San Sebastián: Elena Arzak, Life in the kitchen<

San Sebastián is a paradise for gourmets.From tapas bar to multi -star restaurant, there is for everyone.HASn extraordinary creativity developed in the mid -1970s thanks to a group of chefs who, inspired by new French cuisine, make their revolution, offering healthy and innovative cuisine.In this superb seaside resort, good products abound, tourists too, for what seems to be an endless feast.HAS little on the sidelines, far from the seaside and the historic center, theHHASSrzak restaurant has neither view, garden, nor terrace.It is a large building without real charm, posed a little too close to the road.

Only a facade covered with a pattern in zinc tiles suggests that something interesting happens.We enter this house as in a family: indoors and in the kitchen, the generations have succeeded each other and still rub shoulders with it today harmoniously.Juan MariHHASSrzak still comes there, as often as possible.Elena ensures that he always has the place that comes back to him, even if it is now she who heads the establishment.

She spent most of her life in the kitchen;She imagines it, does it, seeks, explores, always in search of new tracks, without ever forgetting who it is neither where she comes from.HASnd she talks about it with intelligence.

5 questions à la cheffe ElenaHHASSrzak

The Good Life: Have you always known that you would take the succession of your father?ElenaHHASSrzak: Child, I spent a lot of time at the restaurant with my grandmother.My sister and I worked there for a few hours during the holidays to lend a hand, clean the chipirons, peel oranges, sort the flowers or herbs ... I loved the atmosphere.I tasted a lot of things: foie gras, spices, exotic products ... I remember saying, one day, to my mother, while we ate Chinese oranges, that it would be good to have oranges "normal»!HASt 17, when I chose to study in hotels, my parents simply said to me: "Think about it, spending his days in dawn kitchen at night, it's something other than two hours a dayin summer !"But that was where I wanted to be.In 1989, when I was at the Lucerne hotel school, I received a phone call from my father who announced that he had just obtained his third star.He said to me, "You know, Elena, I don't know how long I will keep them."We still have them today.It's beautiful, right?

TGL: How was the transmission, the transition from his kitchen to yours?E.HHASS.: It is a transition that has been done slowly and which, in a way, is always done.My father has long had the last word, but he has always been open to the difference.When I came back from my learning, my head full of ideas, I went through all the kitchen positions, I read a lot of books, studied in depth the basics of Basque cuisine and made lists of forgotten products.Then I started making dishes which, like those of my generation, were composed with fewer ingredients than those of my father, but with more power.He understood my point of view well and we gradually started to lower the amount of items on the plate.My intention was not to dismantle a system that worked very well, but my father knew that it was necessary to evolve, listen to the youngest.I always make him taste what I do, and he does not make any decision if I am not here.We are very critical towards each other.It's a chance, and also a great emotion, because I know that one day he will no longer be there ...

TLG: What does creativity in the kitchen mean for you?E.HHASS.: There is, in cooking, a lot of creativity, a lot of great ideas that have been found, but that do not last;Everything is going too fast.I like to rely on the values of the past and reuse them with a contemporary vision.For example, if the poultry bottom that my grandmother was doing is exquisite, why deprive me?On the other hand, I will add a spice that interests me, baobab bark powder, for example, and the result will be extraordinary.HAS restaurant like ours, which is 100 years old, can and must rely on the values of the past, certainly more than an establishment that has just opened.HHASSuparavant, la plupart des restaurants se ressemblaient et utilisaient les mêmes produits.HHASSujourd’hui, chacun exprime son caractère et sa personnalité.Making a culinary revolution is very difficult, it is no longer the work of a group of chefs today, but takes place individually in a few. FerranHHASSdrià en est un bon exemple.HHASSvec El Bulli, il a énormément fait pour la gastronomie espagnole.He made his revolution and has changed the cuisine of many chefs.I had the pleasure of being invited for an internship of a few days and I learned a lot there.Then it's about doing them in his own way.

"We had not worked all our lives hard to reach excellence to now make take -out cooking.»»

TGL: Tell us about your laboratory.What is its function?.HAS.: This is a practical tool that we created above the restaurant's kitchen, because it had become impossible to do there.So we decided to separate the production from creation.We experience new techniques and new applications.We can lyophilize, distill ... we have a 3D printer.But everything we do there must be worth it, really bring something to the products that each have a limit in their manipulation.It is also a bank of flavors, with 1,500 dry or powder ingredients from around the world.Everyone is identified and classified using a QR code.If I must, for example, finalize a dish with something bitter and crisp, the database gives me a list of products.It is a tool that does not replace knowledge and experience, because even if, for certain preparations, there are formulas, for others, you have to have a hand.

TGL: How did you experience the closure period during the pandemic?E.HHASS. :HHASSlors que nous étions tous au chômage temporaire, j’ai fait beaucoup de choses en parallèle, des interviews, des forums online… Nous avons pensé à proposer une formule à emporter, puis nous nous sommes dit que nous n’avions pas travaillé toute notre vie avec acharnement pour atteindre l’excellence pour maintenant faire de la cuisine à emporter.We also had to make financial decisions, think about how to restructure, review customer reception codes, analyze the way they will frequent the restaurant.HHASSvant, nous affichions toujours complet ; on ouvrait, un point c’est tout.Now, you have to study customer movements-fewer foreigners during the week and more premises on weekends-and therefore manage the time of the teams.And then, during this period, I made the mother and I cooked at home with my two teens, which does not happen to me so often!They love cooking, certainly because of me, but also my husband, who is an architect.We want them to choose what they want to do, like my sister and I had the opportunity.For the moment, none are decided, but they like to eat well ... If they came to work with me, I would be very happy!My parents have never told me that, so I never tell my children ... like that, if they decide to join me, I will know that it is voluntarily.

RestaurantHHASSrzakHASlcalde J.Elosegi Hiribidea, 273, San Sebastián.Such.+34 943 27 84 65.Arzak.es

Le documentaireHHASSrzak Since 1897

En octobre 2020 était présenté, en ouverture de la section Culinary Zinema du Festival international du film de San Sebastián, le documentaireHHASSrzak Since 1897 réalisé parHHASSsierHHASSltuna. Il y retrace la carrière de Juan MariHHASSrzak et, bien entendu, Elena y occupe une place importante.

A moving film which testifies to the transmission between father and daughter and which, in a way, confirms the transfer of power between generations."When the director came to tell us that he wanted to make a film, we first said no.We didn't have time, and indulge in someone who is not family, it was complicated.He reassured us, then was there for two years.In the end, we didn't see him anymore, he had become completely transparent.He knew how to communicate our mind and our history.I was very moved by watching the film.The director has shown our two personalities, who are very different.I am quieter, more patient than my father.HHASSvec son côté très enfantin, quand il a une idée, il va la réaliser tout de suite.I can wait ... "

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She experiences with her teams new techniques and new applications to reinvent Basque cuisine, as evidenced by these magnificent plates of mackerels and chipirons and papaya.