If it weren't for the fact that he is a self-confessed atheist and that his faith in the devil does not go beyond
diabla sauce
, we would think that, like
Dorian Gray
, he has made a pact with the devil to be more active and younger than ever. But no,
Abraham García
(Robledillo, 1950) does not keep his portrait in Viridiana's cold room, the restaurant that he opened almost 43 years ago with a kitchen "alien to the
fickle weather vane
of fashion", the motto of the house. "I do not deny the active thing, but the young ...", replies the cook, already dressed for work: apron, cloth at the waist and rubber clogs, not because
age
hurts
, but the hours that pass from foot.
These days he is
more disbelieving
than ever. Perhaps they are the full years - in April he was 71 - perhaps the steep
slope of the pandemic
that, without being a siren, has brought
echoes of retirement
to his head
. "Here, we are, waiting for someone to come with a good proposal," he announces, although we do not know if the one who speaks is the
sly Abraham
, the one who does not
mince words
, both or neither.
In any case, there is no
more fruitful wait
than that shared with the ingenious nobleman Abraham García in Viridiana (Juan de Mena, 14. Tel .: 91 523 44 78), surrounded, among other things, by frames from the film of the same name of Buñuel.
Conversationalist
agile verb, rotund and chisposo
;
philosopher in cooking and life;
frank writer
;
first self-taught apprentice, then master against the current and generous sage;
Writer;
movie buff (and even occasional actor);
lover of horses and,
above all, cook
... This is Abraham, that little boy who almost six decades ago left Robledillo,
in the mountains of Toledo
, to escape poverty and came across the kitchen.
The cook on the stove and ready to cook.
Carpet of lamps, what comes to mind? Emotion and memories. In my town, when you left, the neighbors would go out to say goodbye to you at dawn with the light of the lamps. At that time, joy flooded me because I was leaving a life of hardship ... And with that joy, she landed in the madriles and started as a dishwasher. Had your culinary vocation been born? I arrived in Madrid at the age of 13, excited and dazzled, I came from a town with few inhabitants in those harsh years of a Spain that was also very harsh. I fell into gastronomy as I could have done in something else. How curious! I started working in a restaurant that was on the same street where we are today. Random things. At first, she didn't have a vocation, but over time it became a profession, and she felt that her thing was cooking ...He passed through well-known establishments of the time and, finally, Viridiana arrived. There they are both, forever couple? We are like all marriages, soluble. I'm waiting for someone to come up with a good proposal, ha ha ha. I dream of retiring, which comes from joy. Will none of his children follow in his footsteps? Well, you will know that they do not have much vocation. Nor would I want them to follow in my footsteps. I think the Garcia saga has already fulfilled with the kitchen.I think the Garcia saga has already fulfilled with the kitchen.I think the Garcia saga has already fulfilled with the kitchen.
Surrounded by frames from the movie 'Viridiana'.
And go if it has fulfilled.
Right from the beginning, his cuisine, tasty, honest, free, with clear flavors and mishap, made the difference in a Madrid tavern and restaurants of Basque-French cuisine.
Father of fusion in Spain
, although he denies it
- "if anything, because of his age, grandfather"
- he was a pioneer in bringing together ingredients that until then had never been cooked together here and that he
brought with him on his travels
.
"I am not the father of anything
. The
miscegenation
already came with the caravels. I only brought products that were not known here, such as
cuitlacoche
, fresh chili, curry, and he works them.
Today, the panorama is different
, you go to market and you find a lot of fresh products from Peru, from Mexico ..., but then I would bring them in my suitcase ".
Self-
taught
("I barely studied when I was little, but over time I was filling myself with knowledge") he learned in his travels and in books (for example, from
Motiño and Granado,
cooks from the Spanish Golden Age, "who speak not only the great Spanish pantry; also its culinary wealth "), he investigated on his own and
brought new air
to the national gastronomy.
Are you an innovator who
rejects avant-garde techniques
and trendy gastronomic trends? "It is not that I refuse technology, welcome is the thermomix, but I like
the product and work it with my hands
, and
sophistication
, the right ones". Or none and far from the fashions. As Buñuel, the
genius of Calanda
, used to say, "fashion is a herd, the interesting thing is to do whatever you want." "Yes, I subscribe to it", adds the cook. And those are always Abraham, whom the anticlericalism of the
Viridiana
of
Buñuel
(1961 film premiered in Spain in 1977) inspired the name of his home.
Abraham, at the door of his restaurant located near the Retiro.
In love with local raw materials before we knew what it was, he
goes to the market
every
day
- "for me it's life" - eager for seasonal products to arrive because
"I don't understand cooking without them
. there are other styles, but this is the one that I have grown up with and have lived with. "
A style that even had
a
Michelin
star
(1983) and that, as they say,
took
a year to
get rid of
. "The stars carry a tower of complications that it is better to do without. Luckily, I work in
Madrid, an open city
that has an audience for everyone. Of course, if you are in the deep province, the star saves your life. But, well, we are here and it is clear that you can
survive without it
. "
Perhaps the red guide bypasses Viridiana, but not her
parish
, faithful, does not.
"Yes, we have many clients - some of whom we share in our age - who were already visiting us at
the old location
[Calle Fundadores, in the Ventas neighborhood]. What happiness! Sometimes, as the years weigh on, I
recognize them by their voice
. .
Abraham's famous eggs on mushroom and truffle mousse.
And the youth? Do they also come in? Yes, but less. That worries me, I think that soon the time will come to pack up, because at some point people will look for other affinities. I'll cook once a week for friends or ... I don't know. It is difficult for me to absolutely divorce the kitchen. It will be like that girlfriend who has abandoned you and that you see from time to time ... Well, until "the girlfriend leaves him", how is your day to day? It starts soon, I go to the market, always around eight, I arrive at the restaurant, we prepare the food and ready for the service. Sometimes the after-meals are prolonged and the last desserts come out at half past five, and at half past seven you have to be back. A pain in the ass, this is my life, like that of all cooks. What is missing in today's kitchen? Good sense, although we are on the right track.And what is left over? A large number of diners looking for the photo and not the essence of the dish. I like to cook for people who appreciate what I cook, because you don't play games with food. I remember the praise of a lady, from table 26, who told me one of those days when everything works and goes smoothly: "Look, I would eat with your spoon." Is there anything that resists you? impossible love ... People don't usually order dessert anymore. What is Viridiana's current offer? We worked on the menu, before we changed it every month, but it was a bit crazy. Now we go with the seasons and, of course, we have onethat he told me one of those days when everything works and comes out rolling: "Look, I would eat with your spoon." Is there anything that resists you? Pastry is an impossible love ... People don't usually order dessert anymore .What is Viridiana's current offer? We worked on the menu, before we changed it every month, but it was a bit crazy. Now we go with the seasons and, of course, we have onethat he told me one of those days when everything works and comes out rolling: "Look, I would eat with your spoon." Is there anything that resists you? Pastry is an impossible love ... People don't usually order dessert anymore .What is Viridiana's current offer? We worked on the menu, before we changed it every month, but it was a bit crazy. Now we go with the seasons and, of course, we have one
para-letter
because the market offers so much that you have to give it. Some time ago I included tasting menus, but I don't like them. I prefer to choose what I eat and I think customers do too. Do you handle social media? No, but if I have problems handling mobile phones ... Have you ever used the right of admission? Some of those have passed through here that Emil Cioran [writer and philosopher of Romanian origin] said that "God could not take care of them without losing their innocence" and there have been no more eggs to serve them. I wish one could not do it ... I am not going to give names, but there is each one ... With the new Covid measures in the Madrid hospitality industry, capacity, diners are expanded ... Let's talk about the pandemic The number of dining rooms is significant, some magnificent, which have disappeared. Well,It can be said that it is the law of the jungle, that those who had a more just economy disappear and that the places, so necessary and defensible, that they do have had better luck. The hospitality industry here has fared very badly, but Madrid had and perhaps still has a somewhat excessive offer: there are more restaurants than customers. It seems almost miraculous that we survive and that sites continue to open up. It strikes me that there are still hopeful or naive people.It seems almost miraculous that we survive and that sites continue to open up. It strikes me that there are still hopeful or naive people.It seems almost miraculous that we survive and that sites continue to open up. It strikes me that there are still hopeful or naive people.
Stewed lentils with mild curry, another classic of the La Mancha chef.
And, although he is not naive, he also wants to leave the
worst moments
behind
.
"It is very difficult to maintain a restaurant like Viridiana, on which 16 people depend, and whose clientele comes
mostly from tourism
. Well, they say that this is going to get better ...", he comments with a hint that seems incredulous.
Meanwhile, Abraham follows Pessoa's maxim - "put how much you are in the least you do" - in the kitchen,
in his books
, in his articles (a regular contributor to the press, including EL MUNDO for many years) ... Or when he narrated for a Spanish station
the horse races of half the world
, from Kentucky to Naples to La Zarzuela, without hardly knowing English: "It is said that Spanish is spoken in kitchens and at races, and it is true." Perhaps there his
fondness for hats was born
- he has more than 100 - which he wears with a style that only Humphrey Bogart overshadows. "Maybe I wear it to hide bad ideas," he says with a smile on his face.
Master of
hunting and offal cooking
and creator of
emblematic dishes
, one and a thousand times replicated such as eggs with mushroom and truffle mousse and curried stewed lentils, he hides some brilliant as his Bordeaux lamprey (in season), served with sweet corn tamales and a
poblano mole sauce
.
"It seems to me a well-resolved example of fusion in which
even Cunqueiro would have dipped bread
".
Divine snack signed by an atheist who does not doubt.
"Once, during a dinner party with a Mexican scientist who was nominated for the Nobel Prize, who in the end was not given it, I asked him between tequila and tequila if he believed ... He told me: 'No, but I'm afraid'".
-And you have it?
-We all have it, but, come on, I can't see myself calling a confessor.
I don't even believe in myself ...
A very young Abraham among saucepans.FAMILY ALBUM
SIX QUICK QUESTIONS
A book.
"
Signs that will precede the end of the world
, by Yuri Herrera".
A song.
"Two,
Knockin 'on Heaven's Door,
by Bob Dylan, and
Piensa en me
, by Luz Casal".
A movie.
"I have a weakness for my colleague Almodóvar and my missed Berlanga, but today I am going to play at home and I will remember
Buñuel's
The Forgotten
".
A dish.
"The stew of his mother,
the Dioni
".
Something pending to fulfill.
"Some more year."
What other life would he have liked to live.
"Not the same one, of course. Fortunately, books have allowed me to live many."
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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