Thursday, 19 November 2015 00:00

Teach your children to speak as many languages as possible Featured

Written by  Chef Andrew R. Eade
Rate this item
(1 Vote)

Hand gestures, scribbles and pictures can only go so far. I'm thrilled I took Spanish in grades 11 and 12 which a solid base of French for 10 years. Yes, Food is universal but only when you understand how to read a recipe written in a different language.

It's Day 2 at Restaurant Bo-Tic in La Bisbal D'empordà, Spain. Yesterday I was working Paòla most of the day. She has been working at Bo-Tic for 2 years with Chef Albert. Every single vegetable trimming, shrimp shells and morsel gets used for some amazing dish. Rayan is a native Catalonian whose parents were born in the Philippines. He is 19 has been cooking at Bo-Tic for 3 years. He showed me today how to make three spheres 1. Passion Fruit 2. Lime & Ginger 3. Pincha Maruña. 

The newest addition to team is Albert from a local town who staged at El Bulli before closing. He is working Hot Plates. His sauces are incredible and today was working on a gnocchi made from pure eggplant and a type of powders that can withstand high heat. It needs some tweaking because the texture is a bit off and needs more punch. I suggested some lemon zest and pine nut powder. He liked that. Well tweak it tomorrow.

Making a roux at Bo-Tic is blasphemy. The flour and butter is diluting the flavours says Chef Albert. Instead they use Gelespessa - See picture below:

 

Gelespessa instantly thickens without having to cook it out or dilute the flavours. 

I was surprised to hear that it illegal to use fresh eggs in the kitchen because of the risk of salmonella. They use a full range of natural extracts which is created by Sosa.

I'm making staff meal on Saturday. I brought a wide variety of Canadian products from Forbes Wild Foods on my voyage. I plan to find some killer local seafood and make a version on Brandade with a stinging nettle pesto and orange, pine and pine nut salad. 

In the supermarkets, they  are lined with fermented sausages and a bunch of Map packaged meat and perfect baby veg (baby carrots and turnips):

 

This is the view from the kitchen window:

I have to get back to cleaning Sea snails - Los Caricolles del Mar

Ciao for now,

 

Chef Andrew R. Eade

More in this category: The Traveling Chef »

Leave a comment

Make sure you enter the (*) required information where indicated. HTML code is not allowed.