Basque Culinary Centre

This is lovely picture eh? We spent the day at the Basque Culinary Centre, in San Sebastian. The Basque region is considered to be the hub of Spanish cuisine, and it seems that they are pretty intent on keeping that status. Thirty years ago, a handful of the region's prominent chefs gathered together and decided to take their cuisine in a new direction, and so they did. They re-invented the wheel, and it paid off. One of those chefs was our instructor in the kitchen, and he took us through some Basque classics: squid braised in ink, and fish with clams - Basque style (see photo).
Frankly, I think we gave him the irrates - we really are an unruly mob these days, pretty much do and say what we want, when we want!
SOME EXPLANATIONS OF FOOD EATEN RECENTLY......
So you see the photos below, that is from a twelve courser at a pretty amazing restaurant - Berasategui. As soon as we sat down we were swarmed with penguins, they glided about effortlessly as if their flippers were made of felt! Oh, penguins - tuxedo waiters. The food came like clockwork, and we were pretty comfortable despite the intimate attention (this can be suffocating if not performed well). The best for me was the 1995 classic:
Mille-Fuille of Smoked Eel, Foie Gras, Spring Onion and Apple.
Pretty hard to go wrong here - layers of eel with slabs of foie, and paper thin layers of crisp green apple, finished Brulee. Ate it very slowly.
The photo down below that looks like it came from the HUBBLE telescope is actually squid ink ravioli, yeah the big blue thing.
Your also looking at some fennel down there, nice to get some crisp veges into the system. Crunchy and fresh - love it! Oh, and to feed twenty of us it took over forty chefs, imagine that.


Ate at a 1* place yesterday in Rioja. Had no expectations, and actually I forgot my camera, so of course......it was the best meal yet. Cracker. Echauren is a restaurant in a boutique hotel, or maybe it is the hotel, i'm not sure, I just wake up to go on a bus, eat, get back on bus. Period. Anyhoo, sometimes I get the feeling that our meals aren't everything they could be. Like the chef is holding back because there is twenty of us, like they don't want to commit to really expensive produce on account of our group dynamic. Just a feeling. Not the case at Echauren. Bonza!
On the menu:
bajo un manto de hojas secas.
Translated - 'under a blanket of dry leaves (in autumn)'
What is under the blanket? Buggered if I know but who cares - look at those slabs of black truffle! F%$K ME thats a lot of truffle! and what are all these little herbs and stuff? who cares - eat the truffle!
We got a mystery course that was snuck in to our menu - the famed Spanish baby eels - angulas - served under a thin gel of crab (maybe) with a bit of cress to garnish, these little suckers are great. Like having a mouthful of spaghetti, only better!
rabito de cordero glaseado
One meal you will never get in Aus - sheep's tail!
Nice little chunks of gelatinous meat, sweet glazed and served with ginger.
Also ate some of the delicious Gambas Rojas - Red Prawn - the best in Spain. Ate some Galician crayfish too. 
Best thing about this meal was how the chef, Francis, handled our palette. By the time the petit fours showed up, after 3 hours and thirteen courses, I was still keen to discover more. Hard to achieve that, let me assure you. 
Right now relaxing in Madrid, on the train down south for round two in the morning - just cut my hair and had a shave - TV cameras tomoz, and we have some really important gigs this week so wanna be fresh. Get some rest.
A' luego, encanta
J