Joseba Arguiñano: "My father is not a tough boss, he is rather an encourager so that we do things well"

Joseba Arguiñano (Zarauz, Guipúzcoa, 1985) has inherited from his father his passion for gastronomy, his dedication to the kitchen, his culinary talent and also his media talent....

Joseba Arguiñano (Zarauz, Guipúzcoa, 1985) has inherited from his father his passion for gastronomy, his dedication to the kitchen, his culinary talent and also his media talent.

Even in his friendliness, in his gift of words and in his determination to tell jokes, he resembles his progenitor.

But what this restless young man most resembles to the renowned Basque chef on television is his physical appearance;

he is, simply, as if we were before a mini Karlos Arguiñano.

The occasion is the presentation at the family hotel-restaurant above the Zarauz beach of

Cocina con Joseba Arguiñano
, his first book with his favorite recipes

With a contagious smile and enormous self-confidence, the youngest of the seven children of the mediatic chef assures that these are easy dishes that he has learned on his various trips around the world while surfing and that anyone will be able to make.

Sweet, savory, traditional, exotic... "over 90 light-hearted recipes for any occasion," he says.

"Many I have discovered traveling, others are from my aunt Eva that have been made in our house all our lives and then there are those of the breads and doughs and the chocolates for special days".

Precisely, the latter reflect his passion: confectionery and baking.

After studying at the Aiala-Karlos Arguiñano family hotel school and training in restaurants such as Akelarre de Pedro Subijana and his father's, Joseba decided to dedicate himself more to confectionery, initially under the orders of his aunt Eve.

When she left the Zarauz restaurant to teach at the cooking school, the young chef became the establishment's pastry and bakery manager.

"I have learned that saltiness is important, as well as attention, but bread and dessert are fundamental and I try to reflect this in this book."

In addition to the book, he now daily collates his work at

JA, the workshop he opened ten years ago

in the Gipuzkoan town, with two gastronomic programs on Basque television and with the collaborations he does in

Karlos Arguiñano's Open Kitchen

, on Antena 3.

Joseba Arguiñano between his father Karlos and his aunt Eva in the kitchen of the Karlos Arguiñano Hotel Restaurant.

Does this book really have recipes for kitchen clumsy like me? Yes, they are for those who want to start what they can do and also for those who already know how to cook.

They are not the traditional recipes like those of the aita (father), those of a lifetime, those with a spoon... they are more special, informal and to share with colleagues or family but without getting too involved.

I see a lot of exotic ingredients... Yes, but there are none that are unknown that cannot be found here in supermarkets.

We are not going into esterifications, or crunchy, or foams from another world, or anything sophisticated, but there are dishes that have ingredients such as coriander, turmeric, black garlic... things that are not so typical in traditional cuisine but yes that today are very involved in restaurants and available to everyone.

What have you captured in this book from all your travels around the world? The tortilla chips with guacamole and the nachos that I discovered in Mexico, for example.

I love the cuisine of that country.

What product do they have, what fish, what fruit... so I've put recipes that I've tried there.

Also Italian, French, Peruvian that I have discovered when I have traveled and I have loved them.

I have not invented them, but they have been taught to me and I have given them my touch.

In the end, the kitchen is like an endless, you realize that the more you know, the less you know;

there are so many ingredients, so many ways to prepare the dishes... I wanted to capture a little bit of everything without getting too involved. What dish do you make most often at home? Well, for example, a ramen soup.

I do it many times.

I call it the Basque ramen, instead of putting so much soy and so much history,

I make it with a chicken broth, with mushrooms and a boiled egg and some sautéed spinach.

A soup comes out in a moment that raises the dead, gives energy, is healthy and very tasty.

I'm also very improvisational.

When my friends or my wife say that there is nothing to eat in the fridge, I see things.

For example, if there is rice, milk and sugar, there is rice pudding!

(laughs).

Joseba Arguiñano at the presentation of his book in Zarauz.

In which country have you eaten better? In Peru and in Mexico.

The food is extraordinary and the fresh produce is incredible.

The fruit melts in your mouth.

Eating a mango there, for example, is like eating a jam and that shocked me. Your family is an ode to gastronomy, is there a 'weirdo' that isn't dedicated to it? another brother who is a photographer and works in movies, but they are both very cooking, they like it a lot.

The rest of the family is involved in this world, because in the end there is no day without eating. At family gatherings, do you fight over who cooks? No (laughs).

On Sundays, almost all of us meet in the village of my parents.

Aita likes to go shopping, to the market and choose the genre;

she takes it home, prepares it and then the rest of us finish it off.

At the end,

each one does one thing... what's up today?

Chicken, well, you make the vinaigrette, I'll go with the scrambled eggs... and, pam, pam, in the end everyone does their thing and the food comes out together.

Is it hard to work with your father? No.

He is not a boss who tells you what to do and how.

He has always been an entertainer.

He encourages you to do things, to do them well, but he never gets in the way and leaves us to hit the wall so we can learn from failures.

He has never told us off.

For as long as I can remember, my father is famous and I don't know how things would be if he wasn't.

So my life is normal.

It is not a boss who tells you what to do and how.

He has always been an entertainer.

He encourages you to do things, to do them well, but he never gets in the way and leaves us to hit the wall so we can learn from our mistakes.

He has never told us off.

For as long as I can remember, my father is famous and I don't know how things would be if he wasn't.

So my life is normal.

It is not a boss who tells you what to do and how.

He has always been an entertainer.

He encourages you to do things, to do them well, but he never gets in the way and leaves us to hit the wall so we can learn from our mistakes.

He has never told us off.

For as long as I can remember, my father is famous and I don't know how things would be if he wasn't.

So my life is normal.

One of the recipes in the book: apple pie with tiramisu and lemon ice cream.

Ten years ago you became 'independent' and opened JA, your pastry shop.

How was the experience? When my aunt Eva left the restaurant to go to cooking school to teach, there was a natural change and I stayed as the head of pastry and bakery.

In the workshop we made everything (the puff pastry, the bread, the ice cream, the jellies...) and we served the restaurant, the school banquet hall, etc.

But during the winter months, when there is no tourism or vacationers, things were calmer and so I decided to open the pastry shop in the old town to give more outlets to our genre and so that the people of the town would get to know our product.

It's been open for ten years and now we serve our restaurants and others in the neighboring towns.

The success was such that I opened another store in San Sebastián and a market stall in San Martín,

also in San Sebastian. And would you dare to open in Madrid? I've already been told several times why I don't set up something in Madrid, but what happens is that our product is very fresh, very up-to-date and in the end, if you don't I control from the workshop, it is more difficult.

I never say no, because I throw myself into everything, but if Madrid opened we would have to have another workshop there and right now I have a lot of trouble here and I can't divide myself.

Although, I don't rule it out. Have you considered opening your own restaurant? Well, it hasn't crossed my mind for now.