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www.essentialsmagazine.com.au FREE PRINT ISSUE SPRING 2014

Crema Catalana with grilled pineapple, recipe page 32

t’s a gleaming piece of high tech stainless steel that lies at the heart of some of the most modern kitchens in Spain and around the globe yet harnesses the Stone Age power of wood fire. From it comes some of the most talked about food in the restaurant

business but its background is humble traditional home cooking. It’s the Josper, a beautiful and stylish wood-burning oven that reaches temperatures in excess of 500 degrees Celcius yet imparts the most subtle smoky flavours. It is an amazing blend of modern engineering and the simplicity of traditional Catalan cooking over hot coals. Thanks to the creativity of chefs such as Ferran and Albert Adrià, the Roca brothers and Carme Ruscalleda, Catalonia has become a reference in the culinary vanguard, positioning itself at the forefront of a gastronomic movement that has shaken the stoves around the world during the last decade. Notwithstanding that, behind this conceptual and technical revolution full of spherifications, foams and sous vide preparation, Catalan cuisine hides a much more humble origin with rustic and popular flavours. Real Catalan cuisine tastes like fire, smoke and the warmth of the grill. Today, after years of idolising superfluous eccentricities, some snobs celebrate the return of traditional Catalan cuisine when in fact, it never left us. In the Basque country, for instance, Bittor Arginzoniz of the legendary Etxebarri has been using ancient techniques of grill cooking for a long time. They also know it in Catalonia where the legacy of a rich recipe collection born from the grill, plus the late impulse of gastronomic culture, have allowed haute cuisine to recover, step by step, some of the most archaic essences. And one of the best contributors to the phenomenon is Josper. You’ve never heard of it?

best products with natural wood charcoal’. It’s an enthusiastic vision now shared by all the chefs who have found in Josper the perfect tool. Víctor Lema, who is in charge of the stoves of the popular Bar Mut in Barcelona, puts it simply: ‘Thanks to the total control on the oven temperature, the charcoal would ignite very quickly, and for short cooking time preparations, it contributes with some aromas that no other grill or oven can provide you separately.’ It’s a versatility praised also by Pedro Asensio, Albert Adrià’s right hand at Bodega 1900. ‘We can reproduce the most pure flavours. It also achieves some interesting textures and succulent tastes. It does not dry the products, which is the biggest danger when working under these circumstances. And on top of that, we save energy. We start very early, when the Josper is not at its maximum temperature, to grill some vegetables and to smoke and to finish some chicken or fish stock. In addition, quite often we would use the ashes to create some smoked vinaigrettes. With the Josper we can enhance the natural characteristics of the grill.’ The success of this pioneer product lies precisely in that ability to reclaim and amplify the magic of cooking by using a grill. In the end, Josper is just jogging our memory, helping us recall half-remembered ideas, tastes and smells to reconcile us with our past. It brings us a primitive cooking process that, whether in Catalonia or Australia or anywhere else, is full of flavours and aromas that some believed were forgotten. This native, primitive and simple cuisine conjures a time, not so long distant, when we sat close to a big fire, near incandescent charcoals. It evokes, from the deepest recesses of our souls, the inexplicable passion we feel for the grill.

For more information visit: www.josper.es/en

Just have a quick look in Albert Adrià’s kitchen at Tickets in Barcelona, or Peter de Clercq in Belgium, La Petit Maison in London or St Betty in Hong Kong. In Australia, take a look at at Frank Camorra’s MoVida. The Josper name features in all these kitchens. Ask those chefs and you will understand why these charcoal-fired ovens from Barcelona have become a fixture in quality kitchens around the world. In 1964, Josper became the first company to conceive of, build and patent a charcoalfired closed oven. It may not, in principle, sound extraordinary, but it has won the recognition and respect of renowned chefs. And there is a reason for that, a really good one.

‘Today, a chef is a heat manager. Josper, being a grill and an oven at the same time, allows simultaneous roasting, grilling, pan-frying, smoking, etc,’ explains Manu Yebras, sales director of Josper. The breakthrough though, is that you can use it to finish rice dishes, bake a full fish with onion and potato, grill a steak, smoke some eels, cook mussels, prepare a full rack of ribs, sear some prawns and even prepare a Crema Catalana (a Catalan crème brûlée) while panfrying a pineapple or watermelon for a creative desert. All that, Senor Yebras adds, while keeping always ‘the original aroma and texture that results from treating the

IThe success of this

pioneer product lies precisely in that ability to reclaim and amplify the magic of cooking by

using a grill.

FOOD TECH

Josper – Warmth of the Grill

P31

WORDS FRANCESC CASTRO PHOTOGRAPHY JAMIE DURRANT

PURA BRASA

Josper does not stop at building an oven based on tradition. It also creates its own charcoal and runs its own inspirational restaurants where grilled food is the speciality of the house. You can go there to have a nibble between meals or to have a formal sit-down lunch or dinner to enjoy the meat selection. Order some tapas in the cool, relaxed environment. while you wait. And don’t miss the vichyssoise with a beguilingly smoky character.

Gran Via, 373-385, Barcelona93 423 59 82 www.purabrasa.com

Crema Catalana with grilled pineapple

Serves 10 to 12

Method Pineapple

Fresh pineapple (1.2Kg) 1. Clean the pineapple, cut it in 1.5cm thick slices and remove the heart.2. Grill the slices and rest them. Method Crema Catalana

1 litre full cream milk7 egg yolks225g sugar60g corn flourA substantial sliver of lemon rindCinnamon stick

1. Put the milk, the lemon peel and the cinnamon in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Let stand for flavours to infuse while you prepare the eggs.2. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and cornflour in a bowl.3. Remove the cinnamon and the lemon rind then add the hot milk to the bowl and stir it until is pale and creamy.4. Add the mixture to the saucepan and place in the oven (about 12 minutes at 180C) to thicken. Whisk occasionally to avoid lumps.5. When the mixture has thickened, remove from the oven, pour into a bowl and cool it.

To Serve

Fill the heart of the grilled pineapple slices with Crema Catalana. Sprinkle them with sugar and caramelise using a blowtorch. Serve with a strawberry coulis.

Jospering Barcelona:

Jospering Spirit Above: Manu Yebras, sales director of Josper sipping a celebratory Cava during Essentials’ visit; top and right: Josper model HJX50M*BC charcoal oven, in Josper’s head office and factory, Pineda de Mar, Spain.

BAR MUT

This restaurant, halfway between a bistro and an old-school tapas bar, had become a hotspot for both locals and tourists in Barcelona well before the neo-taverns and haute cuisine of small format became fashionable. Chef Víctor Lema offers tapas, a good seasonal menu and really fresh seafood. The signature dish, based on a smoked tuna belly with piquillo peppers, is prepared using the Josper. Upstairs you can find the Mutis, a stylish speakeasy that managed to seduce Robert De Niro last time he was in town.

Pau Claris, 192, BarcelonaTel 93 217 43 38www.barmut.com

BODEGA 1900

Albert Adrià has built his personal homage to Catalan tradition in this retro-looking bodega recalling the Vermuterias of a bygone age when diners would enjoy a snack and an aperitif – a precursor to today’s ubiquitous tapas bars. Retro it may be, but not at all rustic: there are plenty of those sophisticated modernist concoctions from elBulli. Choose from the signature ‘spherical olives’, hake roe confit, pickled mussels, spicy calamari sandwich or Ferran Adria’s legendary roast chicken – homage to Catalonia’s iconic pollo a l’ast.

Tamarit, 91, Barcelona93 325 26 59 http://ca.bodega1900.com