Omar Páez, a chef conquering the seas
Omar Paez grew up in Garachico , a town in the north of Tenerife that was, especially during the 16th century, the most important port on the island, with commercial traffic with Europe, America and Africa. In 1706 a violent volcanic eruption destroyed its preponderant port, but did not destroy its beauty, which is still intact, conserving its rich historical-artistic heritage in an enviable state.
From his house, Omar can walk barefoot to the Atlantic, where he dives in every morning, surfboard in hand. Descendant of a lineage of fishermen and seafarers, perhaps that special connection with the ocean, nurtured by a childhood sprinkled with saltpeter, is what has led him to focus his career as a cook at sea.
The challenges are many, but Omar, always optimistic – to the point that one of his many tattoos says ataraxia, a word of Greek etymology that speaks of serenity and calm-, he is immersed in a new project that revolves around sustainability with sea charcuterie as the protagonist.
The spicy octopus chorizo was his first big success
How do you eat all the fish? , a question that he himself answers quickly, because with the sea charcuterie.
According to a report published by the FAO in 2007, 25% of the monitored fish stocks are overexploited and 52% at their maximum production limit. For this reason, when eating fish, it is advisable to harvest the whole fish, something that Omar puts into practice with his wonderful marine charcuterie, an initiative focused on The sustainability that he started looking take advantage of discarded fish and avoid waste, that in those days in the restaurant where he worked it could reach up to 40%.
“The luck of having grown up with fishing people is that you get used to the fish that you have caught you have to eat, absolutely everything”, Omar explains.
During the last decade the cook has perfected curing and maturing techniques and smoking, those references now encompassed under the umbrella of D'Cuac Marina Charcuterie, a brand that he registered in the middle of the pandemic and that has generated a lot of interest – including export offers – even before being fully visible as an individual project.
The spicy octopus chorizo was his first great success, quite a surprise for diners, surprised to find octopus meat in that format. continued tuna salami , and bets as disparate as the Canarian black pudding of tuna sangacho from the archipelago, the squid cecina or the fish sobrassada.
Homemade salted anchovy, pickled red banana presented on coals
"The cook must be a link between the fisherman, farmer and the diner”, explains Omar, who bets on a cuisine with roots, summed up perfectly in one of his favorite phrases, “Let tradition be an umbrella, not a roof”.
Sustainability is the common thread of almost everything he does, including his two upcoming restoration projects, both based in Garachico. On the one hand, Omar plans to open a street food stall in his hometown, “Fish and chips with a bit of rock and roll” he says; and on the other, a restaurant called aMar, “where everything that is going to be cooked comes from the kitchen of the village and where there will be a special range of marine charcuterie, exclusively for the restaurant”.
The cuisine of the restaurant will be strongly influenced by a recipe book from 1912 who has been in Omar's family for four generations. "It's a recipe book from my great-grandmother, which my grandmother continued, then my mother, and now I'm taking it on myself," he jokes, amused, adding, "Now seriously, I rely on the book to propose this concept that the restaurant has a kitchen from the town and port of Garachico."
In addition to his grandmother's book, for this purpose he has the valuable help of the historian Cirilo Velázquez, that he has shared with Omar Garachico monasteries recipes, for instance. The chef speaks with fascination of the gastronomic heritage visible in the family recipe book, a heritage that entered through the port of the town and that reflects how cosmopolitan Garachico was more than three centuries ago.
Smoked yellowfin sobrassada
“Garachico was founded by Italians, and there is an Italian heritage in some things, patent in that recipe book, but you also find Cadiz marinades, Basque cuisine, French and English influences, not only in the wine, but also in the gastronomic recipes, and it seems to me that this had to be embodied in a restaurant”.
Therefore, from his restaurant aMar, which according to its plans will open in early 2021, Omar will shape a menu based exclusively on Garachico recipes, with local products, and where the mise en place will begin with the fishermen in the sea and with the farmers in the fields.
“The sea charcuterie It will be artisanal, not industrial. I want it to continue to have the character of Garachico, I think we cook at a different rhythm, we are made of another fire and we go more calmly, and I think it has to be an exact representation of how we do it here, and, above all, also generate work” he affirms.
Omar, who defends and appreciates the magic of a simple life in which small pleasures, such as eating fresh fruit from his garden, are thoroughly enjoyed, has built a world of collaborations and synergies from which research projects, ideas for new dishes and even social projects arise, as the will to establish a soup kitchen in Garachico.
Tuna sausage for hot dog
“The marine charcuterie is going to supply the soup kitchen. I don't think that all the workshops that are held within the town halls have to be to train gardeners or street sweepers, you can do service and consumption courses and that, inside the dining room, those same people who need work, work and learn a profession that will also feed them later. I have no problem teaching anyone how to stuff, none”.
With his energy, his inexhaustible curiosity and his collaborative spirit, Omar Páez joins a global movement to which innovative chefs who focus their activity around the sea, such as the Australian Josh Niland or the Spanish Ángel León, belong.