Without a doubt, the chef's hands do the magic, but without a good raw material little can be done . It is well known by those who work best in the kitchens of our country, who do not hesitate to bet on farmers, fishermen, ranchers and master craftsmen with their own names.
Taking advantage of the fact that several of these food heroes , mostly anonymous, will have their space in the new program star producers, the new program Kitchen Channel where chef and producer stand in front of the camera hand in hand to find out more about those who supply the kitchens of the most outstanding restaurants on Spanish soil, we are going to go around the map and fill the pantry with star products.
THE GOENAGA FAMILY YOGURT
The trip begins in the Basque Country, in the farmhouse that today runs Pako Goenaga . His family began back in 1893 to transform the milk from their own livestock into yogurt and to market it directly. In the case of Pako, faithful producer –and friend of Martin Berasategui– there are already four decades of work behind him in the family business.
Today his product maintains the same natural elaboration and the same location: the village of Saint Sebastian, Pokopandegi, where he grew up and lived with his parents, just 3 kilometers from Ondarreta beach. In fact, it would be as a result of the habit of going to the Bretxa market to buy that the Goenaga and Berasategui families meet.
There, Martín's father was a butcher and, as Berasategui himself recalls, “Before I was born, my parents already bought from the Goenaga grandparents. They are a fundamental part of the applause they give me as a cook”.
Its natural production invites you to discover a product that, for example, in the Lasarte-Oria, it is enjoyed in some yogurt chocolates with anise biscuit and orange and mango jam.
And at home? If your appetite has been whetted, your natural yogurts made with whole or skimmed milk they can be bought online or at points of sale spread over more than ten provinces. In addition, it is available in a glass container that will awaken memories of more than one.
In the distance, the farmhouse run by Pako Goenaga.
THE BREAD OF MIKEL GALPARSORO
Without leaving San Sebastián, we turn to the food with capital letters that should never be missing from any self-respecting table and that, for a few years, has returned to live a new golden age: the bread.
With his own bakery, Galparsoro Okindegia, Mikel is the third generation in charge of one of the most emblematic workshops in San Sebastián , a place where quality rules.
Inspired by the bakeries of France, Mikel remembers that he would be one of the first Spaniards to make sourdough bread . However, as soon as it became fashionable, he would veer into new terrain. In fact, breads are invented here.
His latest creation is the Neolithic Bread, made with a grass whose origins date back to that historical period. A bread that the chef Peter Subijana has not hesitated to incorporate coven preparing thin slices culminating with an oyster, covered in turn with an oyster mayonnaise. In addition, she has been buying bread from him and his father for more than 30 years.
“I trust Mikel because he makes wonderful bread , makes varieties that are truly different doughs”, says the chef.
Pedro Subijana's bread.
THE OCTOPUS OF JESUS CRESPO
It is well known that the kitchen of Quique Dacosta tastes of the sea The three-star hotel in Denia that this year landed in the heart of the new Ritz hotel is a faithful defender of its roots. And of the fishing , where highlights his relationship with the fisherman Jesús Crespo , who auctions his products at the Denia fish market.
“I owe it to fishermen like Jesus. In our restaurant we depend on the local idiosyncrasy, in 89 or 90%”, says the chef himself.
Jesús Crespo started fishing when he was 19 and today, at 49 years old, he is one of the few who continues to do Artisanal fishing in Denia , Alicante.
Throughout the year he does about five different seasons, being in the months of May and June a job dedicated to fishing for octopus, made with the traditional alcatruz or cadufo, a kind of crude clay pot.
He is the supplier of the octopus that Dacosta dries in the bell tower of his restaurant and later incorporates into a rice cooked in the broth of the cephalopod itself . For mortals, there is nothing better than going to the morning auction at the fish market to discover Crespo's (and other colleagues') fresh produce.
Quique Dacosta's octopus is bought at the Denia fish market.
THE HALOPHIOUS PLANTS OF RAFA MONGE
There is nothing like changing the course of your life. After studying at Oxford and working at IBM, Rafa Monge decided to go back to his native land, the Andalusian Sanlúcar de Barrameda , and devote himself to the land with a new business that for many at that time would sound crazy.
And it is that this producer opted to recover the navazo, a crop with brackish water in danger of extinction where the mixture of fresh and salt water gives rise to vegetables with unique colors, flavors and textures, which his father had not been able to make profitable. However, Monge at 41 years decided to make it his lifestyle.
With Crop banished this producer reconverted and recovered the small family garden near the Doñana Natural Park, respecting an ancient way of working but including exotic plantations such as shisho, amsoi, kiwicha, minzuna, komatsuna, nakati or lablab, and gourmet delicacies such as edible flowers or tear pea , among others.
His commitment to a "local tradition with international touches at Km 0", where quality prevails, has earned Monje being part of the pantry of Aponiente, the three-star restaurant in angel lion.
with the plants halophiles of monk, Ángel elaborates a curious "sea and land" , for instance. But it is not the only one, other restaurants and also individuals can buy their products in the online store, where they expect different types of spring onions, turnips, onions, beets, or carrots . In fact, if you don't know what to choose, leave it to chance and to the 'surprise' box with the available seasonal products that Monge will choose with love.
Rafa Monge grows his own spring onions, turnips, beets and carrots.
JAVIER CAMPO'S CHEESE
The Cantabrian craftsman Javier Campo make your picón cheese in an isolated village in the Picos de Europa with only 25 inhabitants. In addition, he is committed to keeping alive the tradition of making cheese matured in the caves of said National Park, just as his own mother taught him.
It was staying in his town, tresviso, what promoted this project based on a farm and a blue cheese with spicy notes that Jesús Sánchez uses in his three-star restaurant in Cantabria, the Cenador de Amós, preparing stuffed fritters.
With Protected Designation of Origin and a few awards behind him (among them twice the best blue cheese in Spain), his Tresviso it is still handmade, "as it was that of our ancestors but incorporating technical innovations and the most rigorous hygienic measures", collects the store.
Tradition and own cattle milk give rise to a blue gem with natural orange rind and a light texture which can be purchased on its website or in selected stores in Madrid (Quesería Cultivo and Cava), Barcelona (Vilaviniteca and Dotze Graus) and Valencia (La Boutique del queso).
THE CELTIC GAUL EGGS
From Galicia they send the Celtic Gallo eggs and roosters , a registered trademark of a small farm in Vila de Cruces ( Pontevedra ) who in 2015 met Martin at the Madrid Fusion congress and went on to become one of the best brand ambassadors.
A few years later the brand founded by the Galician David Sueiro and Patricia Lorenzo continues with his laying hens and some eggs whose yolk is pure cream, honeyed and shiny . And sustainable and 100% handmade. Because on this farm they roam freely and feed naturally more than 3,000 hens that live together with poulardas and Mos roosters, a recovered Galician native breed.
In addition to the famous eggs, half a dozen of which cost 4.95 euros, at the farm you can buy Artisan free range rooster sausages (cured breast, fuet and chorizo), chopped poulardas and rooster burgers. Your products await at the El Corte Inglés Gourmet Club.
SIGNATURE VEGETABLES FROM LA DESPENSA D'LUJO
Jose Iglesias and Lucía Calvo opened La Despensa D'luxury six years ago. Today your peas, beans and lentils are eaten in the Cellar de Can Roca, Mugaritz Y Danny Garcia . It all started the day Inditex knocked on the door of this Galician farm to request its signature legumes for the canteens for the employees of Amancio Ortega.
Six hectares of land and a job where what is grown is sold, your peas, purple beans, white beans, chickpeas, quinoa or lentils they reach the best stoves. Without a doubt, the important R&D behind it helps. He too avoid the use of chemicals and the absolute care of the earth.
Their website is the perfect showcase for their products, as they do not currently sell in supermarkets. In addition, it is possible to make the trip and buy in person by taking advantage of the option of agritourism what they have prepared, where your farm opens to live a "rural experience" hours-long Thursday through Sunday and learn everything you need to be a full-fledged farmer.
Legumes and rural experiences.