News
Isaac McHale, raw produce
Scottish chef Isaac McHale from The Clove Club (London) is back at San Sebastian Gastronomika nine years on, to showcook two of his best recipes.
“When I started out I thought I would be a very technical chef, but after a while I realised that the most important factor was the ingredients, the little details. So today I've brought along two of my best recipes - I think. And since electricity costs so much now, they're raw recipes", explained Isaac. Sardines and scallops, which he claims are excellent in his neck of the woods, were the main features.
The first recipe was a version of a sardine niguiri, with potato instead of rice. This was inspired by a trip McHale made to Japan, when he met a sushi man who offered him some of this. “It's the best thing I've ever tasted - it has a strong flavour, it tastes of the sea, it's creamy, and I went back home thinking that I had to reproduce it in our own way, at home". The preparations are laborious because the sardine is cleaned twice, deboned, filleted and skinned. Three kilos of sardine are reduced to one and a half. “We use the rest of it to make stock, and so we use all of it", said the Scot. By way of a more European touch, the wasabi is replaced with mustard.
The presentation features a very thin potato wafer, topped by the fillet of sardine and mayonnaise. The chef then applies the stock, along with cream and milk.
If the first recipe set out to showcase textures, taste is the main attraction in the second. And here scallops are the best ally. Truffle purée on the plate (made from truffle oil and squid's ink), scallop, mandarin juice glaze, citrus grating and salt. It is garnished with diced toasted hazelnuts, scallop jelly and raw mushrooms.
Related news
News
Gastronomika makes a stand for the gastronomy of generosity against the gastronomy of competition
A return to the foundational spirit of congresses with leading chefs such as Albert Adrià, Ricard Camarena, Quique Dacosta, Oriol Castro and Pedro Subijana, humbling sharing their knowledge up close and personal.
News
Meat and hot coals, the protagonists of the final session at Gastronomika 22
News
Diana Díaz Garrido, from the El Invernadero restaurant, “Jaén Paraíso Interior” International Cooking Award winner
News
Saizar Sagardotegia takes the 2022 National Grill Competition award
With Ramón Lertxundi in charge of the grill, the Saizar Sagardotegia restaurant (Usurbil, Gipuzkoa) takes the National Grill Competition award with Discarlux meat.
News
Sarah Jane Evans receives the Pau Albornà i Torras Gastronomic Journalism Award
News
Il Bocconcino in Adeje, winner of the 2nd National Tenerife Tropical Fruit Dessert Competition
News
A trip around gastronomy with ceviche
News
"Simple" à la minute cuisine by Benito Gómez
The Bardal chef explains the status of his cookery, a daily protein-filled mise en place cuisine. “I have a hard time with vegetables, but I'm getting there ...", he admitted.
News
Two Spaniards "educating" in the United Kingdom
Nieves Barragán (Sabor, London, England) and Miguel Ángel Mayor (Rioja, Glasgow, Scotland) tell their own stories of how they arrived in the United Kingdom to "continue practising pedagogy on Spanish gastronomy".
News
British and Spanish cuisine shake on it at Gastronomika
José Pizarro, Quique Dacosta and Ángel Zapata, three Spaniards who found success in London, urge their colleagues to test-drive the British experience "because the United Kingdom knows and wants Spanish produce". Pedro Subijana gets an ovation from the auditorium for his warning of the need to combat gaps and staff shortages, and calls for respect for restaurant floor staff.
