David Andrés is crowned winner of the Spain-Portugal region with his dish of Bluefin Tuna
David Andrés has been crowned winner of the Spain-Portugal Young Chef competition and will be representing the Iberian region at the Grand Finale in Milan.
David Andrés, from restaurant ABaC in Barcelona, has been named the winner of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Iberian region (Spain-Portugal) 2017 contest in the global competition to find the best young chef in the world.
For a third consecutive competition Andrés has managed to overcome his peers in the local cooking competition, earning him a well-deserved place at the Grand Finale of the worldwide contest in May 2018 in Milan.
10 young chef finalists prepared their dishes live on 13 November in Madrid before an audience, and a jury made up of Spanish chefs Oriol Castro and Josean Alija, and Portuguese chef Henrique Sá Pessoa.
The trio of chefs assessed each of the dishes presented according to the five golden rules:
- ingredients
- skill
- talent
- presentation
- message
before announcing their final decision: “Having considered and assessed every criteria, we unanimously believed that he (David Andres) was the best candidate to represent Spain and Portugal” commented chef Oriol Castro.
Andrés’s winning dish was titled, “Making the most out of bluefin tuna”, in which the young chef sought to be sustainable by using every part of the tuna fish, even down to the bones, creatively using them as cutlery. Oriol Castro, spokesperson of the jury and mentor chef of the winner of this edition, highlighted that the dish David Andrés cooked was “well-balanced and expressive”, as well as “using parts of the tuna not typically used in cooking”.
Andrés’s winning preparation was conceived of two parts: a cold part, made up of bone marrow with seaweed, marine herbs and marine sea monk cress root, topped with cured sangacho (dark tuna meat) with kombu seaweed, and a warm part, made up of natural marrow with seaweed consommé, tuna tendo fritters, tuna-fat alioli with grated sea monk cress root and sea lettuce with tuna-head meat, with a little cooked tuna skin served skewer-style.
David Andrés, second chef at restaurant ABaC, is 30-years-old and was named S.Pellegrino Young Chef for Spain-Portugal in both the 2015 and 2016 editions. Before arriving at the two-Michelin-starred restaurant of Jordi Curz, where he served as a kitchen assistant, he honed his skills in other Meccas of Catalan cuisine like El Celler de Can Roca, Neichel and Hofmann. David Andrés is also the chef-owner of his own restaurant, Somiatruites, in his native town of Igualada and have been named in Forbes’s list of the 30 most exciting creatives under 30 in Europe.
Oriol Castro, a figurehead of the Catalan culinary scene will now serve as Andres’s mentor, guiding him on the journey ahead. Castro heads Michelin-starred Disfrutar (Barcelona) alongside fellow elBulli alumni Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas. Disfrutar is ranked 55 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, and was also named The Miele One to Watch.
The Spanish duo will have until May next year to perfect and hone all elements of the dish and Andrés’ presentation in preparation for their arrival in Milan.
The Grand Finale will take place in May 2018, when the 21 global finalists will face off in front of The Seven Sages – an international panel of some of the world’s best chefs who will be responsible for crowning the new S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2018.
