Rodrigo de la Calle (Spain)
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| Rodrigo de la Calle is one of "The World's Most Influential, creative and important Chefs" |
Text: Almudena Muyo/©ICEX
Translation: Hawys Pritchard/©ICEX
Photographer: Spanish chef Rodrigo de la Calle. Tomás Zarza/©ICEX.
Chefs, Pastry Chefs & Chocolatiers
‘Gastrobotanics’
is the joint brain-child of restaurateur Rodrigo de la Calle and
biologist Santiago Orts. It’s a concept that has turned De la Calle into
a champion of undervalued and overlooked vegetable species which, in
his hands, become the stuff of haute cuisine. I’m off to Aranjuez (46
kilometers south of Madrid), and feeling quite excited at the prospect
of eating food cooked by Rodrigo de la Calle (he was elected chef of the
year for 2011 at Madridfusión, the prestigious international
gastronomic conference held in the Spanish capital every year). I’m also
looking forward to traveling through one of my favorite parts of the
country –the fertile fruit and vegetable-growing area beside the River
Tagus. It occurs to me in retrospect that this brush with Nature put me
in just the right frame of mind for grasping the essential point of
Rodrigo de la Calle’s cuisine, which takes its inspiration from the
vegetable kingdom. He is, after all, the inventor (along with biologist
Santiago Orts, who runs the Viveros Huerto de Elche plant nursery) of
‘gastrobotanics’, a culinary concept that ushers unaccustomed vegetable
species into the realm of haute cuisine. In the setting of the
welcoming restaurant that bears his name, located right in the centre of
Aranjuez, Rodrigo de la Calle wastes no time in determinedly getting
the message across: “The idea is to reinstate vegetable species and
varieties that possess notable qualities yet have been disparaged, left
unexplored, or simply never been discovered - products that contribute
added value to gastronomy. Some may already be close at hand, possibly
having been cultivated by our forebears, while others will be
discoveries made in the course of our research – Nature still has plenty
of secrets to keep the spirit of enquiry occupied”. But there is more
to it than that: the ultimate aim is to endow products that he considers
to be of significant gastronomic interest with the sort of status that
makes it a financially viable proposition to grow them as a crop.
Obvious examples are fresh dates; finger limes (Citrus australasica,
little lemon-like fruit with tiny vesicles that look deceptively like
Ferran Adrià -type microspheres, that burst in one’s mouth releasing a
richly acidic taste); and ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum) and
ice lettuce (early leaves of the ice plant).
Origins
Santiago
Orts runs Viveros Huerto de Elche, a family-owned plant nursery that
was originally part of the historic Palmeral de Elche, a vast palm grove
declared a Heritage of Mankind site by UNESCO. The nursery has now
expanded beyond the confines of the Palmeral, having acquired a new role
about a decade ago when it was given over to growing dates as a crop
instead of ornamental palms. At around the same time, Rodrigo de la
Calle took over at La Taula del Milenio restaurant (also owned by the
Orts family) armed with experience gained at Madrid’s top flight Lhardy
and Goizeko Kabi.
The
day when Santiago offered Rodrigo fresh dates for use in the restaurant
proved to be a pivotal one: in fact, fresh dates have since become a
signature ingredient. “I still remember that day!” Rodrigo declares
passionately. “I’d never tasted fresh dates before. They made such an
impression on me that – quite unexpectedly - my professional and
personal life took quite a different turn from then on. I still look
forward to the start of the date season in October, and I’m always a bit
downcast when it ends in January”.
Rodrigo
secured a job at the 2-Michelin-star Mugaritz with Andoni Luis Aduriz -
not only a big name, but one with a special interest in vegetable
cuisine. The experience of haute cuisine he acquired there was further
rounded out by subsequent periods working at 3-Michelin-star Martín
Berasategui; at Pastelería Totel with master patissier Paco Torreblanca;
and at Quique Dacosta’s 2-Michelin-star El Poblet.
In
the course of seven action-packed years, he acquired and mastered
cutting-edge techniques and the skills and secrets specific to desserts,
patisserie, rice…. Meanwhile, his research work with Santiago Orts
continued in parallel. Furthermore, he was able to offer consistent
supplies of dates and other protégé products to the chefs with whom he
worked.
Meanwhile,
Rodrigo and Santiago were having fun staging their own gastronomic
conferences in emulation of the top chefs. It was at one of these, in
2005, that they decided over a glass of wine that the time had come to
put a name to their area of research, and came up with
‘gastrobotanics’.
Passionate about produce;
Shortly
after his thirtieth birthday, towards the end of 2006, Rodrigo de la
Calle decided to open his own restaurant, a showcase for his own auteur
cuisine and the gastrobotanics concept. “I’d accumulated enough
experience to be able to cook in my own way. Our menu includes a
gastrobotanic one consisting of 5 dishes: ostra con caviar cítrico
(oyster with citrus caviar), huevo con trufa y germinados (egg with
truffle and sprouted seeds); two rice dishes featuring different desert
vegetables; and a fruit macédoine that celebrates the diversity of
citrus fruits now available”.
“So
what”, you may be wondering “is Rodrigo de la Calle’s cooking actually
like?” His style of cooking is out-and-out contemporary, at once
flavor-packed and subtle. His dishes are cleverly thought out and their
cooking is judged to the second so that their juxtapositioning of
flavors and textures can be experienced to the full. Ingredients can
sometimes be unexpected yet they take their place comfortably among the
rest – the influence of Martín Berasategui is discernible here, albeit
slightly toned down.
Rodrigo
de la Calle describes his cooking as simple. By this he means that it
respects the flavor of the ingredients involved, even when there are
three or four elements.
Top
quality prime ingredients are obviously a sine qua non as far as this
chef is concerned, and seasonal products are given star billing on a
menu that changes with the seasons. When a customer is shown to his
table, he finds a little roll of parchment tied with a red ribbon. It
contains this message: “Vegetables and their characteristics are the
mainstay of our cuisine. We respect fresh produce - we accept its
seasonal nature and the fact that it comes and goes. By observing the
life cycles governed by the seasons, we are able to present their
products at their best and most expressive”. That’s quite some policy
statement, and they really do practice what they preach.
Harmony
Rodrigo
carries perfectionism to the extreme. His dishes are perfectly
balanced, each a little concerto of flavors in which every element
retains its own identity while playing its part in the overall harmony.
De
la Calle dish allocates top billing to vegetables and consigns animal
protein to a supporting role: “Vegetables are the mainstay of the
restaurant, and on the gastrobotanical menu, animal protein features as a
garnish: meat or fish, it can appear in many guises – little chunks, or
even in a broth but always in a minor role”. His filamentos de lombarda
con caldo de chipirón (filaments of red cabbage with baby squid broth)
is a classic example.
The
citrus fruits grown by Santiago Orts provide a leitmotiv, seasoning
every dish, from oysters with citrus caviar through to the complete
range of desserts. Rice is another thematic axis in Rodrigo de la
Calle’s repertoire. Again in his rice dishes there is that stamp of
perfection – grains just the right size, cooked for just long enough.
Santiago
Orts’ plantations in Elche are Rodrigo de la Calle’s greatest source of
inspiration: “When I go there and see all the produce growing and
developing as the months go by, as I pick and taste them I start to see
culinary uses for them in my mind’s eye – sometimes even the final
dish”. The creative process may well be triggered in his mind by the
sight of something growing in the garden, but a lot of experimenting
goes on in the kitchen before the dish is declared complete.
Rodrigo
likes to make a point of declaring that he doesn’t like to be labeled
and doesn’t belong to any tendency. His guiding principle is
gastrobotanics. Pure and simple.
