a mecca for gourmets, only a handful of latterie have survived.

However, some of them have evolved. The Latteria on Via San Marco, for example, became a trattoria years ago and now foodies’ mouths water at the very sound of its name. And it’s not because of the enthusiasm with which the waiters in uniform recite the tempting items on the menu, nor because the wine list seems like a catalogues of antiques, but rather because Maria and Arturo serve simple, down-to-earth recipes (such as risotto milanese or orecchiette with broccoli) with such skill that the very thought of a vitello alla milanese makes them smile in anticipation.

To enjoy eating, even the simplest of foods, is also the Slow Food philosophy. When the first fast food business opened in Rome in the 1980s, food writer Carlo Petrini, from the Piamontese town of Bra, joined a handful of friends to found the Slow Food association.

Since then, Slow Food has grown to become a truly international movement. As it voiced in one of its manifestos, the movement, whose logo is a snail, aims to “protect all things peaceful, sensual, and down-to-earth, especially in this age of ‘fast life’,” because pleasure comes first, and everyone has the right to experience it.

Slow Food advocates met in what are called “brotherhood meetings” or “round tables.” They share a firm commitment to protecting regional agricultural products, preserving culinary traditions, and promoting environmentally aware tourism. They grant an award for the protection of biodiversity and, in a project called The Ark of Taste, have developed a network of nutrition scientists, producers, and professionals to document and protect food production methods and native species of plants and animals. They also organize nutrition and food-tasting fairs.

As an eco-gastronomical lobby, the Slow Food movement is a powerful player–not only in Turin, Milan, or Rome, but also in Brussels. And Carlo Petrini is especially proud that Slow Food has been recognized by the PAO, the UN authority on nutrition, as an official partner. Slow Food is on the front line in the fight against the use of genetically modified foods.

Carlo Petrini has struggled to help food and cooking break the boundaries of its cultural niche, which is dominated by eccentric gourmets and well-meaning bon vivants. Ultimately, gastronomy deals with the art of nutrition, and therefore with fulfilling a basic human need. It’s about plants and animals, about endangered species, and about the new species being introduced. It’s about history, world hunger, and a market economy that can be compatible at a global scale. It is about culture, ethics, and customs, as well as about the art of cooking: craftsmanship combined with art.

Needless to say, the best occasion to talk about Slow Food is over a meal. So… if you go to Italy, where the Slow Food movement began, you won’t want to miss the following restaurants in Milan: comforting, family-run, small-scaled, and perfect for basking in the flavors of life.

http://www.pontdeferr.it/

http://www.trattoriadaabele.it/

http://www.grandhotelosteria.it/

http://www.latteriadicameri.it/

http://www.osteriadeltreno.it/

http://www.enotecaombrerosse.com/

http://www.tagiura.it/

http://www.trattoriadelnuovomacello.it/

To find out more about the Slow Food movement and its manifesto, visit:

http://slowfood.es/manifiesto-slow-food/

Many people follow a tradition for their meals on Christmas Eve, while others fancy trying something new for a change. The following post contain three recipe ideas for the festive season. They have been put together by three excellent cooks who we will be profiling at the same time. We hope we can inspire you.

He is the modern multimedia specialist among chefs. Christian Henze is an old hand at it all. The young chef also runs his own company –he is a talented jack of all trades with his own country house, a freestyle cookery school and his own catering service and mail order Company, based in Oberallgäu. He reaches for the stars and is rewarded, of course, for his work with stars.

Despite the Michelin star, the chef does not see his elegant yet rustic restaurant as a gourmet temple. The emphasis is on an informal comfort. “Our restaurant is a fun place to be. And nobody goes home hungry,” this is something which is very important to the chef, who does the cooking him self most nights.

And this clever star chef has achieved all this by sticking rigidly to one motto for his cooking: It’s got to be fun! His recipes are sophisticated, but no-frills. “Dogged determination gets you now here in the kitchen. But the most important thing is to be in a good mood and completely relaxed when you approach cooking”, he almost flirts with the same effortlessness with which he conjures up his dishes.

For the winter, when he likes to blend the hearty and festive with the local and exotic, he recommends a “crispy Christmas goose with apple sauce”. Sounds simple and good, takes about half an hour (plus roasting time) and comes highly recommended for the festive season –served with red cabbage and dumplings.

Crispy Christmas goose with apple sauce

Serves 6:

Preparation time: 30 minutes

(+2 hours 10 minutes roasting time)

Ingredients:

1 oven-ready goose (4-5 kg)

Salt, freshly ground pepper

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2 russet appels

2 onins

400ml dry white wine

Wash the goose in cold running water inside and out and pat dry with kitchen roll. Rub salt and pepper into the outside and inside of the goose. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.

Heat the oil in a roasting tin on a medium heat. Then carefully seal the goose, starting with the haunch and then turning over to the breast, so the skin takes on a little color.

Turn the goose on its back and put in the center of the oven in the roasting tin.

Allow the roast for 40 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180ºC and roast for a further 1.5 hours. While it is cooking, occasionally baste the goose in its own fat. Do not add any extra liquid.

Reduce the oven temperature to 80ªC, and open the oven door briefly. Remove the goose from the oven, place on a heat resistant plate and keep warm in the oven.

Peel apples and onions. Quarter and core the apples, then finely dice them and the onins.

Pour the goose fat out of the roasting tin until around 8 tbsp are left, fry the apples and onions in the fat, add the wine and allow to thicken a little. Then puree the sauce.

Carve the goose and serve on warmed plates with the sauce.

Holger Stromberg. His suggestion for the festive season: John Dory with pistachio pesto on limed potato puree with a comfit of black salsify. It sounds daring and down-to-earth at the same time, which makes is exactly in line with 31-year-old’s philosophy: I’m happy to admit I take a lot of risks when it comes to combining flavours. But the fundamental ingredients of my recipes never lose touch with good, honest food”.

This from a man who was literally born into a tradition of cooking. His family has been in the catering industry for 150 years. In this context, his creations seem pretty revolutionary. And so is his image, at least in the press, where he quickly became the golden boy. Now a days has his own company –Kounge – a blend of a (bulthaup) kitchen and a lounge in Munich.

John Dory with pistachio pesto on limed potato puree with confit of black salsify.

Serves 4:

400 g filet of John Dory

500 g peeled black salsify

2 pieces of star anise

200g peeled potatoes

100ml pouring cream

60 ml olive oil

Grated  rind and juice of lime

60g pistachos

30g grated parmesan

¼ of a clove garlic

100 ml olive oil

Sea salt, freshly ground pepper, à olive oil

A little fresh rosemary

Preparation:

Boil the potatoes in salted water and drain. Add the olive oil, cream and lime and mix to a puree using an electric mixer. Add salt and pepper taste.

Marinate the peeled black salsify in 100ml olive oil, sea salt, star anise and freshly ground pepper. Then wrap all the black salsify and spices up in aluminum foil. The parcel should be flat and no higher than 3 cm (so it can cook evenly!), then bake in a fan oven at 170ºC for 20-30 minutes.

Once the accompaniments are ready, fry the John Dory (à la minute) in a preheated Teflon frying pan in a little olive oil for 2 minutes on either side until it is light golden brown. Just before you take the fish out, add a rosemary and fry for around 10 seconds, then season the fish with salt and pepper.

To serve, spread the black salsify lengthways across the middle of the plate, place the potato puree to one side and arrange the fish on top. Finally, pour the pistachio pesto over the fish and sprinkle the fried rosemary on top.

Do you want to be inspired by Marcus Bischoff this Christmas? Then you’ll be spoilt for choice. You can either give it a go at home with his recipe “shoulder of beef with savoy cabbage wrap and cocktail onions”. Or you can sign up for his “Christmas menu” cookery course, 5 courses prepared on a bulthaup system 25 kitchen. The lessons take place in the picture book setting of Tegernsee, where Bischoff runs the wonderful “Bischoff am See” with his wife Petra. It is a restaurant, bar and hotel in one. Many people have written or more accurately, raved about the place where this charming chef has chosen to turn his lifelong dream into reality. He has proven that you can blend Bavarian with Feng Shui and Zen  that goes perfectly with food with Italian, French and Asian influences and that attention to detail has created an oasis of elegant comfort. Everything he has achieved in his flawless career has been crowned in glory. With a star Michelin: the philosophy of his food is remarkably simple: I cook from gut instinct and am influenced by season”.

Shoulder of beef with savoy cabbage wrap and cocktail onions.

Serves 4:

Meat:

1,5-2 kg shoulder of beef without skin and tendons, salt, freshly ground pepper, 1 tbsp flour, 1-2 tbsp clarified butter, 4 tbsp sugar, 3-4 tbsp tarragon vinegar, 100g butter, 400 g fresh peeled cocktail onions.

Rub salt and pepper into the beef and dust with flour. Melt the clarified butter in a oven proof roasting tin. Fry the meat in the pan until is crispy all over, then remove from the pan. Caramelize the sugar in the fat and add the tarragon vinegar, stirring vigorously. Add the butter and the cocktail onions. Place the meat on top and cover. Allow to braise in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 2,5 to 3 hours. Baste the meat in its juices every 20 minutes. Allow the cocktail onions around 20 minutes to cook through, then remove. At the end of the cooking time, pass the sauce through a fine sieve. Keep warm. Reheat the cocktail onions. Accompaniments: 2,5 tbsp chopped shallots, 5 tbsp butter, 550 g cleaned cep (120 g of which is finely diced) or other seasonal wild mushrooms, 6-8 slices of fresh brioche (French yeast bread, alternatively another sweetish yeast bread), 1 egg, 100 g fresh goose liver, finely diced, 15-20 g diced clack truffles, salt, freshly ground pepper, freshly grated nutmeg, 2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley, 8 large blanched savoy leaves, without the start of stem, 1 medium carrot, ½ celery root, ¼ leek, 1 small kohlrabi, 1 small parsley root, 0.35 l chicken stock, 1 tsp lemon juice.

For the savoy cabbage filling, lightly fry 2 tbsp diced shallots in 2 tbsp butter. Add the diced ceps and fry them briefly. Mix in a bowl with the roughly chopped brioche. Mix in the egg, goose liver and diced truffle. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg and 1 tbsp parsley to taste. Spread each savoy leaf out separately on a tea towel. Place one eight of the filling on each, fold the leaf over and twist into a little ball in the towel. Grease a heat-resistant pan with a 1 tbsp butter. Cut the carrot, celery, leek, kohlrabi and parsley root into slices. Place in the tin and place the savoy balls on top. Pour over yhe chicken stock, cover and put in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Fry the remaining ½ tbsp. shallots in the remaining ½ tbsp. butter. Slice the whole ceps, add and fry for 10-15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Stir in the remaining tbsp. of parsley.

Serving:

Slice the shoulder of beef and pour over the sauce. Arrange on plates with the cocktail onions, vegetables, savoy cabbage balls and ceps.

Bon Appetite and Happy Christmas!

bulthaup team

Any day is a good day to unwind from Bilbao’s busy pace taking a walk along the ría, the estuary of the Nervión river that runs through the city, and let our gaze trace the outlines of architectural landmarks such as Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum or Cesar Pelli’s Iberdrola Tower. And, after this first leg of our stroll, it’s time for a stop: the small, cozy “La Gallina Ciega” (“The Blind Chicken”) will make us feel at home right away amidst the paintings and drawings signed by some of its customers hanging on the walls–visual references to the venue’s name. The tasteful interior has been carefully crafted down to the tiniest detail by Jon, the owner, who offers a fine selection of drinks from all over the world and highly original versions of the local appetizers known as pinxos.

With our energies renewed, we continue on our way along the river. Walking by the fine arts museum–the Museo de Bellas Artes–, the Guggenheim, and an assortment of design shops, we reach the city’s Ensanche neighborhood. In the Alameda Mazarredo we come across Zortziko restaurant, led by chef Daniel García, the proud bearer of a Michelin star. His philosophy associates cuisine with a journey through new flavors and textures: a must.

And on we go. We reach the city’s old quarter, gastronomically famous for its pinxos, like the ones we find in the Plaza Nueva, in bars and restaurants such as Víctor Montes.

Returning to the river’s edge, near the Marzana dock, which owes its name to the old tower-house located here, we come across another culinary landmark: Mina, a restaurant where you can sample seasonal cuisine (a tribute to the views overlooking the nearby market known as the Mercado de la Ribera), with products supplied by nearby farms.

Another route well worth exploring crosses the bridge of San Antón and heads into the old town known as Bilbao la Vieja, a hopping neighborhood with new art galleries, upcoming designer shops, vintage clothing stores, and much more.

In the center of Bilbao, in the Abando neighborhood, a good place to find local products, both to take home and to eat on the spot, is Casa Rufo.

The unusually warm atmosphere in this shop, where we seem to have entered a time warp and ended up in an old-time,
exquisitely decorated grocery store, also permeates its restaurant, where the dishes live up to our expectations of this cozy, enveloping environment.

And after this long walk through the city, we can let the water lead us down the estuary all the way to Getxo, where it meets the sea. Bordered by cliffs and beaches, with peaceful, open landscapes and an admirable architecture, this small city is host to a large number of excellent options for a meal, a stroll, and much more. This is where we find the Restaurante Embarcadero, located in the hotel with the same name, a good choice for exploring an appealing menu and enjoying the excellent views over the Abra bay.

Another landmark we won’t want to miss is the Puente Colgante, the hanging bridge that is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and cross over to the left bank of the ría. From there, we can continue on to Santurtzi, and treat ourselves to the best fresh fish and traditional cuisine at Currito.

Here we can sit and gaze at the freighters sailing out to England, or the small fishing boats returning to the port of Santurce and reminding us of the area’s seafaring past: the perfect setting for sampling the excellent fish for which it is so well known.

Francis Gainzarain de bulthaup bilbao.

Source images:

 Bilbao 1

 Bilbao 2

 Bilbao 3

Molecular gastronomer Hervé This-Benkhard has been fascinated by chemistry ever since he was a child, and has written several books on cookery and its scientific principles. He is also scientific adviser to the magazine „Pour la Science“ and Director of the Chemical Laboratory of Molecular Gastronomy at the famous Collège de France in Paris.

There are a lot of old rules in cookery: it is said that berries should not be stored in a galvanized container, that green beans must be cooked in salted water in a pot without a lid, and that a teaspoon in the neck of an opened bottle of champagne will stop the fizz from escaping.

Hervé This-Benckhard was intrigued by these cooking tips, and started experimenting to find out about their scientific basis. The fried egg was not overlooked. It is one of the easiest dishes to prepare, the one that enables us to feel self-sufficient at an early age. And after all the fried eggs made ​​in a lifetime, any gourmet is bound to want to excel and find perfection in the fried egg.

This happened to Hervé This-Benckhard, following the guidelines set in La Bonne Cuisine by Madame Saint-Ange: “The egg yolk is still runny, although thickened, enveloped in a delicate white veil that makes it shimmer or shine,” hence also the old French name, “oeuf au miroir.”

Hervé This-Benckhard shares his excellence, enabling us to achieve this outcome:

In a flameproof pan, whose diameter should be no more than twice as large as that of an egg, melt a walnut-sized piece of clarified butter.

The diameter of the pan should be no more than 15 centimeters, so that no “shelf” forms with a thick layer around the edges. This would not be good, since the thinner section would be cooked through before the thicker section had time to solidify.

How to make clarified butter: melt the required quantity of butter in a small pan for a good 10 minutes over a very low flame. At the base of the liquid, a cloudy layer forms. This is the clotted casein. The upper, clear layer is made up of purified fat. Now carefully decant this upper layer from the base liquid. Allow it to cool, and that’s all there is to it. It melts, but it doesn’t sizzle and it doesn’t burn. In fact, you can even heat it to 190º without its decomposing–in other words, you can also use it for frying. Dishes fried in clarified butter have a much finer flavor than dishes fried in oil.

Allow the melted butter to cool down again. Then, break one egg into each frying pan. Only salt the egg white around the yolk. Sprinkle evenly with white pepper.

But why shouldn’t you salt the yolk? Because it would spoil its appearance with little dark pock-marks. The salt “cooks” the yolk by absorbing water from the areas it comes into contact with, causing the yolk protein to coagulate.

So if you only salt the egg white protein, which takes longer to cook, you balance out the two different solidification temperatures and end up with an evenly-cooked egg.

Allow the salted egg to rest for a minute and then cook it in the oven set at a very low temperature. It’s ready when the egg white has turned milky-white.

By cooking it in the oven, the egg keeps a uniform consistency, but still remains creamy.

Not as simple as it seems: the perfect fried egg is a true art.

A culinary rendez vous with the fig.

Already in ancient times, the Olympians trained for months in order to achieve the

glory of a laurel wreath that marked the pinnacle of their careers. They also used

various methods to enhance their performance. Historical evidence shows, for example,

that many athletes boost their performance by eating bull’s testicles. The

mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, on the other hand, recommended figs.

He believed that the nutritional value of the fig was unbeatable.

 In fact, we now know that the fig is a real powerhouse. It contains potassium, magnesium,

phosphorus, iron, carotene and valuable vitamins.

As an aromatic, sweet treat, it was a late developer. Even our parents used to nibble

unenthusiastically at the dried fruits, mentioning their unusual effect on the digestion.

And they were right! Figs are healthy, but most importantly they taste great — and as

well as stimulating the digestion, they also stimulate culinary creativity.

Fig trees grow in Mediterranean countries, where the summers are hot and the

winters are mild. Otherwise, they do not make any particular demands on their environments,

being propagated simply with cuttings or seeds, and flourish like weeds. My favorite

figs come from Albania, from the area around the old town of Berat. I make my way there,

accompanied by Edis Ferhati. For Edis, who grew up and lives in Freiburg, this trip is a

journey back to his Albanian roots. A few years ago, he had the idea of converting Albanian

figs into tasty marmalades and desserts, not only to delight gourmets, but

also to help a desperately poor country. We visit his friend, Myslym Bilcari, and accompany

him to his small fig plantation. Curious, we wind in and out of the fig

trees with their wide, heavy branches. We sit down in the

shade. This is a welcome relief, since the July sun heats up the sunken area quickly. “It’s like

a picnic in the countryside. Myslym shows me how to open the fig with his hands and savor the

contents. I copy him, nibbling the red flesh from the skin and letting the sweet, slightly

nutty flavor cascade over my tongue. And now I digress slightly, to dream of French sweet

wine, of an old port, of a blue-veined cheese from the mountains of Asturias, of acorn-fed

ham from southern Spain and much, much more. However, I bring myself back to reality,

open my eyes and enjoy the truly unique atmosphere, saving my ideas for later.

I realize that I have never seen a photograph of a fig blossom, and I ask Myslym

what the place looks like in spring. “You rarely get to see any blossoms; for a long time, people

assumed that figs don’t bloom. They do, but you just don’t see it, because the blossoms

are hidden away in the axils. And Edis praises the excellent quality of the fruit, which, after the harvest

dry for about ten days in the sun, under the watchful eye of Myslym’s wife who constantly

checks and turns them and would never dream of treating them with sulfur or

other chemical agents. Only then are they sent to Freiburg, to Edis, who turns them into

real gourmet treats. I really love spooning hibittersweet fig and lime marmalade out of

the jar, and his variations for the four seasons leave no wish unanswered. Whole dried figs

are preserved in Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Noir with orange, cinnamon, rosemary, cloves

and sugar. They can be eaten as they are, or enjoyed with ice cream or cheese.

My trip to Albania, as it takes its first steps towards culinary development, marks the

start of a strong friendship. I’ve been focusing on figs for months after my trip. Everything

that involves figs piques my curiosity. It is a flavor that I’m experimenting within my own

kitchen. I soon realize that the sweetness of figs goes beautifully with almost anything,

San Daniele and Patanegra ham, for example, or blue-veined cheese such as Cabrales. The

combination of sweet and hot in fig chutney is something I particularly love, or the contrast

of sweet and sour found in the braised figs that have been seasoned with a good

balsamic vinegar. And, let’s not forget the fig vinegar from Robert Bauer, which is not a

wine vinegar flavored with figs, but is truly made from only fermented fig juice. It is the

pure fruit that gives it its wonderful aroma. This vinegar is the only fig product that I’ve

had in my kitchen for many years and without which I couldn’t imagine a vinaigrette

dressing. A sliced avocado, drizzled with this vinegar and a little good olive oil, seasoned

with a few grains of fleur de sel — what an exquisite treat! Another discovery makes my

taste buds tingle even more, duck liver with fresh figs, preserved in a jar. I found this little

specialty at Upignac in Belgium. These fine duck livers served on warm brioche, with a

glass of Sauternes to accompany it — pure heaven!

Text : Christiane Strub

Small simple and delicious delicatessen.

Figs with acorn ham

2 Fresh figs per person
An equal number of slices of acorn ham.
Extra virgin olive oil
Lime Juice
Toasted pine nuts

Cut flower shaped and wrap the figs with ham. Heat briefly on the grill without cooking ham. You can put some cream cheese, brie type. And a basil leaf.
Put them in a bowl and dress with olive oil, lime juice and pinions.

Figs with Cabrales cheese

Figs

Seed bread

Honey

Cabrales cheese

Fresh oregano

Slice figs. Cut the bread and spread with Cabrales cheese. Putting up some honey, and sliced ​​figs. Sprinkle with fresh oregano.

Source:

Carlos Arguiñano

Patricia Pamos

The coast of Málaga has countless spots where you can enjoy its cuisine and its people. The sense of humor, the hospitality, and the warmth of the malagueños allow visitors to experience all the different facets of the friendly, outgoing Mediterranean spirit: its beaches, its streets, its people, and the flavors in its gastronomy, which provides an exquisite combination of traditional cuisine and innovative explorations.

In Marbella, we highly recommend the Dani García Restaurant, boasting two Michelin stars and located inside the Hotel Puente Romano, and a venue with a new concept, Bibo Andalusian Brasserie & Tapas, both run by Dani García in Marbella. The contrasts within his traditional repertoire play with textures and with the opposition of different flavors and temperatures. The result is a brilliant cuisine that may throw you off at first, but then lures you into searching among your memories and ends up unleashing the pleasure of utter seduction. Dani is currently the most internationally renowned chef in Andalusia; critics rank him among the top ten Spanish chefs.

Following the coast to the Playa de Río Real beach, you won’t want to miss the Trocadero, where not only will you enjoy the gastronomy of its restaurant, which evokes the essence of the Mediterranean with a few touches of Asian fusion, but also its beach club, perfect for a relaxing day by the seaside. Decorated in African colonial style, both venues base their cuisine on the Mediterranean tradition: rice, fish, meat… All the dishes contain seasonal vegetables harvested from the Trocadero’s own organic garden.

Heading inland from the coastline, you can pull into Mijas, where you’ll wander through its whitewashed streets and enjoy its slow, old-fashioned pace, all the way to another gastronomic experience: the Mirlo Blanco, run for over 40 years by the members of the Auzmendi family, who continue to prepare traditional seasonal Basque cuisine with only the best ingredients. We highly recommend their txangurro (spider crab) and their kokotxas de bacalao (cod cheeks), to be savored with a bottle of excellent wine, and their elaborate homemade desserts.

And once you’re in Málaga, you wouldn’t want to miss El Pimpi. Founded in 1971, El Pimpi is one of the longest-standing bodegas in the city. Writer Antonio Gala led others, including Gloria Fuertes with her poetry readings, to turn the venue into the most iconic, famous tapas bar in the city. Even today, it continues to be popular among actors, poets, locals, and visitors who gather to enjoy its good food, local wines, tradition, and culture, but above all, of an authentic atmosphere. Its décor is based on flamenco and bullfighting themes, featuring a collection of vintage feria and bullfight posters. One of its best-known rooms is the Salón de los Barriles, whose barrels bear the signatures of famous names in the arts, flamenco, film, music, and politics. Today, El Pimpi combines two complementary and equally inviting places to meet: El Pimpi Bodega Bar and, next to it, El Pimpi Marinero, a contemporary cocktail and shellfish experience with spectacular views of the Alcazaba and the Roman Theater.