“It is not a complicated cake. In fact, we thought about 48 hours of entering the contest because something more traditional convinced us “, explains Gonzalo Armas.” We got there and saw a lot of chefs with one, two or three Michelin stars and we thought ‘but where are we going to compete’ , although we were clear about our idea, “he explains.
To do this, they opened the doors of the Luis Irízar Cooking School, where Armas studied cooking more than 15 years ago, and got down to work. “There are no secrets, not even in the puff pastry. We use a French butter puff pastry, “he says.
“The only important thing with a purchased puff pastry is that it be of quality and that is given by butter. If you find a puff pastry with 100% butter and without vegetable fats, go for it, “he explains.
“The grace of our cake is that it is between a tarte tatin and the sauce suzette“, he comments.” We wanted the apple to be very present because sometimes we forget that the main element is the important one and we want to put makeup on it, “he clarifies.
The apple is also important. “We have used a Perlim Golden Rosé because it is fleshy, for the table, naturally sweet and it can cook well, “he explains. For this, he has an apple per person, already disheartened.
If you do not have this type of apple, bet on a table apple that is sweet and that is brown, so that do not fall apart during cooking.
“We make a caramel with the orange juice and the sugar, which melts over low heat, and we add the cinnamon to taste and the drops of Armagnac that we want,” he clarifies. “When everything is well integrated, we add the apple in wedges and let it cook for about 20 minutes over low heat“, it indicates.
“Must be a candy where the apple is stewed. You are spinning those twenty minutes so that the candy does not stick and impregnates the piece of apple with that density, “he continues.
“If we want to make more quantity, we just have to take into account that the sugar must be twice as much as the juice and that you have to calculate an apple per person, “he explains.
“With the oven preheated to 150º degrees, we put the puff pastry [sobre una placa y sobre papel sulfurizado] when there are ten minutes so that the apple is ready. We cook it and, when we have half an hour of the apple, we remove it from the oven, “he adds.
Once out, the puff pastry is cut into rectangles that allow to put the six ‘segments’ of apple, it is salted and it is served directly.