More than five years ago the rock brothers -Jordi, Josep and Joan- did not fully appear on the Madrid Fusión stage. They have done it to present their new project, Esperit Roca: six brandies and distillates, developed by the El Celler de Can Roca team, which are already on sale on its website and in specialized stores.
The idea, explained Josep, was encapsulate the knowledge about fermentations and distillates that El Celler has been accumulating since 2006, when the brothers began to study tools and techniques such as rotovaporrotaval, water-soluble distillations…
“We have made more than 200 products, we could have our own cocktail bar,” says the sommelier of El Celler, who points out that they could already have a few 150 distillates to the market.
Esperit Roca will grow little by little, but it is born with six distillates that, in addition, will accompany certain menu items of this year from El Celler.
El Celler’s liquid cuisine
A wine claret macerated with gentian which, in the words of Josep “encapsulates the landscape of Ampurdáat an altitude of 1,500 m”, serves Joan as the starting point for an interesting lamb dish.
“We use lambs from the herds of fire that help the forest management in the Ampurdá area”, says Joan. “We support this extensive livestock farming that cleans the lower parts of the forest by cooking with it.”
This lamb, presented in the form of a stew and grilled, it is accompanied by its own milk in the form of a fresh cheese in three versions: plain, with fennel and smoked.
Another of the spirits presented, the carob brandyserves as the starting point for a new twist on one of El Celler’s emblematic dishes: its version of hare a la royal.
“It is one more of those versions of the royal hare, because it combines different recipes that make up a Sacher cake”, explains Joan. At the base of the cake we find a terrine of the insides of the hare with pork jowls; on the next layer, the classic hare la royal from El Celler, vacuum-cooked at 63 degrees for 30 hours; and finally, a black olive sponge soaked in carob brandy. Between each layer, as in the Sacher cake, a compote of dried apricots with ginger, which gives it a sweet and spicy touch. To finish, a chocolate bathwhich gives it a shiny texture and consistency.
“We are assembling this during the service and at the table we cut it and serve it”, concludes Joan.
Gins and cocoa liqueurs
The other four liqueurs presented are a rock tea gin and three different cocoa distillates, which Jordi uses as part of his desserts: liqueur, brandy and gin.
This is the case of a reinterpretation of the bread, oil and chocolate mousse, which Jordi has developed using the bread honey syrup that he presented in one of his latest presentations at Madrid Fusión.
The liquors are sustainable -even when it comes to its bottle, made from recycled glass- but not cheap. Rock gin is priced at 95 euros for 50 cl, carob brandy costs 85 euros and cocoa distillates cost between 55 and 60 euros.
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