Much has changed in the world of culinary television since the early 80s, the starting signal for a territory that became popular for us with programs like ‘Red-handed’. However, it would not be until the late eighties and early nineties. when the television kitchen entered our homes massively and did it with a name: Karlos Arguiñano.
Established in ‘The daily menu’, Arguiñano put on the map a way of making gastronomic communication that today may seem habitual but 30 years ago it was a completely new format.
New and full of risks, before a Spain that was in front of the television in a different way and before an Arguiñano that, except for small gastronomic circles and in Euskadi, was a practically unknown cook. Yes, although it is hard to believe that at some point in history the Beasain chef was not known.
Precisely ignorance is what he spoke about on his last visit to El Hormiguero, where took the opportunity to present his latest recipe book on the Pablo Motos program: Easy and rich cooking, a cookbook where he presents the recipes for the day to day that have elevated him to the gastronomic heaven in which he is today.
However, Arguiñano acknowledged that the world of cookbooks hasn’t always been the heaven it seems and indeed, even if they become best sellers and are read by millions of people, they also have more than one catch.
This is how he confessed when he clarified that they scammed him 60 million pesetas (about 360,000 euros) in 1991 with the edition of The menu of each daybecause the publisher owed him this amount of money despite the fact that the book was a true bestseller with more than 1.6 million copies.
“I launched my first book and we sold 1,600,000 copies, an outrage. I remember that that year the new catechism also came out and they sold half of it. I didn’t get anything from that first book, it didn’t work out well for me. The editor kept all the cloth, and it was a paste, “he explained.
Easy and rich cooking: More than 600 recipes to succeed (Planeta Cocina)
You can learn from everything, or so we say, but the reality is that since then Arguiñano’s books they have sold like hotcakes and every time they reach bookstores they become some of the most valued references by readers.
Images | Atresmedia / El Hormiguero 3.0
In DAP | The nine best recipes that Karlos Arguiñano taught us
In DAP | Karlos Arguiñano speaks about haute cuisine and 200-euro menus