Here's an extract from my diary:
Sitting on train. 21:00 Madrid. Just got the menu - think ill have...... god, I don’t want any of that.
Just leaving Barcelona now. Only had two days here - not enough. Had awesome day down on a ranch - eating whats its...... onion things. Cooked over the fire - well carbonised - then you extract the heart and dip it into a Romesco-like sauce and consume. Unbelievably good. Straight from the ground to your gut in one hour - hard to beat. Backed it up with some lamb cutlets - they eat em young down here, call em milk lambs because they only live two months. Deef-inglicious. Drinks were cava, wine, coffee and the like. Nice tot of brandy too. Carlos produced a deck of Montecristos which we gleefully puffed on as we sat around the dying embers of fire, relishing possibly one of the sweetest lunches we will ever experience; it’s the family touch that makes the difference.
So, the onion things are actually called Calcots, look like this:
Bout the length of a drum stick and a bit thicker. Seen here cooking over dry grape vines. Sounds good hey? And we were near a place called Vilafranca Del Pendes, about 20 ks inland, E/SE of Barcelona, being hosted at a winery called Mascaro, and if Antonio and family are reading this then thank you again!
I am posting this from Madrid, the final stop in our gastronomic tour. Since leaving Salamanca at the start of Feb we have visited Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Pamplona, Rioja, Madrid, Sevilla, Jerez De Frontera, Malaga, and Barcelona. Its all one big blur of food, drink, and fast moving bus window scenery. I can barely recall where one city ended and a new one started. Barcelona is still pretty fresh, and it will come as no surprise if I tell you that Barcelona is a pretty sweet city, couple of very happy chefs going to work there. Visiting Gaudy buildings was a rare treat. Seeing the new Adria tapas bar "Tickets" was also a little surreal. In fact I think Barcelona is a little quirky. Im just now thinking about it and everywhere I went, all the people I met had that eccentric streak. Coincidence? maybe, but no. Take this example: We went to visit a famous pastilero in his studio above his pastry shop. Now i've been to a lot of artists studios, and I know quirky, I know quirky really well, but this was the next level. As we reached the top of the staircase, we found ourselves in, well......... its hard to explain. He had covered the roof and walls in what I think was pastilage (a sort of confectioners plaster) and studded it hundreds of intricate and bizarre lollypops. Photo perhaps?
To the left is display cabinets with sugar sculptures in them, on the ceiling is fairy lights and lollypops, to the right is a giant pastilage icicle that rotates. Sticking out from it is hands wearing amazing rings made from pulled sugar. Down the end is a portrait of dad, and the room to the right down the end is full of floor to ceiling mirrors and pastilage. Cool as. Maybe you don't know but I considered becoming a quirky pastry artist at one point, I am certainly weird enough, that's no trouble. But three things you need to really prosper in this field: Lots of space, lots of time, and clientele with enough money to support your enterprise. By that I mean no-one is ever going to pay me $15,000 to make a scale replica motocross bike out of chocolate. Our friend in Barcelona however had all that and more; strong support team of chefs, architects, engineers, even a magician. No joke. We watched a whole heap of films, and our host - Christian Escribe, did the whole presentation using a lolly pop recreation of Salvador Dali's 'Mae West Lips Sofa' as a pointer. Classic. If you want, check out 'Cake of the future' on YouTube - footage from a presentation he did to the Gastronomic Congress. Pretty jazzy. Oh yeah, and he said his dad, also a pastry chef, was one of the first to pioneer the technique of making chocolate 'transfers'. Transfers are sheets of acetate that have a design printed on them in cocoa butter. It might be pictures or words, or both, and when you spread chocolate on to it and let it set, you peel the acetate away and the design is left on the chocolate. Apparently Christian's dad achieved this by using a photocopier. This was back in the late seventies when photocopiers used powder (carbon?). And if anyone is going to get smart right now, don't - he removed the heat lamp first. Ha.
I'm tired, got to get up early and go to the consulate - New visa, nuevo vida.
Bye
So, the onion things are actually called Calcots, look like this:
I am posting this from Madrid, the final stop in our gastronomic tour. Since leaving Salamanca at the start of Feb we have visited Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Pamplona, Rioja, Madrid, Sevilla, Jerez De Frontera, Malaga, and Barcelona. Its all one big blur of food, drink, and fast moving bus window scenery. I can barely recall where one city ended and a new one started. Barcelona is still pretty fresh, and it will come as no surprise if I tell you that Barcelona is a pretty sweet city, couple of very happy chefs going to work there. Visiting Gaudy buildings was a rare treat. Seeing the new Adria tapas bar "Tickets" was also a little surreal. In fact I think Barcelona is a little quirky. Im just now thinking about it and everywhere I went, all the people I met had that eccentric streak. Coincidence? maybe, but no. Take this example: We went to visit a famous pastilero in his studio above his pastry shop. Now i've been to a lot of artists studios, and I know quirky, I know quirky really well, but this was the next level. As we reached the top of the staircase, we found ourselves in, well......... its hard to explain. He had covered the roof and walls in what I think was pastilage (a sort of confectioners plaster) and studded it hundreds of intricate and bizarre lollypops. Photo perhaps?
I'm tired, got to get up early and go to the consulate - New visa, nuevo vida.
Bye
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