Chef Martin Berasategui – The Chef Who Brought Traditional Basque Cuisine
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Chef Martin Berasategui has a secured a spot in the S. Pellegrino’s Top 50 World’s Best Restaurants for his restaurant, Martin Berasategui, once more as it landed on the 33rd spot. The restaurant may have slipped down four spots, but his cuisine is still considered as one of the best in the country. He is, in fact, considered as the chef who brought traditional Basque cuisine up to date, giving it a modern twist yet keeping with tradition.
Born in the mid 1960s in San Sebastian, Spain, it can be said that Chef Berasategui grew up in his parents’ kitchen. He helped out in their family kitchen, and he also helped his parents run their traditional restaurant, the Bodegon Alejandro, which can be found in the old town. His culinary training and career started as early as when he was only 14 years old, with his mother and his aunt Maria Gabriela teaching him the basics in cooking.
Aside from his training at home, he also trained under Andre Mandion where he learned how to bake cakes as well as pastries. He also learned cooking techniques from Francois Brouchican, and through him, he learned how to handle meat products, especially ducks and geese. It was Brouchican who sent him to Chef Didier Oudil when he was 15 years old.
Chef Oudil is a French chef recognized for his culinary skills, having worked with Martin Guerard for almost two decades. Chef Oudil became more than just a mentor of the young Berasategui as they also became good friends. In fact, Chef Oudil became Chef Berasategui’s substitute father.
When he turned 18 years old, he finally took the helm of his family’s restaurant and turned his mother’s simple traditional Basque cuisine into something extraordinary that, in 1986, it finally received its first Michelin star.
In 1993, he made one of his dreams come true and opened his first restaurant, Martin Berasategui, which can be found in Lasarte-Oria. It overlooks a beautiful landscape. The ambiance of his restaurant and the gastronomic experience that one can have here were enough to make it a favorite of many gourmands.
A year after he first opened Martin Berasategui, his restaurant earned its first Michelin star, and between the years 2001 and the present, his restaurant received its second and third Michelin stars and was included in the top 50 list of S. Pellegrino.
He gives credit to his training as a chef pastry for his thoroughness in the kitchen, and he gives credit to his land for giving him bountiful produce and ingredients, the freshest and the most flavorful ones, for the delicious dishes that he creates. He owes his culinary training to the chefs he became an apprentice of, but his awards and titles are all his.
Chef Martin Berasategui’s Red Mullet with Edible Scale Crystals, Cucumber Consommé Tomato Emulsion with Cider Apple Brandy and with Raw Cauliflower
Ingredients:
Preparation of the Red Mullet
- 1 Red Mullet Fillet of 50 – 60 g
- 300 g Sara seed oil
Preparation of Tinfusion of Cucumber Skins
- 50% liquefied cucumber
- 50% clarified mussel liquid / juice
- 700 g of cucumber skins obtained by peeling
- approximately 2.5 kg of cucumber
- Carefully peel the cucumbers. Liquefy in a liquefier (blender) and strain. Provides 450 g of liquid.
Preparation of the Clarified Mussel Juice
- 75 g butter
- 6 shallots
- 2 onions
- a small amount of the green of leek, thyme and stick of celery
- 750 g white wine
- salt and pepper
- 3 kg mussels
Preparation of Gelatinous Cucumber Skins Soup
- 100 g of cucumber skin water / juice
- 100 g clarified mussel juice (liquid)
- 0.6 g of “Xantana”
Preparation of the Caulifloxer Couscous
- 1 cauliflower
Vinaigrette for the couscous
- 100 g cauliflower couscous
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 soup spoon Sherry vinegar
Preparation of the Tomato Emulsion
- 800g red tomato
- 600 g liquid cream
- 200 g cider apple brandy
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 0.5 l water from tomato
- 1 soup spoon of salt, sugar and olive oil
- 30 g preserved tomato
- Lecithin
- salt, pepper, butter
Preparation of the Bonito Tartare
- 400g bonito
- 250 g monkfish/anglerfish
- 5 g shallot
- 25 g spring onion
- 35 g Modena balsamic vinegar (70 g to 35 g)
- 30 g virgin olive oil
- 1 dessert spoon parsley
- salt
Preparation of the Black Olive Rocks
- Soak the bread in 200 g olive paste
- 700 g water
- 2 tablespoons of frozen black, baby squid ink Organic
- bio bread
Directions:
Preparation of the Red Mullet:
1. Carefully fillet the red mullet and remove half the scales on each fillet. Bone the fish. Massage the fillet with a rolling movement, without removing or damaging the scales. Heat the Sara seed oil until very hot (maximum heat), approximately 200°C, however without burning it. Place a strainer or sieve upside down over a flat dish (in order to eventually recuperate dripping oil).
2. Arrange the red mullet fillets over the strainer or sieve. Pour the hot oil over the scales (taking care to do so in the opposite direction of that of the scales) with a ladle, until the red mullet is cooked and the scales well risen and as crunchy and crisp as crystals. Finish by salting the scales and serve immediately.
3. Very Important: For an optimal result, it is preferable to keep the red mullet, on ice, in a bag, until the very last moment.
Preparation of the Clarified Mussel Juice:
1. Sweat the onion, shallot, green of leek, the thyme and the celery stick in butter for 5 minutes. Add the white wine and simmer for 5 minutes without allowing it to change colour. Now add the mussels and grind some pepper over them. Cover the saucepan and allow to simmer for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes,remove from heat and rest for another 3 minutes away from the heat, with the lid on. Now remove the mussels from their shells.
2. Carefully keeping the liquid for the mussel juice preparation. De-fat the liquid thus obtained, cook it and then clarify it with 150g of egg white for each litre of mussel juice.
Preparation of Gelatinous Cucumber Skins Soup:
- Mix the two liquids the Xantana and put in ablender. Mix well. Note that this operation should only be done at the last moment. Cover the serving dish with a quantity, equivalent to 1 soup spoon, of the mixture.
Preparation of the Caulifloxer Couscous :
- Use a knife to cut all the florets of the cauliflower, without any of the stem,and place them in a blender. Mix at mark 10 in burst of 1 – 3 seconds to obtain the correct couscous texture. Mix with the vinaigrette and a dusting of fresh,aromatic herbs.
Preparation of the Tomato Emulsion :
1. Wash and cut the raw tomatoes, remove the pips and keep the juice from the tomatoes.
2. Season with salt, sugar and olive oil. Strain onto an oven tray. Add the cloves of garlic and cover with a sheet of aluminium foil. Bake in the oven FOR 30 MINUTES at 140°C. 3-Deglaze with the cider apple brandy. Cook for 3 minutes and add the liquid cream and the juice from the tomatoes. 4-Cook for 10 minutes and pass through a fine conical strainer. Add a small amount of butter to emulsify. For 1 litre of emulsion use 7 grams of lecithin.
Preserved Tomato :
- Take well ripened tomatoes and wash well. Remove stem and surrounding area with a knife and make a cross incision on the bottom part of the tomatoes. Plunge the tomatoes into plenty of boiling water for 30 seconds, enough time to facilitate peeling them. Plunge the tomatoes into water with ice to refresh them.
- Peel the tomatoes, cut in halve and remove all pips as well as the interior fleshy part.Place the tomatoes on sulphurized paper, dust with salt, sugar, thinly sliced, slivers of garlic and a pinch of thyme.
- Pour 1 teaspoon of virgin olive oil (Assut, if possible) over each tomato. Put in the oven and cook for 1 1⁄2 hours at 110°C. After this period of time, turn the tomatoes and cook for another 1 1⁄2. When removing from oven, make sure that the cooking is complete and right through. Once finished, place these tomatoes in a covered Tupperware dish and cover with virgin olive oil. Close hermetically and keep at room temperature.
Preparation of the Bonito Tartare :
- Chop all the ingredients in cubes of 1×1 cm (bonito and monkfish/anglerfish)and add the remainder of the ingredients, leaving the vinaigrette for last. The vinaigrette is used to adequately moisten the tartare. Add a pinch of salt. Please note that instead of using bonito, American mackerel can be used, following the same method of preparation.
Preparation of the Black Olive Rocks:
1. Remove the crusts of the bio bread. Break bread into tiny morsels of different sizes, like a crumble, using fingers. Lay out on a strip of paper.For the olive paste, first drain the black olives. Mix in a blender together with the water and the baby squid ink. Blend at maximum speed until the mixture becomes warm.
- At this moment, pass it through a sieve and spread over the pieces of bread, previously laid out on a strip of paper. Allow bread to absorb the paste thoroughly. The inside of the pieces of bread should be perfectly dyed with the black ink. Remove the pieces of bread by hand. Place on an oven dish covered with sulphurized paper. Put in an oven at 120°C and leave for 2 – 3 hours. Before removing from the oven verify that the pieces of bread stained by the ink are completely dry. Keep in a Tupperware container with silica gel.
To Serve:
- In the middle of a designer plate, place a dessert spoon of cucumber sauce Place the baked red mullet,the quenelle of tartare and the crisp lettuce leave on top of the cucumber sauce. On the edge of the plate arrange two slices of cauliflower. Decorate each with a small line of couscous, approximately 6 cm long.Finish by spooning the frothy tomato emulsion along the side of the darker flesh of the fish.
- By baking the Red Mullet, the fish kept all of its pure aromas, with earthy and mineral notes, The Vieux Télégraphe adds in complexity with some herbal character and definitely matches the texture of the dish, firm but delicate. The tomato emulsion finishes the pairing and enhances the floral flavors found the wine.
- Overall, the combination brings both elements to an upper level of flavors and texture. The minerality of the fi sh is preserved quite long as the wine lasts a few minute in the mouth. Beautiful match !
To Drink: Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe white – Châteauneuf du Pape 2005.
Image Credit: martinberasateguiblog.com
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