They have been grouped since 2009 within the Artesáns Da Pesca cooperative and are capable of facilitating a very detailed information of each of the fish they offer to the restaurants they work with. Where has it been caught? At what time? What is the state of the fat? How has it been slaughtered? They have the answers to these questions and many others that arise along the path that goes from when the fish is in the sea until the dish reaches the diner.
And this is precisely what chefs like Adolfo Santosfrom the star-studded Madrid restaurant Saddle, who speaks daily with Robert Rodriguez, manager of ADP, to find out exactly what you are going to receive the next day and start thinking about the preparations that diners will enjoy in this luxurious haute cuisine space. But let’s go by parts.
First of all, it should be noted that, for some time now, concepts such as “sustainability”“seasonality”, “respect for the product” or “responsible fishing” They are in vogue (and on everyone’s lips). It doesn’t matter if we talk about the tavern under the house, a fast food or a fancy restaurant. All have included in his speech, with greater or lesser success, his commitment to the planet and with the future of those who inhabit it. Now, how many really bring this to fruition?
I’m afraid only a few. And you only have to listen to Roberto for five minutes to realize that he is one of those few. This man is a kind of walking encyclopedia who knows all the ins and outs of minor fishing gear.
Cripple and bleed, in this order
Once the boats of this small cooperative go out to fish, the first thing they do as soon as they capture the piece is paralyze it and bleed it. And it seems that the ideal, so that the animal suffers as little stress as possible and the product reaches the buyer in the most optimal conditions, it is to bleed the fish on the boat itself.
In other words, they work in a totally opposite to that practiced by fishermen in Japanwhere the fish arrives alive at the port to later be deposited in pools and slaughtered according to the canons of the ikejime. Originally, this “Galician-style bleeding” it was done only with hook horse mackerel, to prevent the animal from jumping into these small boats, and in Artisans Da Pesca They decided to successfully apply this same method to other species.
As a detail, clarify that in Artesáns da Pesca they are not very friends of that technique that is known as “thermal shock” and is currently used to stun the fish, usually sea bream and sea bass. “This system causes tension in the fibers of the fish and the behavior is going to be very different.” Roberto explains to us that it is as if we suddenly fell into a frozen sea: “Your nervous system would be paralyzed and you would be stiff right away.”
Daily fishing and haute cuisine, the perfect symbiosis
To go back to the origins of Artesáns Da Pesca, we have to go to Vigo, which is where Andres Medici, currently in charge of the Japanese restaurant PurO Sushi. After a conversation with this Argentine chef who has worked with chefs of the stature of Iwao Komiyama or Masao KikuchiRoberto got to work. “And time went by until chef Pepe Solla became interested in our work.”
This, without a doubt, marked a turning point in the history of these professionals from Ribeira. It is seen that at Casa Solla they were very surprised to see that Roberto brought the whole team together to taste and give their opinion about the fish they took to a workshop. Once the restaurant staff had expressed their impressions, it was their turn. “We did some three-kilo seabass raw and at low temperature, some had been caught a week ago and others twenty-four hours earlier. We all decided that the one that was the best was the one that had been captured three days ago, that was the starting point. perfect balance between texture and flavor”.
From there, his phone has not stopped ringing. And it is that there are many who consider something vital today to be able to know all product traceability with whom they work. Adolfo Santos confirms this for us: “I work with a very à la carte fish, of a certain size and with a story behind that I then share with the client. Now I couldn’t start working with another type of fish”.
Most of the time it is Roberto who, as a collector (he does not feel comfortable with the concept of provider), offers huge amounts of information to the cook, but sometimes it is the chefs who pass on their knowledge to him. The ideal, as in the case of Saddle, is that the information flows in both directions.
All this is even more surprising when we talk about a sector in which secrecy has always been the order of the day. “When we started, when we were very green on the subject of marketing, a veteran of the sector told me that you can never tell the whole truth to the client because it is not good for him to learn too much. But, of course, what do I gain by hiding information? For me it is much more enriching to generate that trust in the chef and that we contribute knowledge to each other”.
And something that is also changing, fortunately, is the fact that suppliers go to eat at restaurants to those who supply, something that until very recently was not so common. “Many of my clients are surprised when they see me stay to eat the fish, they say that most of their suppliers prefer to eat meat when they go out because they say they are tired of eating fish”, Roberto concludes with a laugh.
Not all fish are suitable for all types of cuisine
Something very important to rescue from the talk with Roberto Rodríguez leads us once again to talk about that delicacy that is practically personalized for each chef. And it is that The needs of a Japanese restaurant are not the same as those of a seafood restaurant or those of a traditional grill.
“There are restaurants to which it comes in handy that we send them some sea bass when they are fully fat, between October and December, because if you apply an iron or a very powerful ember the result is wonderful. If, on the other hand, you are going to work this product at a low temperature, it will probably be too cloying for you,” says Rodríguez.
There are also those who prefer work with the female sea bass in season and resort to the male during the rest of the year, since it never goes through those high states of fat that the female does need for spawning. And then there are those who, according to Roberto, are more supporters of a type of sacrifice or another: “There are some who do not want a rigor mortis so pronounced, others need the fibers to be more relaxed,… And what we try to do is adapt to each one of them”.
In any case, chefs like Adolfo Santos de Saddle (formerly in Santceloni either Lakasa), highly value the quality of the product that Roberto sends them daily, despite the fact that uncertainty always hangs in the air: “You have to adapt to what the sea is going to give you every day, you have to get used to the idea that you don’t always get what you want. But it’s a lot of fun because what comes to you is always at its best.”
To explain this, Roberto uses an example that is very easy to understand because we all have a refrigerator at home: “Is it true that we do not usually take out everything that is inside to consume it little by little in the following days? Well, with the sea we should do the same, take what we are going to need every day”.
And another of the things that this talented chef highlights has to do with the freshness of the Artesáns Da Pesca product. “There are times when the fish it is so fresh that I have to let it rest for two or three days for him to relax. And the evolution is very surprising, especially in the case of turbot or sole, which have a rigor mortis Very particular”.
In conclusion, it is enough to try Saddle grouper, sea bass, scallops or cockles to confirm that, definitively, it is good that the cook has all the information possible about the product because, as Roberto says, “only in this way will you be able to choose the best fish to make the best dish”.
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