Is Haute Cuisine finished?
"A big lie" , that's how resounding he answers me Mark Moran ( Casa Gerardo ) before the stake that heads this article. I have my doubts, so let's go with the scalpel: Is Haute Cuisine sold out?
Marcos expands, wants to explain himself: “Haute cuisine as a concept is perfect, but what it evokes in the times that run for me Sounds more like dandruff and antiquity to me . I don't like that it is identified with avant-garde cuisine or with classic cuisine in palatial spaces”. Is that opinion shared? “Well, all of us chefs who are lucky enough to be considered 'good' or 'medium good' I think we have in common that we are moving far away from the traditional parameters of what was previously considered haute cuisine”. I like how Marcos closes this conversation: “Haute cuisine, as long as it is not justified on the plate, is worth nothing”.
Pedro and Marcos Moran
But, let us start at the beginning. Haute Cuisine was born as a term that delimits the great traditional French cuisine carried to the extreme of excellence in all the variables of a restaurant: product, kitchen, room, service and space (one of its bibles, the Larousse Gastronomique).
Talked with Oscar Velasco de Santceloni (Madrid), perhaps the restaurant in the capital that best represents the spirit of the movement supported by great chefs beyond the Pyrenees, such as Escoffier or Montagne (in big stages and luxury hotels) ; Velasco, perhaps one of the last gatekeepers of haute cuisine in Spain: "For me, 'Haute Cuisine' in a generic way, It is the kitchen that is cooked looking for perfection , from all the best resources; food, machinery, labor, etc…) understanding that for each one perfection is a different sensation”. He adds an important epilogue: “ This, obviously, does not ensure that it will make you enjoy more than other types of cuisine prepared in more modest or simple ways. ”.
"Haute cuisine is the cuisine that is cooked seeking perfection"
Has Haute Cuisine forgotten gastronomic pleasure —and has it set it aside in the face of other parameters somewhat removed from the plate? One of the voices that has formulated these questions loudest and clearest is that of Phillippe Regol: “Sometimes I wonder where haute cuisine begins and where an excellent brasserie cook ends. The pleasure that is often felt in these humbler restaurants is greater than that experienced in what is usually called a 'grand restaurant'. What in principle should serve to magnificently accompany the food service, exalt it until it takes it to the height of the enjoyment of the gastro experience, turns out to be in the end, with few exceptions that we all know, a set of empty rituals or tiresome nuisances.”
I can only agree. I review my notes: so many moments of true gastronomic pleasure in dishes from ** Gresca , Taberna Marcano or Bouet ,** three examples of places theoretically far from the parameters of the High kitchen.
Theoretically far from the 'Haute Cuisine' concept
ENJOY THE SIMPLE
diego warrior ( DSTAgE ) cannot tell us more clearly: “ For me there is no haute cuisine. In any case, there is good cooking and bad cooking. Because if there was a high there would have to be a low”; and continues, “ Good cooking has to do with passion, honesty . Good cuisine is the one that manages to transmit, to move”. GüeyuMar also speaks to us about emotion —the search for emotion, cooking and technique beyond the product.
Emotion and happiness is also the background message after the conversation with Eneko Atxa (Azurmendi) on the subject: "The truth is that I don't like labels at all... I like honest cooking that tries to make others happy and I don't care how they describe it, the words haute cuisine, avant-garde bore me... In my case, I like to like it, whether it's with a dish with a clear traditional reference or a dish that is absolutely free of inspiration. I think that the smart thing is to know how to enjoy all the honest and good cuisines that exist in the world , and that everyone cook what they know how to cook and call it what they want, because what really matters is not what you call your kitchen or that of others, what really matters is that you cook what you like and above all what you hope your customers will like”.
diego warrior
I need more voices. Like the Fernando Huidobro , president of the Royal Academy of Andalusian Gastronomy : “I tell you that haute cuisine is Natural Selection, Personal Choice and Life Lesson . Natural Selection because you have to be born with the hand of a cook, have the gift. Personal Choice because you have to have a vocation and also want to be and do it with all your might. Life lesson because you have to work hard and also be lucky”.
Talent, vocation and effort. Isn't it easier to associate these concepts with so many small eating houses than with big restaurants? Taverns, bistros and brasseries as settings where, more and more often, gastronomes seek the pleasure of "true gastronomy", without further decoration.
Manifesto for a true gastronomy
Chat with Javi Estevez (La Tasquería) local hooligan dedicated to offal: "For me haute cuisine is all that part of the tradition, made sensibly and based on current techniques . For example, a stew adapted and made with today's means, can be haute cuisine. Why not?". Also with Antonio Romero (Suculent, a 'house of menjars'): “Haute cuisine? Cooking quality, and eating it properly . Quality, in the sense of a good product, well executed, balanced…”; also with **David Marcano from Marcano (Madrid) ** : “Excellence brought to the table. To achieve it, it is necessary to have knowledge of the basics of cooking: long cooking times, stocks, sauces, stews, casseroles, vacuum cooking, etc. All these techniques are fundamental and the starting point to achieve it. ”.
It's curious: the discourse of many of these places far from the big stages is more attached to "excellence, technique and quality" than that of others, theoretically closer to Haute Cuisine (more concerned with emotion or spectacle) . At least from La Buena Vida (a Madrid bistro) they have it very clear: “It has always been considered the cuisine of large restaurants and hotels. For us it is not a kitchen associated with luxury and pomposity . Is related to the product, the techniques and the sensitivity of knowing how to treat it ”.
Perhaps, at the end of it all, it is nothing more than a speech problem. Perhaps it is time to redefine what until now we understood as Haute Cuisine. Maybe it's just about, in the end, eating well. Of product, technique and emotion: Good Cuisine.
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