Cooking is choosing: Two professionals discussing taste
Cooking is choosing: Two professionals discussing taste
What's so cool about a plate of forty flavors, twigs, bits of twig, weeds, and mousse here and there? That has nothing to do with taste anymore. What's left when you skewer all those little things? They're more like additions than flavors. Letting pure flavors shine. That's cooking. It's how you separate the wheat from the chaff. – Joris.
Joris Peters (43) has been the chef and owner of Restaurant Aan de Zweth in Schipluiden for almost 10 years. He was awarded a Michelin star in his first year. Joris is married and the father of two "rabbits." His wife is a speech therapist and a colleague of Peters's. The women speak to each other more often than the men.
A kitchen without herbs and spices is flavorless. You can't make a dish with just salt. My grandfather used to use heavier spices in his blood sausages at the slaughterhouse: juniper berries, cloves, black and white pepper. These days, the world is smaller, and fresh spices like saffron, vanilla, and fennel seed are also accessible.
Herbs and spices are so intertwined with the culinary world that you can't live without them. Every dish starts with flavor. When I think of a new dish, I think of herbs and spices. And even more importantly: balance. Every dish is a process that sometimes takes weeks. If you next level If you want to go all out, you apply different techniques to your herbs and spices. Roasting cardamom at 50°C produces a completely different flavor than roasting at 30°C. It's a matter of searching, experimenting, and creating perfection. And then Peter gets to taste the result.
“A kitchen without herbs and spices is tasteless”
Peter Dumont (59) has worked at Verstegen for over 25 years. As a picolier, he's a walking encyclopedia of herbs and spices. He knows exactly where everything comes from, how it grows, how to recognize quality, and how to create true flavor explosions. He greatly admires Joris's courage.
Taking over a two-star restaurant and achieving a star yourself within the same year is truly remarkable. That takes real courage. I thought it was remarkable that Joris took this step. Even better that he succeeded. Because our wives are colleagues, I hear about his successes. Of course, I enjoy joining him from time to time.
At Verstegen, we're constantly developing blends, tasting them, and incorporating them into dishes. What I try to teach students is developing your own flavor library. If you consciously smell, taste, and associate something with a specific dish, it's easier to remember. I recognize a good chef by their library. Their memory full of flavor memories. The more you remember, the faster you'll find a solution for your dish.
“Asparagus with salmon is no longer possible”
Peter: "As traditional chefs, we're not trained to cook entirely with vegetables. In fact, back in the day, you started as an apprentice on the entremetier side because vegetables were the least harmful, and the chef kept an eye on you from the other side of the stove. Now, stuffed peppers and fried cheese schnitzels are a thing of the past. The demand for high-quality vegetarian dishes and plant-based proteins is growing. A welcome shift in the context of sustainability, but also one that requires a lot of creativity from the chef."
Joris: "Ten years ago, plant-based cuisine seemed like a fad that would blow over. But asparagus with salmon is no longer acceptable. Veganism is a lifestyle we have to take seriously. While I personally love meat or fish, I also like to exceed the expectations of guests with different preferences. Secretly, I enjoy it too. It sparks my creativity. Herbs and spices play a key role in this. The perfect preparation technique really makes a difference with your vegetable dish. So much more is possible than with fish or meat."