The grandness of local produce, starting point at the second Andorra Taste conference

Producing excellent cuisine without top-quality ingredients is quite impossible. That is why the second Andorra Taste congress kicked off directly with this premise, homing in on the extraordinary local products on which high-altitude cooking is traditionally based.

And to demonstrate this, first up in the congress's kitchen was José Antonio Guillermo, owner of the Odetti restaurant (Escaldes, Andorra), a leading self-taught chef who bows to the km 0 concept, with maximum respect for the essence of products and their seasonality. “If there's one product that has shored up Andorra's economy for centuries, it's definitely lamb. There is much less production nowadays, from 40,000 head in the 18th century to around 3,500 at present, because the ancestral livestock system based around "orri" structures, is quite expensive", he explained. 

He also mentioned the aromatic plants provided by the mountains, such as false flax, tamarind or rosemary, and went through the recipe for fir syrup, very typical local fare which has long been much appreciated for its medicinal properties. “It's made by mixing pine cones with sugar until it all melts into a liquid", and today he used it as a sauce to dress a delicious leg of deboned lamb, cooked at low temperature and served on chestnut purée with pomegranate seeds, yucca and batata chips, with a citric touch in the form of kumquat confit. He finished off the talk with an original "Andorra cream, because it's like "crema catalana", but it contains a local product, melilotus, also known as yellow clover, which can be used in tender shoots for salads, and in dry format for infusions, as in this dessert", he explained.

The air of Mexico in the heart of the mountain

And product in Andorra's new gastronomy was also the subject of the talk by a chef of Mexican origin, Paco Méndez, winner of a Michelin star for Barcelona restaurant COME, and manager of the TOC restaurant in Anyós Park (La Massana, Andorra) for the last three years. He learned the trade with names such as Koldo Royo and Juan Mari Arzak, and works closely alongside Albert Adriá, who says "he's my Mexican alter ego, and I feel myself well represented in him", although the pandemic did away with their first joint project, the Hoja Santa and Niño Viejo restaurants. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, COME emerged from the same premises managed by a Méndez now working in a solo format, and he earned his first star in less than a year. 

The pandemic was still ongoing, however, when the owners of a luxury mountain resort called on him to create a new gastronomic concept at TOC, combining Mexican food with local produce, and most especially adapting it to the lifestyle of a location visited by thousands of sport enthusiasts every year. “Gastronomy in Andorra is taking leaps and bounds to showcase itself, and this is quite a challenge, given its location between the world's two main gastronomic powers. We concentrate on a fresher, more enjoyable format, focusing on the essential, with fun cuisine based on the seasonal produce available locally", he explained. By way of some examples, he showcooked a wedge of pork slow-roasted at low temperature, macerated beforehand with achiote spice, and covered with a red sauce of chipotle pepper and "tatemado" tomato. His last piece was a meringue fashioned in the traditional manner, but it was left unfinished to enable him to scoop out the middle and put in a filling of strawberry and goat's milk ice cream, topped with powdered hibiscus. 

Retrieving Huesca's delicious plantations

Mountains were also the main stars in the emotional cuisine served up by brother-in-law twosome Josetxo Souto and Ramón Aso at their Callizo* restaurant in an immensely beautiful medieval Aragón village, Aínsa, in the middle of Huesca's Pyrenees. In love with and totally committed to their surroundings, they are its staunchest defenders, working alongside local associations such as Un Paso Atrás, which strives to recover and preserve local varieties. “When we started out in 1998 we thought it was impossible that anyone would bother to elevate high-mountain cuisine, which is actually the Spain of depopulation, and that's why we're grateful for initiatives such as Andorra Taste”, Ramón began. 

The rest of the talk was given by Josetxo, who guided congress-goers through the scenery of Sobrarbe and the Cinca Valley, in a showcooking session with masterful produce-linked technique. They began with an imperial trout ceviche, "by way of a tribute to Gastón Acurio, who revealed this technique to us many years ago at San Sebastián Gastronómica”, made with Fuentes del Ebro onions, local salt of Roman origin, lime and kumquats, ice cream and trout roe, served on a river stone platter crafted by his brother. Some of the other main dishes featured local plant species, grown from seeds retrieved over the last 20 years, such as cucumber slivers macerated in soya, vinegar and ginger; pink tomato salad with figs, Aragón figs and fermented chilis; grilled leek tarts with an almond romescu sauce with the smoked roots of the leeks, and a stew of "desgranaderas", ultra-slender white beans, "which can only be gathered over three days for the best possible hydration", with wild boar tongue and wild mushrooms. He also made an impact with his reinterpretation of "espárragos montañeses", the ancestral lamb recipe of Huesca shepherds, immortalised by culinary expert Teodoro Bardají in his writings during the last century. He prepared the dish with meat from she-lamb tails, which used to be cut off to make them more fertile, wrapped in bacon and covered with chilindron sauce on "shepherd's breadcrumbs", alongside an amusing goat figurine. There can be no doubt that today's Callizo slot was a genuine exhibition of scenes from the Pyrenees, travelling from the retina to the taste buds of all those present.

Fruit as the maximum exponent of the Lleida landscape

The last speaker during the morning session was Joel Castanyé, whose La Boscana* restaurant (Bellvís) strives to make fruit, and more specifically Lleida's fruit, "a foodstuff as powerful and famous as the Palamós prawn or the Piedmont truffle. We work with fruit as the maximum exponent of our surroundings, to the extent that it accounts for 70% of the menu, and we make all sorts of things with it, with all possible techniques", he said, using "all parts of it, including the stones, and turning humble everyday foodstuffs into magical items, such as persimmon "embutido", banana with foie, pickled fruit and nectarine curry with lobster. 

Today he brought Andorra Taste the ecological high-altitude apple, one of Lleida's most typical varieties, which he continues to research on a constant basis in his “Fruta de Lleida” project, set up by agricultural engineers and producers to boost the region's agrofood sector. In addition to a detailed description of the properties of each variety, he used them to make some of the special surprise recipes on the restaurant's menu, such as the clarified carbonated apple water he serves in a wooden beaker by way of a welcome for diners, extremely strong home-made cider to wash down a delicate apple mille-feuilles made with a Japanese mandoline, with a filling of mild Clua cheese cream, nuts, and dill. And, for colder days, hot Buna apple stock, made with aromatic herbs, or croissant-pastry wild boar tart, and apple sliver roses and wild boar head meat - some extremely visual recipes which also serve to represent the restaurant's fare. After all, "we all like to show off our own products when we have visitors. So, as my mother says, buy at home, and you'll make a home", he said by way of a final comment.