🎙️ EP151 – 🍳 Forget the tasting menu. If you want to be a real cook, start in the trenches. 🔥This week we take on audience questions — and crack open the uncomfortable truths young chefs need to hear. ⚡

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

👨‍🍳 Best Advice for Aspiring Chefs – Why foundations matter more than stars

🔥 “F### Tasting Menus” – The lost art of real cooking

🔪 Choosing Your Path – Decision fatigue in a career with too many options

🍚 The Rice Wars – There’s no one right way (sorry, Valencians)

🍗 The Underdog Meat – Why chicken deserves respect

🥂 Berlin Dining Scene – Hype vs. substance

🥔 Potato Purée Salt Debate – Timing, superstition, and science

🌶️ Cooking with Identity – Context, culture, and food credibility

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🎙️ EP150 - Julián Otero isn’t here to make you comfortable. As creative chef of Mugaritz, he serves ideas disguised as food—sometimes brilliant, sometimes brutal, never safe. At the most controversial restaurant in the world, the dish isn’t finished until you eat it.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🎙️ Intro – Meet Juliano Otero, creative chef of Mugaritz

🤳 Gastro Cringe – calling out bathtub tiramisus & clueless critics

📚 From librarian dreams to kitchen life

💡 El Bulli ambitions & rejection from Basque Culinary Center

👨‍🍳 Inside El Bulli Foundation & working with Ferran Adrià

🤝 Learning from Oriol, Eduard & Mateu at Disfrutar’s roots

🎓 Teaching at Basque Culinary Center at 24 years old

🍽️ Breaking into Mugaritz – skipping the usual stagiaire ladder

🎸 From fan to bandmate – making books at Mugaritz

🌍 What really fuels Mugaritz: thousands of young cooks

🧪 Beyond flavor – cooking as ideas, not comfort

🔄 Why Mugaritz keeps changing to stay alive

👥 How dishes are created: teams, topics & young blood

🎨 When is a dish finished? Why the diner completes it

🧫 Four years to grow a fungus – the long road of R&D

👋 Closing thoughts & Juliano’s philosophy

👥 Relevant People & Restaurants Mentioned in This Episode:

• Julián Otero (Mugaritz): @gastrojulius
• Mugaritz: @mugaritz
• El Bulli Foundation / Ferran Adrià: @elbullifoundation_ferranadria
• Basque Culinary Center: @bculinary
• Oriol Castro (Disfrutar): @oriolcastroforns
• Eduard Xatruch (Disfrutar): @eduardxatruch
• Mateu Casañas (Disfrutar): tagged in @disfrutarbcn
• Disfrutar: @disfrutarbcn

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🎙️ EP149 – Tourists chase paella. Chefs chase truth. This is Barcelona through a cook’s eyes: lobster-slick canelons, seawater stews, five-euro dinosaurs, and bars where the plancha still shouts. Some obvious, some hidden. All about how this city eats—and why it matters.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🌊🐖 Mar i Muntanya – Catalonia’s surf-and-turf DNA

🍝 Canelons + Lobster Butter – humble pasta, obscene sauce

🐟🔥 Suquet, Monkfish & Seawater – fishermen logic in a pot

🇪🇸🏆 Spain’s Case – why Spanish cooking belongs in the pantheon

🎄🍲 Galets at Christmas – meat-stuffed pasta that makes its own broth

🍋🐟 Fismuler Barcelona – Nino Redruello’s “cuisine doctor” vibe

🧀🔥 Cheesecake Wars – Zuberoa’s blue-cheese whisper, Ama vs. Fismuler, crust included

🥬🔥 Kimchi Butter & Charred Cabbage – fusion with restraint

🇪🇨🍲 Ecuador in BCN – Ñaño’s encebollado + plantain–peanut fish stew

🍺🍤 Counter Culture – Cal Pep & the gospel of the plancha

🧑‍🍳🥄 Bar Pinotxo → Sant Antoni – market bars done right

🥂🐙 Ultramarinos Marín – produce-driven seafood and “that bill”

🥃🍲 Bar Gèlida – the last cheap, working-class dinosaur

🥑🏙️ Gentrification vs. Culture – hip cafés, fragile ecosystems

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🎙️EP148 – A casual catch-up ☕ turns into a deep exploration of a cook’s career 👨‍🍳—turning points, mentors, and the lessons that shape a chef’s path to excellence ⭐.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🍰 The Cheesecake Test – Why eating from the back might mean you’re a psychopath

🔥 Improvising in Caracas – No oil, no problem (fish confit saves the day)

👨‍🍳 Mentors Who Changed Everything – Ruben Martinez, Michel Hopfel, and the craft vs. business debate

🍃 Mugaritz & Beyond – Life lessons from chaos, herbs, and endless mise en place

🥕 When Food Makes You Cry – Hay ice cream, strawberry salads, and flavor as memory

🎵 Music or Silence – How sound shapes cooking and dining

🥩 Fine Dining vs. Chuletas – From Bourdain’s Mugaritz epiphany to Etxebarri’s steak supremacy

🎨 Doing Less, Doing It Right – Why Picasso lines, rap lyrics, and cooking all share the same truth

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🎙️ EP147 – Eric and Phil go all-in on the potato hall of fame—Robuchon’s butter-bomb purée, Heston’s triple-cooked fries, French gratins, plus some real WTF recipes like potato sauces and espumas. The greatest spud dishes every chef should know.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🥔 The Potato is King – humble, ugly, glorious

👨‍🍳 Robuchon’s Legendary Purée (60% butter rule)

🍟 Heston’s Triple-Cooked Fries – the recipe that changed fries forever

🔥 Why Technique Matters – turning classics into innovation

🇪🇸 Spanish Fries vs. French Fries – soggy but soulful

🥛 Potato Gratin & Tartiflette – French comfort classics

🍲 Pommes Boulanger – baked potatoes with broth & onions

🥘 Creole Potatoes & Family Food Memories

🎶 Potatoes, Smell & Memory – food as time travel

🧪 WTF Potato Recipes – juicing, gels & experimental sauces

💨 Potato Espuma – fish, olive oil vs. butter debates

🤬 The Cheesecake & Potato Purée Wars – dogma in the kitchen

🧄 Marco Pierre White’s Butter-Roasted Potatoes

🍷 Potato Dressings – truffle oil, stock & genius simplicity

📚 Final Thoughts & Outro

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🎙️ EP146 – From Canteens to Michelin Stars – Giacomo Zani’s career didn’t start in gleaming fine-dining kitchens. It started with peeling potatoes for 400 in a pharmaceutical company cafeteria. Now he’s Executive Chef at Amelia in San Sebastián, running a 2-Michelin-star kitchen and helping launch restaurants from Bangkok to Miami. This is about passion, discipline, and saying yes before you’re ready.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🇮🇹 Florence Beginnings – From canteen life to chasing flavor

🍝 Italian Roots – Grandmothers, Bolognese, and milk debates

🏨 Luxury Standards – Four Seasons and the precision omelet

🌍 Global Openings – Bangkok, Barcelona, Miami & more

🍣 Product First – From kinome leaves to Chawanmushi 💡 Mentorship & Discipline – Why only the best touch the protein

👨‍🍳 Career Advice – For the 20-year-old who thinks it’s too late

🥖 Basque & Beyond – Breaking the local culinary lineage

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🎙️ EP145 – This is tuna, lip-to-tail. From cheeks to collars, marrow to belly—we break down every cut, every technique, and every dish that makes this fish a true culinary heavyweight.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🏛️ What Is a Sociedad? – Basque supper club rules & culture

🍽️ Cooking in the Sociedad – Eric’s 100-dish Basque challenge

🥣 Marmitako Deep Dive – Peppers, bonito, and potato theory

🦑 Next Up: Squid in Ink – Eric’s cooking plans

🐟 Bonito vs. Big Tuna – Size, flavor, and grandma’s preserves

🔥 Hay-Fired Tataki – Japanese bonito torched over dry hay

🎣 Fishing Bonito in Venezuela – Eric’s childhood story

💡 Why Freshness Matters – Catch it, cook it, eat it

🧂 Bonito Flakes & Umami – Katsuo in Japanese cooking

👑 The Tuna King – Tokyo’s auction legend & surprise meal

🐄 Tuna Is the New Steak – Ribs, necks, cheeks & more

🍖 Pulled Smoked Tuna Head – LA chef Junya Yamasaki’s method

🥩 Belly Cuts & Wagyu Comparisons – Why tuna eats like beef

🍳 Tuna au Poivre – With ponzu, yuzu kosho, and matchstick fries

🍟 Roasted Nori Fries – The seasoning twist

🌡️ Warm-Blooded Tuna – And why the texture hits different

🍖 Reverse Vitello Tonato – Tuna with veal jus espuma

🐟 Bone Marrow & Tuna Cocochas – Cuts chefs overlook

🥫 Canned Tuna Memories – School lunches & government aid

🫙 Conservas Matter – High-end bonito belly in oil

🍅 Simple Salad, Elevated – Tuna belly with tomato & onion

🍱 What They’re Serving Now – Tartlets, truffle tuna & spicy rolls

🌶️ Truffle Oil in Spicy Tuna – Sounds wrong, tastes right

🧁 Akami & Otoro Tartlets – The one-bite umami bomb

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🎙️ EP144 – A Basque Temple of Smoke and Simplicity. It’s nearly impossible to get a table—yet somehow, we found ourselves upstairs at Asador Etxebarri. Later, over wine-stained notes and full stomachs, we tried to make sense of every course kissed by smoke, salt, and fire.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🥣 Pea Broth – A liquid emerald that sets the tone with gentle smokiness

🥩 Our CHORIZO – Melt-in-your-mouth pork butter and restraint in seasoning

🐟 Home Salted ANCHOVIES – Crusty bread, rich fish, and zero vinegar shock

🧀 Fresh Buffalo CHEESE – Mozzarella meets bitter rocket, unadorned perfection

🦐 Palamós PRAWNS – Sweetness, smokiness, and chewing every edible part

🌊 SEA URCHIN – Seaweed oil, unctuous cream, and ocean umami

🦑 CUTTLEFISH – Peas, garlic flower, and a grilled Sunday memory

🐟 Hake KOKOTXAS – Rebosado style, wild garlic cracker, gelatinous bliss

🥄 CAVIAR – Pork fat emulsion, smoked pearls, and goat milk butter

🍄 Cardoon & Black TRUFFLE – Marzuelos mushrooms in broth worth bathing in

🐟 Sea BREAM – Grilled with finesse, sour restraint, and yes… the eye

🥩 CHORIZO Tartar – A raw pork tartare sandwiched between Basque talos

🥩 Beef CHOP – Txuleta from “Marilyn Monroe,” rare, warm, and unforgettable

🍨 Reduced milk ICE CREAM & beetroot – Smoky, earthy, ice-cold perfection

🍫 Chocolate SOUFFLE – Airy, rich, sweet, and intentionally “too rare”

🧀 Cheese FLAN – A warm, naked ode to Basque cheesecake without flour

🛋️ Upstairs at Etxebarri – Private rooms, wooden tables, and feeling at home

🧠 First Times – What stays with you when everything is done just right

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🎙️ EP143 – Eric visited a foie gras facility. What he saw wasn’t what you'd expect. This episode is about what it means to kill, eat, and stay honest about both.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🦆 What is Foie Gras? – The duck breeds and strange logistics behind it

📦 Born in Spain, Shipped to France – Why marketing determines birthplace

🌾 Duck Life – 90 days of freedom, feeding, and finality

🍽️ Force-Feeding Explained – What Eric actually saw (and didn’t)

⚡ Conscious Slaughter – Electricity, bleeding, and respect

🪷 Ritual vs Cruelty – Saying a prayer before each kill

🪓 Lobsters, Langoustines & Knives – Why killing still haunts professional chefs

🔋 Duck Poop Power – How a slaughterhouse fuels itself with methane

😶 “I Don’t Want to Know” – Phil’s takedown of meat ignorance

📚 Cookbook Censorship – The chicken photo that made readers sad

🎯 Know Your Food – Why cooking starts with understanding your ingredients

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🎙️ EP142 – The Rise of the Basque Cheesecake. On the road to Etxebarri, Eric chats with José Pelares—chef, entrepreneur, and founder of LA VASCA, Colombia’s cult-favorite Basque cheesecake brand. From nostalgic late-night cheesecake sessions in San Sebastián to adapting the classic recipe for a new audience, the two dig into what makes this dessert so addictive.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🍰 The Cheesecake Origin Story – How a late-night craving turned into a brand

🇨🇴 Exporting Flavor – Bringing Basque cheesecake to Colombia

🧂 Salt > Sugar – Why the best cheesecakes aren’t that sweet

🍪 Cookie Base Controversy – Breaking tradition or improving it?

🐐 Mamia & Sheep’s Milk – Basque desserts in all their minimal glory

🍠 Sweet Potato, Matcha & Dulce de Leche – Remixing the recipe

💡 Tips for Home Bakers – How not to mess it up

🧀 Cheesecake Cheese? – From secret cheeses to white mold crusts

🍷 Pairings We Love – From Sauternes to Pacharán

📈 Going Viral – Runny centers, arepa confusion, and social media gold

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