Chef failures: what mistakes did the capital's chefs learn from? Russian chefs at the Far From Moscow festival in Los Angeles Famous dinner guests

The first gastronomic festival “NORTH” has started. For several days, the city turned into a culinary paradise for any gourmet, and especially for lovers of traditional northern dishes. Not only local, but also specially invited chefs cook at the festival. I talked with them about which local products have the greatest potential, what Norilsk chefs lack, and what the main merit of the gastrofestival is.

Anatoly Kazakov, chef of the Selfie restaurant:

There is an opinion that northern cuisine is too specific and that it will not appeal to most people. But it is not so. Yes, it will be unusual for those who never leave sushi bars and all sorts of McDonald's, but for a person who understands food and is gastronomically savvy, northern food, on the one hand, is absolutely ordinary, and on the other, invariably interesting. How?

Well, firstly, with its unique products. For example, now in Norilsk there is a high season for cool fish: smelt, whitefish, muksun. Here's the caviar. The venison here is incredibly awesome. There are white partridges and arctic hares here. These are all products that are incredibly interesting to work with and whose potential needs to be developed in order to be able to show the authenticity of northern cuisine both in the North itself and in all other Russian regions.

And secondly, most of the products here are seasonal: summer here lasts only a couple of months, and there is practically no off-season. Seasonality is a serious trend of late, because it greatly affects the taste of the product: say, the same whitefish or omul here in Norilsk and somewhere on Lake Baikal differ quite noticeably. The same goes for venison: in the Krasnoyarsk and Murmansk regions it is completely different. This is important for everyone to understand - both food lovers and chefs. For example, working with local products, I gain a lot of experience. At the gastrofestival in Norilsk, for example, I liked working with polar hares and wild partridges. And I tried to show what interesting things can be done with them. After all, what happens? Now these products are in season, and you can hardly find them in local restaurants.

This is what I see as the main problem that the festival must solve: to convince northern chefs that they should not copy the European menu, but create their own, interesting one from local seasonal products that need to be loved and appreciated. And be based on local culinary traditions. For example, I really regret that I don’t have enough time to travel from Norilsk to the villages where indigenous peoples live and get acquainted with their cuisine. But what prevents the local chefs from doing this?

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Georgy Troyan, chef of the Severyan restaurant:

The main merit of the NORTH gastrofestival is that it proves: Russian cuisine - including the cuisine of the Russian North - has become a global trend.

As for me personally, I came here to demonstrate to both Russian and foreign chefs what wonderful dishes can be prepared from local specialties. Today, for example, I will cook a deer heart. But there are also muksun and smelt here... Amazing! I cook with these products very often in Moscow, but for some reason they are not very popular in Norilsk yet. So I decided to introduce local chefs to my experience, and most importantly, to the resources that they have at hand, but whose potential has not yet been completely revealed. Let’s say this is what I cook in my restaurant: I bake a flatbread, dry-dry deer meat, making a kind of basturma out of it, and then grate it to give the meat an airy texture. Then I pour the meat into the flatbread. I often use whitefish caviar...

This, however, is a mutual process: personally, it was only here, at the Sever gastrofestival, that I realized how different the taste of local products is from their analogues with which we work in Moscow. Their quality is incredibly high here. It’s a pity that we didn’t pay attention to this before, but now, of course, the embargo has greatly contributed to our becoming better aware of our Russian products. Everyone is accustomed to dorado and sea bass. But, I assure you, muksun is no worse! The main thing is to be able to work with it.

In general, my conclusion is this: yes, even in Norilsk restaurants it would be strange to cook only from northern products, but not using them at all is a crime. The same goes for local dishes. Let’s say, I really liked frozen fish. So I want to wish one thing to the local chefs: “Stop looking towards Moscow and cook what they cook here! You have your own good quality product and good recipes. So develop this potential!”

Gastronomy, like any art, is 10% talent and 90% hard work. Today, the boss must be very hardworking and, at the same time, a strong manager. “Guys, I’m a creator, leave me alone!” - no longer works. Finding products at the right price is also our task. We should not look for mythical analogues of what we lost due to sanctions, we should look for local products, interesting and tasty. And profitable. Somewhere the season is short, somewhere producers cannot cope with the volumes we need. And our business is profitability. Prices are rising every day and you need to be not just a cook, but a chef-manager in order to react quickly - quickly change the menu, change one supplier to another, switch to new seasonal products.

I will never go to a restaurateur: should I listen to how he created the design? I’ll go to the chef, I’m interested in how he thinks, how he develops. Over the past two years, everything has been coming to the right market and restaurant format. If recently guests went to see a restaurateur, an interior design, a group of companies, or even a waiter who serves them well, now they ask: “So, who is the cook?” And before, the more important thing was the party, “fun or not fun.”

Those who go to restaurants have also “grown up.” Those who had a crimson jacket in the 90s now wear expensive designer suits - they have cultivated a sense of style. And taste is developed in the same way. Most of them are no longer interested in whether there is some famous person sitting at the next table, they look at the culture of the restaurant.

If you had told a guest five years ago: “I will seat you at a table, but you will have a 2-hour limit,” he would not have believed it - “How is that?” But these are normal European rules; you didn’t come to sit with tea, but to eat. Now people understand this and react appropriately.

We prepare non-trivial food and this is the most interesting thing. People come to us for specific dishes and tell their friends about them. Journalists often come, try something new, write about us - I am pleased that they are interested here. There is a point of view that a journalist should come to a restaurant incognito in order to be able to criticize it. I am sure that this will happen in Russia over time. Restaurant criticism, like the restaurant business itself, is still a very young industry, they are growing and developing in parallel. Journalists have nowhere else to get information about products, recipes, technologies, like asking a chef a question - they do not have such specialized education. It seems to me that we are now at the stage where we must help each other - we give them our professional knowledge, they give us their comments.

Many people only declare that the chef in a restaurant is its co-owner. It’s too early to call this a trend. You have to give even more for other people’s investments, because people believe in you. And for your reputation too. In our profession, word of mouth is very important. You can be a “top” for 10 years, but once you make a mistake and you are remembered precisely for this moment. And it doesn’t matter whether you are an owner or an employee.

The crisis has changed little. Working as much as possible with Russian products has always been our priority - we looked for farmers, promoted little-known products from the regions. Over the past 15 years, many Russian chefs have been busy preparing dishes of foreign cuisines from foreign products. Take a typical Moscow Italian restaurant just yesterday: the chef ordered mozzarella in Italy, brought it here, cut it and put it in - what is his merit in this? If he had found a cool Adyghe cheese, figured out how to serve it profitably and interestingly - then yes, he’s great! The line separating a professional from “just a cook” is thin. Only recently has it become obvious to most that our domestic products are both interesting and competitive. You just need to be able to find among them something that will resonate with our taste memory.

The most difficult thing is to get consistent quality and volume for the restaurant. There are farms that produce poultry or meat for us. Two weeks before slaughter, the poultry is fed corn, the kids are fed milk for a certain time so that the meat is more tender - usually the consumer is not even aware of these details, but they allow us to obtain a product at a level higher than in the mass market. Our forwarders control these processes, and I often go to the farmers myself. Unfortunately, most chefs don't think they need to do this.

What distinguishes Russian chefs from foreign ones is, first of all, their mentality. When I went to work in Italy in 2005, the discovery for me was not new products or recipes, the discovery was the very attitude of people to the business in which they live. They take a businesslike approach to what and how they work, and for whom they work, too. This is another dimension.

You have to work hard for them to like it. But the main thing is that any chef himself should enjoy the food he prepares. If you have 30 robots in your kitchen, don’t expect a miracle: even if one of them tries the dish and doesn’t like it, he will still give it to the guest.

The boss’s task is to instill in the people who work on his team the same philosophy as his, the same view of the profession. I motivate my chefs so that they want to develop and read books. For example, I give you a task: you have a pine cone - think about what you can do with it. And people think, dig, search. Sometimes they can give a really interesting idea. The most valuable thing is always the idea. I don’t need subordinates who don’t care what they do – work in my kitchen or prepare cutlets at the factory.

Both me and Vladimir Mukhin - we both trained abroad. This is a very useful experience that allows you to rethink the fundamental knowledge that every chef receives at the beginning of his career. I am referring specifically to professional chefs, who from an early age were taught basic French skills based on the technique of working with the product. This is the base without which you cannot become a real chef. You can be a talented cook, a fashionable character, but nothing more.

Nowadays there is very tough competition, guests have become more interested in restaurateurs and chefs. There is no such snobbish “Well, this, of course, is not Monaco.” People go where they like. And our colleagues come to us and see what we do and how we do it. Chefs understand that now you can’t go far with beef Stroganoff, you need to develop continuously. When I started my career, the restaurant’s markup was 10 “ends”. And everything flew away. Now it’s 3-4, like in Europe.

This means that the moment is not far off when all non-professionals will be eliminated, and people who really know how to work will set the tone in the market.

Anatoly began his career in 1998 at the Moscow Cosmos Hotel. From 2002 to 2005 he worked as a sous chef at the Oblomov restaurant. Then he went to Italy, where he improved his skills at Restaurante Castello (Lecce) and Charlie Hotel (Taranto). In 2007 he returned to Moscow, worked as a chef at The Most restaurant, and at the end of 2010 he became the chef at Bon by Novikov and Stark. Currently heading the kitchen of the new Hills restaurant.

Anatoly Kazakov completed an internship at Gualtiero Marchesi (3 Michelin stars), received the Silver Triangle prize at the Moscow Gastronomic Festival in 2012, took 4th place in the S.Pellegrino Cooking Cup 2012 competition. His credo is a non-standard approach to standard products.

The future belongs to local products and good culinary education

Anatoly Kazakov

Chef at Hill's Restaurant

In the restaurant business I have been working since I was 14 years old.
I became a chef, because cooking is the best of the arts.
My most valuable experience– working with Gualtiero Marchesi, which absolutely changed my views on products and my attitude towards them.
It still surprises me lack of normal culinary institutes.
I specialize based on local raw materials, because we have a lot of authentic products that will give European ones a head start. You just need to learn to work with them.
My cooking style– elegance, simplicity, logic.
My favorite ingredients– ground pear, hay, almost all seasonal fruits and vegetables.
My most unusual dish– cherry-flavored beets with grainy cottage cheese, buckwheat paper and apple cider “snow”.
The most unusual ingredients The ones I used were pine resin, milk leather, clover buds.
I don't like to work with indifferent people.
I'm inspired Soviet composers and Russian nature.
When I cook, I’m thinking about... the product liking it!
Trying radiate only positive emotions - the employees, and then the guests, are charged with them.
I can't get by in the kitchen without cooks - these are my tools.
I'm most tired from inattentive people.
A chef's worst mistake- “serve the number.”
I would dedicate my next dish young guys who are faced with choosing a profession.
My dream establishment, alas, not profitable.
At home I cook sandwiches with cheese.
Among the main trends today- what I cooked yesterday.
Future for local products and good culinary education for chefs.

Last weekend, the first festival of contemporary Russian culture - Far From Moscow - took place on the territory of one of the main universities in America - UCLA in Los Angeles. As part of FFM, California residents got acquainted with the main Russian film premieres, modern Russian music, and each festival day ended with a large Gala dinner in Santa Monica, at which Anatoly Kazakov (chef of the Selfie restaurant) and Georgy Troyan (chef of the Severyanye restaurant ") showed the main trends of modern Russian cuisine.

This year, modern Russian cuisine in Los Angeles was represented by Anatoly Kazakov and Georgy Troyan. California is one of America's main gastronomic powerhouses, and about 20 million people live in “greater Los Angeles.” Considering all this, it is strange that the most relevant and interesting representatives of Russian gastronomy have not previously come on tour to Los Angeles.

If fans of Russian music and cinema, primarily of Russian origin, gathered on the territory of the university, real connoisseurs of beauty came to Santa Monica, people who shape world trends in cinema and music, who were fed by the best American, French and Italian chefs. Russian cuisine truly amazed the guests with its modernity, freshness, lightness, grace and impeccable harmony of tastes.

Igor Gubernsky - President of the Moscow Gastronomic Festival - curator of the FFM gastronomic program:

“Los Angeles, a city that loves itself and always greets strangers with caution, so many professionals from all fields want to find themselves here, in the “city of angels.” Under all these circumstances, our chefs were received very kindly. We were afraid that modern Russian the cuisine will not be understood by everyone, but in the end the dinners left a very strong impression, and guests, from the usual Los Angeles TV and film actors to the Rothschilds, sang praises to the skill and talent of Anatoly Kazakov and Georgy Troyan. We took the first successful step. Obviously, presenting new, fashionable Russian gastronomy in California is a very right and necessary thing for developing the image of Russia abroad. When all Americans expect from us the same dumplings, borscht and Olivier salads, and our chefs show fantastic Russian tastes through the prism of the most current techniques and methods of preparation, this works for the country’s image no worse than the work of Foreign Ministry diplomats.”

Ilya Lagutenko - Co-organizer of the Festival - curator of the FFM music program:

“We did the almost impossible - a team of enthusiasts from different countries prepared three eventful festival days, and not just anywhere, but in Los Angeles, where the cultural life is multifaceted and diverse, and the most exciting events take place every day. We managed to show the public the best in contemporary independent and classical music, cinema, gastronomy and experimental art. I am sure this will not be our last project here, and I hope that our new events will be no less successful."

Anatoly Kazakov - chef of the Selfie restaurant:

“This is not the first time I’m performing on tour, but I was interested to see how the Americans would react to the fact that they won’t see kulebyak and herring under a fur coat on their plates. Will they understand the message that we are trying to convey to the world - Russian food is not heavy, outdated food with vodka, but tasty, bright and interesting and not inferior in attractiveness to the best cuisines in the world";

Georgy Troyan - chef of the Severyan restaurant:

“I brought to America dishes, on the one hand, traditional in the method of preparation characteristic of Russian cuisine - baking, simmering, pickling, on the other hand, very easy to understand and modern in taste. As it turned out, Americans are very clear about our traditional tastes. "Many dinner guests came up to Anatoly and me and expressed their admiration and thanked us for the pleasure. It is very stimulating and inspiring to show Russian cuisine in all its diversity, especially since there are enough opportunities for this."

Far From Moscow dinner menu:

1st year Anatoly Kazakov

Trout marinated in lingonberries with cucumber tartare

2nd year Georgiy Troyan

Beef tartare with horseradish and pike caviar

3rd year Anatoly Kazakov

Crab with millet

4th year Georgy Troyan

Pancakes made from bird cherry flour with porcini mushrooms and dried venison

5th year Anatoly Kazakov

Veal tongue with lard, smoked potatoes and morels

6th year Anatoly Kazakov

Sorrel panna cotta with sour cream ice cream

7th year Georgy Troyan

Baked plum with smoked ice cream

Notable dinner guests:

Nathan and Loretta Rothschild, Robin Tunney actress, Nicky Marmet architect, Ilya Lagutenko, Gary Baseman artist, director, actor and UCLA graduate, Jeffrey Greenberg Greenberg - curator of the Grammy Board of Trustees and owner of the Village recorder studio, Jesse Ehrmann - vice president of Warner Bros., John Alagia - music producer Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Eliot Hazel - music video director for U2 , Radiohead Natalia Fabia artist, Richard Louderback artist, David MacFadyen President of the Pacific Sound & Vision Foundation, Professor at UCLA.

The menu included deer tartare with wild garlic and steamed whitefish, seared with a torch.

#NORILSK "Taimyr Telegraph" - Anatoly Kazakov, the chef of the Moscow restaurant Selfie, one of the hundred best restaurants in the international rating of The World's 50 Best Restaurants-2017, conducted a master class for the cooks of the Grill Farm restaurant. And before that told Norilsk residents about what products he prefers to use. The winner of the title “Chef of the Year Gault&Millau 2018”, winner of the “Silver Triangle” competition and finalist of the S.Pellegrino Cooking Cup 2012 turned out to be a very simple and sociable person: “Today there are about 12 farms in different regions of the country work for us. As a result, we get sweet potatoes or black tomatoes of the best quality."

Kazakov is one of the brightest representatives of the new creative cuisine. Traditions, local products and modern cooking techniques are the three main principles on which the chef builds his work. He seeks and finds harmony in the combination of 3-4 ingredients in each dish, showing that even the simplest products can be truly gastronomic.

Together with the sous-chefs of the Selfie restaurant Alexander Pavlenko and Dmitry Avdeev, he prepared dishes from fish, meat and caviar. As a result of this culinary story, Anatoly Kazakov came up with several amazing recipes. Cold smoked whitefish with pickled green tomatoes. They also decorate deer tartare with wild garlic and baked deer cheek with lard from reindeer belly fat and Jerusalem artichoke puree.

“The story of green tomatoes is very close to northern cities. Those whose childhood was in the 70s and 80s probably remember three-liter jars of tomatoes sold in grocery stores,” noted Anatoly Kazakov.

In addition, guests of the Grill Farm were able to try whitefish caviar with young cabbage, dried venison and tarragon butter. The torch-seared steamed whitefish was served with fermented winter apple fillets.

“It’s very tasty, unusual. Sometimes it’s not even clear what the dish is made from. And it’s very surprising that these are all our local products. I would like all these dishes to be included in the permanent menu,” were the unanimous opinion of restaurant visitors who were able to try the dishes , prepared by Anatoly Kazakov.