“Frozen fish in haute cuisine.” This is the title of their presentation Rafa Centeno and Ennis HebrewFor the Gastronomy Conference Madrid Fusion Foods from Spainwhere they participated Know the use of frozen fish in fine cuisine This is thanks to its collaboration with the Cualifish Group of the Institute of Science, Technology of Food and Nutrition (ICTAN) of the Supreme Council for Scientific Research (CSIC).
“We called Mercedes Karish, researcher at CSIC “Who did a lot of work on anisakis, because we were looking for someone to offer us the scientific point of view to guide us when working with fish and for the results to be what we were looking for: improving the quality of fish ‘what we had’,” explains Michelin-star chef Rafa Centeno.
“Years ago, we noticed that the sea was not what it used to be,” he admits. “The product changes, not because it loses quality, but it is true that it contains anisakis,” he emphasizes. “After covid, Which was the turning point that made us change our perspective and vision of everything the sea offers us. We thought about how to get a better quality for the final product and… How to mitigate a food safety problem“, Confirms.
Centeno: “The chef’s first premise is healthy nutrition”
In this regard, there are “two points of view,” according to Centeno. “The first, which is the basis of everything, is to provide something that gives us peace of mind and security; and second, from the point of view of the demanding cook, not to go into a trance wondering what will happen when we freeze the fish and when we defrost it.
“Another vision”
Here, science was her best ally. “We started doing tests and analyzes and saw what happened to the fish in the process. We discovered that if there is good super-freezing, the changes that are perceived are practically negligible. Now they have 'another view of the fish', overcoming the 'fear of finding “On a completely different product than the one that went into the deep freezer.”
“New Galician cuisine is very respectful of the products of the land.”
The first thing they did was “reset,” trying “not to have records of the fish, as if each one that came out of the deep freezer was not known, so that we would not be affected by what came before and what now.” Great luck?“The changes are negligible.”He insists. “CSIC’s triple tests show that it is impossible to distinguish between frozen fish and fresh fish, as long as it is properly cooked.” “There are no differences, the only thing you contribute is another point of quality,” he stresses.
“Achieving excellence”
“What we achieve, in the end, is better quality,” says Centeno. “In our daily life we always try to look for excellence and this goes hand in hand with quality. Quality has many different dimensions, from business style to know-how, and much more, one of which is food safety.” “To achieve excellence, in all these dimensions of quality, we must include them all,” he continues.
Here, the chef explains the difference between ultra-freezing (which is done at -60°C) and deep-freezing. “They're two very different terms. And we learned this from scientists who helped us understand this: When you freeze, much larger crystals form and there's a much greater breakage of fibers, so there's a greater loss of water when the ice thaws.” However, with deep freezing, Fine crystals are produced due to the speed at which they freezeso breakage is much less and what can change the texture is negligible, and there is hardly any water loss.
Defrosting is also vital. “We always let them thaw in the room, very gently, and we treat each species that enters the restaurant in a different way, also depending on their size, whether we freeze them whole or in the loins… depending on which one we are celebrating ourselves.” Some guidelines that help us in our daily lives so that everything goes the same way and regularly“.
This technology means “a new vision for our warehouse and estuary.” “Technology and science are closely linked to fine cuisine, and all of this helps us a lot in coming up with new ways to alleviate all these problems we have with fish,” he declares. Moreover, the deep freeze allowed them to “take off the bag of complexes, the bag of fears, and we were able to carry the fish safely.” Here he specifically talks about “hacking”.. “It gave us a real scare because everyone always talked about how sensitive it was and that it freezes badly,” he admits. “But the deep freeze opened windows and doors in our minds and showed us that by treating it well, making good use of it, the differences do not exist even in hake, which, in addition, is one of the fish that most people eat,” Anisakis is impressed.
From Ferran Adrià's cocoa butter congratulations
The presentation by Rafa Centeno and Ines Abril caused great excitement, especially among Ferran Adrià, who congratulated them on the results of their research. “We were excited that someone like him, who is an authority for us, is interested in something we do in the restaurant, which is at least an incentive,” admits the chef of Maroja Limon. “Madrid Fusión is a great place where chefs go to tell their story, their techniques, their way of understanding cooking…, and there we found references and were inspired by many of the works of other colleagues. “Being able to be there, tell our story, find meaning in it, help us all take certain measures or help us understand or reinterpret the sea better, would be incredible,” he admits. Centeno notes that they continue to “collaborate with CSIC” in researching new methods and technologies “to continue the consumption of fish naturally and safely.”
In their presentation they also talked about “Cocoa Butter“This technology we discovered helps us a lot in keeping the fish in good condition after thawing because it does not allow it to dry out,” he explains.
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