Hi everyone, welcome to Potluck Food Talks. My name is Eric. I'm here with Phil W. Walter.
And we're going to talk about, I don't know, what are we going to talk about?
We just, we just catch up. We haven't talked to each other in like a month, which is very
strange. I feel like you're like my strange brother that I haven't, that has been ripped
away from me and I haven't seen for a couple of years.
Yeah, like at least a couple of weeks, maybe even more than a month or six weeks, something
like that. How's it been, man? Have you cooked anything exciting lately?
I mean, yeah, you know, I mean, like a couple of things. I mean, obviously, you know, as
I work in a restaurant, you know, kind of trying to push the, the development further.
Obviously our package at diet. So we had to find some creative alternatives to switch
our dessert menu around from one day to a to the next, because our management has failed
to provide me with replacement package at.
But I saw you had like a package at dessert, right? Like there was some ice cream thing
you were serving or posting like a tartlet.
So I mean, we like, we, because we're actually like a little bit low budget here with the
kitchen equipment that we have, we had a package at which is not low budget. I mean, it's an
expensive piece of equipment, but we used it for all sorbets and all ice creams, you
know, which is, you know, okay, like ice cream, proper ice cream machine is better,
of course. But I mean, you can also make stuff in a package at which is totally signed. And
then you know, in a way, it's also kind of convenient, you know, for people who don't
know what a package is, basically, it's like a high energy mixer. It's got like a rotating
blade. You arm it with a sort of metal cup that has like 750 milliliters of like frozen
liquid in it. And the blade kind of turns at a very high speed and then like goes up
and down in the cup. And so it blitzes this frozen mass really, really finely. You can
make ice cream, you can make sorbets, you know, whatever. And I had this thing, I was
like testing out a recipe for a citrus tart. So like a kind of like a filling for imagine
a lemon meringue tart, I wanted to do it with like mixed citrus fruit, put some Yuzu in
there, maybe some grapefruit. And I got past this recipe. It's really, really nice. A
super cool recipe for a citrus tart filling where like when I read the recipe, I was like,
what the fuck is this? Like, this is going to work. It sounds so strange. But basically
you take the citrus juice, whatever you want, can be lemon, can be lime, anything, you put
it in a pot together with butter and sugar, you bring it to and the zest from the citrus,
right? And in a separate bowl, you add whole eggs and more sugar and you whisk it until
it's a little bit frothy. It doesn't have to be white or stiff or anything, just a little
bit. So you boil the juice with the butter, bring it to a real boil. And then you pour
in the egg with the sugar right into the mixture, stir it a little bit, bring it up to a boil
again. And then you blitz it with a bar mix. And once you've mixed it for like a minute
and it's really fine and incorporated, you fill it into the tart shells and it sets into
a perfect custard. Okay. That's so super crazy. Yeah, when I read this recipe, I was
like, yeah, I was like, what the fuck? First of all, you boil the citrus juice. And I was
like, well, is it going to lose its freshness? Is it going to use its thing? No, not really.
But the most weird thing about the recipe was like, you pour the egg in and you boil the
egg. And I was like, what the fuck? Like it's going to taste like scrambled eggs, no? Yeah.
But no, actually, it doesn't, you know, it just, it's to do with the with the citrus,
the citric acid and the amount of sugar that for some reason, this mixture just kind of
stays the same, you know, like it doesn't actually coagulate like it would with like
a normal egg mixture. And yeah, super cool. Like it's a super, super clean recipe. Nice,
nice. But anyway, what I was like, what I was saying is that like, I tried this out and
it was really good. It was like perfect texture, super nice and custody. But then I had like
loads left over. And I was like, well, fuck, what am I going to do with all this like citrus
custard? So I took some of it, I put it in a package, a container, I froze it. And then
I spun it through a pocket jet. And what came out was this weird ice cream that was like
in like a texture in between like an ice cream and a pudding. There was like a frozen citrus
tart custard. Okay, sounds amazing. Yeah. And so we did this like thing where we made
instead of like just a classic citrus tart with the set custard, we made these like fine
tart shells, and then added some like citrus jam, compote preserve on the bottom, and then
added like a big dollop of this like frozen custard, and kind of spread it really cleanly
into this tart shell and then plate is different things on it. I mean, we did like a little
bit of apricot schnapps and like woodruff oil. And then we covered it in lime zest.
And most importantly, the flowers and leaves of holy basil, which is like a very floral
basil. And it gives like this combination of this like really beautiful basil and the
citrus acidity is really, really nice. I was in Barcelona just last weekend. And I went
to at least four or five ice cream shops. And I went to Albert Adria's new, I think
it's called Gelato collection. Yeah, that's exactly how it's called is in one of the ramblas.
That one was good. It was really nice. I mean, it's Albert Adria, but like it then felt like
super outstanding, you know, like I had a green curry ice cream, it was super nice.
Oh, nice. Yeah, then he had like a piña colada one. I don't know, like the fruit ones were
super nice. I had one way, which is a classic from Pierre Hermé, which is raspberries, leechy
and roses, super nice. And but that was not my favorite ice cream shop. It's one called
Padalello. That one was so next level, man. Everything I had there was super nice. Like
I had like an anchovy ice cream. Oh, wow. Beetroot, another one with stracciatella, another
one with dulce de leche and everything was over the top, man. Amazing. How was the anchovy
ice cream? Was it sweet or savory? Savory, savory. Wow. I mean, I was going for something
really experimental. And actually they asked me like, do you want to try this first before
we serve it? So they gave me like a little spoon. So I tried and I said, sure, let's
have it. It was nice. That's super cool. Yeah. And then you were talking about this whole
butter experience with the lemon tartlet and everything I did. Olvera's pineapple butter.
Man, that shit is so addictive. How you have to explain to me, I don't know how you make
it. Yeah, you know, like he has like this pastor taco, but it's a fish pastor. I learned
this from my friend, Luis Herrera, who worked at Cosme in New York and he's serving something
quite similar at his restaurant in Senada in Brooklyn. Yeah. So basically it's a grilled
fish that is brushed with a pastora dobo and grilled. And it's served like with just
like a canel of pineapple butter. And it's like a super simple recipe. Basically you
slice pineapple and you cook it in butter until it's like nice and roasted, like at low temperature
for at least two hours, right? And then you blitz it with cold butter, same as you would
do like a lemon butter or any kind of butter, you know, like something like 2080, 20 pineapple
80 butter. So you have this super rich, delicious pineapple butter, man. I did like actually
I did this fish pastor tacos with this butter, but then you can use it for whatever for crepes
for everything and for kimchi toasts, whatever. It's incredible. It's a particular world.
And that sounds really good. I have to try that. That sounds amazing. Try it. Try it.
It's super easy. And you, you, it's one of the best things in the world. I tried this
at his restaurant and I asked him for the recipe because I needed to cook it. You know,
I knew it was something super simple. I made something the other day where I'm kind of
like now that we're talking about condiments and I like rediscovered a recipe that I'm
kind of like, man, it's so simple, but it's just such a nice recipe. And I was kind of
teaching the guys in my kitchen how to make it because I was like, okay, look, I'm going
to show you this and like, I just want to have it on plus. So I'm just going to show
you also, we can just like, if I say, Hey, let's make some, some lemon confit, you know,
what we were talking about. And it's a recipe from Hoffman. Like, I don't know if you remember
this like lemon jam from Hoffman. No. So it's actually super simple. You take lemons,
you peel the skin with a peeler, right? Not with a knife. Depending on your peeler. Ideally,
you use a peeler that just peels off enough so you don't get the white. If you get a little
bit of white on the skin, you have to take it over the knife additionally. Then you
take the fruit and you cut off the pulp so that you get the fillets. And then out of
the rest of the carcass, you squeeze out the juice. So you have basically the lemon in
three sections, you have skin, which you cut into really, really fine julienne. And like
as long and as thin as possible. Then you have the fillets, which is the fruit meat
without any of the connective tissue. And then you have the juice. And then you make
a very simple jam out of it. But like the steps are really nice. So first you take a
saucepan, you add a thin layer of sugar, and you heat it up until you get a very light
golden caramel, very, very light. Then you add your lemon skin julienne, you sweat those
out in the sugar. Then you add a splash of dry white wine, like a reaseling or something
like that. Ah, yeah, I did something really, really similar. I was going to tell you that
I knew something similar with wine. So you kind of telling me exactly the same thing
I was thinking about. Okay, go on. Yeah. Yeah. And then you like deglaze it with the wine.
And then you add the fillets and most of the juice, but you keep a little bit of fresh
juice back. And then you add some more sugar. And then you cook it down until it's like,
you know, a syrupy consistency, when like medium heat, the fillets, they're going to
half this integrate and give this whole syrup like a nice body, the skin is going to cook
through and candy. And then at the very end, when you get the right consistency, you check
the flavor for like a sweet, sour balance. And you add the rest of the juice to get that
little bit of fresh citrus kick. And it's like, it's not super sweet. It's very fresh
lemon is not bitter at all. And you have these beautiful curly, like once it cools
down, these beautiful early citrus julienne. And it's like a super nice condiment for
obviously desserts, you can put it on ice cream or whatever, or like, you know, garnish
it with it, but also for like fish, you know, you can take that, mix it with a little bit
of good quality olive oil, maybe some toasted wild fennel seeds, you know, brush it over
some steamed fish, you know, super super nice. That sounds super nice, man. Yeah, I also
did a super cool kimchi. Like I found this article on New York Times that features five
kimchi master ladies from Korea, like with completely different approaches and also completely
different styles of kimchi. One is like a super CEO of a big kimchi company. The other one
is like a non doing kimchi at her, you know, like this kind of profiles are like completely
diverse. And I was interested in because, you know, I would always be like super lazy.
I usually have kimchi at home, but I would buy, you know, like pre made base, mix it
with, you know, the cabbage, put it in the fridge and that's it, you know, like to have
something similar. But I felt like, okay, I feel like I want to do like like the whole
process, right? So I was interested in bike kimchi that is called that is like a white
kimchi. And they use you you've you know, that is kind of like a Chinese date. Yeah,
I've never used them before. Yeah. And also this kimchi master was called a Kang Song
Su. And yeah, she also used something that reminded me of pine nuts. So I was like, okay,
this, this seems super interesting to me. And then, you know, carrots and fish sauce
and doing like a base with, you know, with some starch, because just to feed the bacteria
and also to make like, like the soft thicker. And I was like, okay, I feel like I'm doing
that. You know, as I'm going to Japan, a friend from Japan asked me to, to get him
for some garum from Cofradilla, which is the Fisherman Guilds restaurant here in San
Sebastian, which is run by the way by Marcell, who used to be he was the first chef, the
cuisine at Mugarets back in 99. And then he was like the longtime restaurant manager,
he like operations manager at Mugarets for a long while. And then he also was like the
operations manager, operations director at basketball in our center. Yeah. And now he's
running that place. So every time I go there, you know, it's like visiting an old teacher
and he's at the bar and me, like, I was thinking about introducing that place to my pinch of
tours. So I tried all the pinchos, this place does everything only with fish, not not crustaceans
or mollusks, only fish like vertebrated things. Yeah. And so like I tried everything in the
San La Liga was amazing. The the fried merlosa similar to the one we had a tambourine, you
know, this one that is coated like in an egg wash. So good. The one they do there is
super nice, super nice. I think that was my top pinch of the place. Wow. And then I had
like a bottle of this nice anchovy garum that they do. And that that was my king ingredient
for my kimchi. So I did like this. Basically, you I've never done it like that way. Just
you put the so you cut your cabbage, and you put like an assault brine and for a while.
And then you prepare prepare your marinade with the garum. And I added also some pineapple
left over I had from this pineapple butter. I also had like this. I didn't have this Chinese
pine nuts or this Chinese dates, these jujuts. So I got normal dates and pistachios just to
make something, you know, like different and that made sense to me and that I found that
to be delicious. So I prepared this whole marinade. I also use my habanero anchovy hot sauce
that I had that makes perfectly sense for you because it's super aromatic and it also
has like anchovies. And I left that this kimchi marinating like for five days outside. It's
really hot these days. And man, it became really nice on point of sauce, super sour
and like natural lactic acid sourness, not so spicy, because it was also for a present
for a friend that doesn't need that spicy. So I did I kept my spiciness level low. But
what I love the most is that it's super, you know, like I eat it every day, I put it on
every sandwich I do on every toast and everything. And I still have a lot. So that was like a
super thing to like a super fun thing to cook.
I love that. Yeah, that sounds super, super nice. I mean, my last kimchi, like experiment
at home, went super wrong. And it just started holding like crazy, which actually never happened
to me. Like I've always kind of like made kimchi and it's always worked really, really
well. I usually do it with like I make like a puree out of pineapple and onion and garlic
and stuff. And I like blitz that and make the marinade out of that. And I put some apple
in also. And it's always worked perfectly. But like this time, I don't know, just went
completely wrong. I've actually like that you were talking about pistachios. I am.
I did a thing recently, which was really nice. I was kind of like, I'm kind of going to sort
of try out like work out a little bit further, because I was kind of thinking of these like
Mexican sauces like pepean and stuff like that, which are super, super tasty. When I
was in Mexico, I like, you know, you have these things that called in caca, with dardo
or pepean, you know, made out of like pumpkin seeds and stuff like that. And I kind of remember
that the other day, and I want to bring it into like a different context. And so I made
the sauce out of like roasted pistachios and then cooked down and caramelized sort of like
onions with garlic and like spices, you know, like a little bit of cumin and stuff like
that and peppercorn. And then I added a little bit of like really fatty coconut cream. And
let that cook down and reduce a little bit with the toasted nuts and then blitzed it.
And it was like a really smooth, saucy, sort of like pistachio, coconut, pepean cream.
And it was really like a really interesting flavor. You know, I'm kind of thinking of
using that for like a meat or a fish dish, you know, and but I still have to work on
the shirt. That's what I love about cooking, you know, it's kind of like when you take
an experience or memory and you kind of bring it into context with like the things that
you have. And something new gets created. And I love, especially love when you have
like, you create things that you can put in your toolbox, you know, that you have like,
you have this like condiment that you can then like draw on and be sort of like, okay,
I'm gonna add it. Yeah, I'm gonna add it. Yeah, absolutely. I don't know why you remind
me of I also recently did it because you use the pumpkin seeds. I recently just for myself
like a super simple salad. I love using melon as a savory ingredient, you know, treating
it like a tomato. And then the results, it's interesting because it's more actually like
a cucumber. It's kind of like the same family than a cucumber, like a melon. But once you
add salt to it, it reminds me of a super sweet tomato, like that experience of having something
super sweet and adding salt to it. Yeah. And have you ever fermented melons? Because that's
also crazy. If you try to do like fermented melon or like melon vinegar or this kind
of things, it tastes like cucumber. And it's like, Oh, wow, okay, like I've never fermented
melon. I've made like melon vinegar with like champagne vinegar and super super tasty.
But like, yeah, I mean, for me, melon is like, I actually have this like really crazy.
How would you call it like this connection in my mind of like melon and raw pumpkin.
So I remember one point because I was like juicing pumpkin, and I was tasting the juice
and it was like a very nice ripe pumpkin, you know, like when you take a good pumpkin
and you let it sit in a cellar for like a month or so and like it loses a little bit
of its water and the flavor gets concentrated. And then you juice it and it's like super
concentrated. I was tasting the juice. I was like, man, this tastes like really ripe
handsome. Like melon, you know, super, super nice. I was like, I would be really nice to
like make sorbet out of this, you know, and just because it has this like real floral
sweetness. It's amazing. Yeah. Have you eaten in some interesting places these weeks? Well,
I was actually in Tenerife for a week. And I mean, there, mainly I went to I had some
really amazing meals in sort of small fishing villages, you know, the sort of place where
they don't do anything like ground breaking, but like you go there, you choose the fish,
you tell them how you want it, whether you want it grilled at a plancha or whatever,
you know, and actually there I ate something that I ate for the first time, which doesn't
happen so often. So these guys like at the at the counter, they had this like plastic
crate with cut up fish and it was big chunks of moray eels, which are these like super
scary looking big sea creatures, right? They're like, they look like eels, obviously, you
know, they're the, you know, the pets from the villain in Ariel. Okay, you know what
I mean? And I had that. And these guys never sort of like you would order like a portion
of them and they would just simply fry them, just deep fry them really crispy salt. That's
it. And the thing with them is they have loads of little pin bones. So you have to kind of
choose where you eat, but you take it with your hands. And you just like eat it off the
bone. And because of the like, it has this like a really beautiful, flaky white slush,
almost like a cod. And it has a lot of like fat and collagen. So the skin and the outside
becomes super super crispy, almost like the crispy pieces like the crispy bits of a chicken
wing. Super super tasty. I was like, wow, what the fuck? And it's a product that I've never
eaten before. You don't find anywhere. I was kind of thinking of like trying to get some
for here, you know, because like, but I don't know my supply is going to probably going
to hate me.
I think spaniards, spaniards, maybe also Italians, maybe also Portuguese are the kings of of
the fish frying. It's incredible. Like the way it's done around here, especially in the
south.
Absolutely. So good, you know, absolutely. There was this one fish place that we used
to go to. And this guy used to like, it was also kind of the same similar thing. And he
used to just boil his fish, you know, he has a big pot of like really salty water. And
also like, like langoustines and stuff like that, like little, little shrimp used to like
just literally just throw them into boiling water for like a certain amount of time, fish
them out, put them on a plate and send it out. When I saw that the first time I was still
in the very beginning of my cooking career. And I went there with my parents, my grandparents,
and I saw that I was like, what the fuck, you know, this seemed really strange, taking
a whole fish, hopping it into boiling water, taking it out again, putting it on a plate
and sending it out. I was like, what the fuck man? Okay. But like, it was the most perfectly
cooked fish, like some of the most perfect seafood I've ever had in my life. It was so
good. And I think if I tried to recreate that, I would probably make a really fucking disgusting
boiled fish.
Yeah, the things you need to have the touch of knowing exactly what you're doing and
what you're doing. You remind me of, I think the name is Rafa's, which is like a legendary
place that the guys from El Buyi would go there to grab inspiration. It's in the same
year. You know, like, I think Anthony Burain also goes there and Jose Andres and some of
the episodes. But this guy only does seafood and very easily cooked like plancha or these
kind of things. For example, for the mussels, he would take like a strainer. He would fill
the strainer with the mussels or clams or these kind of things. And he would pour boiling
water through the strainer. And that's it. That's the way he would cook it. Just letting
water go through the clams until they open. And that was it.
Wow. Never seen that before. Yeah. Nice, no?
That's a really cool idea. I have to try that. Yeah. Yeah.
It's like, really, this is some of the coolest cooking for me. It's just like mega minimalistic
cooking. Absolutely.
But it's kind of like, and yeah, it's also like, you know, if you fuck up, you fuck up
by a couple of seconds, you fucked up big time, where you can basically throw it in
the bin. Yeah.
Yeah. I also want to do a few good places. I had like a super nice also fried seafood
at the Akumanka, which is Gastonakurios, one of Gastonakurios restaurant in Barcelona,
so it's Peruvian. So I had like a super nice Nikkei ceviche. I love that shit, man. Like,
I can't eat enough of that.
It's so good. Like having a ceviche with this Japanese lechera tigre. Wow. You know, like
there's nothing that can go wrong with that. Yeah.
And then, you know, causa. Yeah. So they did like this specific causa with fried squids
and also like the salad was with a salad of Centoya of King Crab.
Nice. And the super crispy pieces of fish with the salad of King Crab. It was just
and the smashed potato.
Yeah. And the Akia Maria just over the top. Super nice.
Honestly, I think Nikkei is one of the most underrated cuisines, you know, and like Peruvian,
like the mix of Peruvian and Japanese is such a cool mix of technique and of ingredients,
you know, like the Achis of Peru and obviously, I mean, we don't have to trouble our Japanese
technique. But like, ah, man, this is like you say, you know, these like the different
styles of ceviche also.
They're so versatile, you know, and there's so much, there's so much technique involved
if you do it like in the high level, so that all the balance is right.
Yeah. Like this place, they had like the menu had a section of ceviches. So they had like
eight different ceviches, then they had like eight different causes and eight different
walks, something like that. And that was the menu. Then you had like snacks and different
things. We also had like some croquettes of agi, you know, like this, agide de gallina,
which is like this chicken stew made like with this yellow pepper chili. It's super
nice.
I love agile gallina. Super tasty. I used to make and Dubai used to make agile gallina
croquettes.
That's what we had. Exactly.
Oh, really? Yeah. That's exactly what we had.
Yeah. Just make like a big mix, picking it, you know, like loads of agia mario.
And then when I was in Madrid, I really avoided to become that person, but I did. I did fall
into the hole because they told me, Hi, you're here. We can bring you to this super nice
basketball restaurant. And I'm not a basketball. I'm coming from the, I'm coming from the
bus country, you know, like so like for many times I avoid this, but I did it without, you
know, by accident kind of saw that I, I went to a concert. That's the reason I went to
Madrid. It was like this rap battle event. And when I went out of the event, there was
only one place open. It's called Hermanos vinagre, which means vinegar brothers. And
this is a super nice placement. Like they specialize only like in super high quality
pickles. They have like a, they call it on the manual, the world's most expensive
Gilda. Oh yeah. Yeah. I saw that.
And everything, all the pickles and all the anchovy things and all these kinds of things
were just incredible. I also had like an escaviche, also like a fried pig's ear and everything
super nice. I was like, okay, great. Check one. I'm having Gilda's in Madrid. Okay.
I feel like like an idiot, but the healer was very good. I had to try it. I had to,
you know, I couldn't avoid it. I love Gilda's anyway, but I, you know, I wanted to see the
comparison and everything.
And of course, of course, I, if I would have been you, I would have posted a picture on
Instagram being saying best, best Gilda, best Gilda in the world and then the place next
to Madrid and just see everybody freaking out.
Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And then the next day, like I had like a time before taking
my, my, was it a plane or a train? I don't remember. It was a plane, I think, but I had
like the whole day. So I, okay, let's visit some museums and everything was closed. There
was like huge queues to most museums. So I wrote my friend Fernando, the one that tried
to kill us in the forest hunting mushrooms. And he, he's from Madrid, you know, he's like
a very good person to us, these kinds of things. And he told me, go to this place called Aramburu.
I didn't knew it, but well, then he told me and the name of the chef is Pachizumarraga.
Then I knew right away it was like a, a bus place. Aramburu is also like a bus name,
but it was written like with, like in French. So it's probably French bus. And this is an
incredible place. I talk to you about it, man. Super, super nice. Like it really felt like,
I don't know, it reminded me of the baratam, like that vibe of pedolin and the, and the
vibe, like the way the service would approach you and the way they would make you feel at
home and this kind of things. But then the food, it was very, very fine, very fine and
very simple, you know, like just super nice produce with, with two to three elements,
like this kind of things. I remember like the appetizer was a mochi filled with prawns
that you had, you had treated like in just one bite. Then I had like, what's the name
of Navajas?
Razor clams.
Razor clams. Razor clams with, with a black sesame paste. Also super nice.
Okay. Wow. Experimental though.
Yeah. Then I had like this, these things that were like vegetables with lamb sweet bread.
And on the bottom, it had like some kind of, I will say like a green salsa, some kind
of like a hair ball pesto, but not a pesto, but like that kind of texture. But with
Yeah, like a salsa, there, this sort of thing.
Yeah. But like thick and with, I expected to have like many different herbs because
it was very, very strong and fresh and, and but at the same time, super nice balance.
And this guy, the, the chef, he's such a character man. He's like, you know, Hagrid
from Harry Potter. Imagine Hagrid after an extreme makeover coming out with, with a clean
cut and a clean beard, something like that. But like this big guy, you know, like
Mountain man.
Yeah. And he, he would take care partly of the dining room. Like he would go to most
tables and his, I don't know, or if wife or business partner would take the other half
of the dining room. But he would go every time to the past and he would try most things
that came out of the kitchen. So he was kind of like directing the kitchen from the dining
room and going to like controlling everything. And I know because Fernando told me that he's
the one that designs all the dishes and everything. I also had like a black potting with Jimmy
Churri. And when the, the partner brings me, she tells me like, yeah, and this is Jimmy
Churri because I'm Argentine. And that's the only one that my business partner allowed
me to have from Argentina.
That's nice.
I super recommended. Amazing place.
What's it called again? Haramboorupet with H. Haramboore is written something like that.
Oh yeah. I know. I just Googled it, but I'm doing the result I get is Harambe.
That's it for this week's episode of Puttlock Food Talks. If you like what we're doing,
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