By
Dean
Irvine,
CNN
May
21, 2012 -- Updated 0305 GMT (1105 HKT)
Nouveau
Polish: A creation from the kitchen of chef Wojciech Amaro.
- Restaurant in Warsaw first in Poland to gain Michelin Rising Star
- Chef and owner Wojciech Amaro trained with Ferran Adria
- Emphasis in on the best ingredients from Poland
- Amaro wants Polish cuisine to have better international profile
(CNN)
-- To create the future of Polish cuisine, chef Wojciech Amaro looked
to the 16th century for inspiration.
During
a year-long odyssey to discover the origins of Poland's classic
dishes, the 40-year old chef tracked down food historians and visited
auction houses across the country to bid on dusty, leather-bound
tomes that held the secrets of traditional recipes and long-forgotten
ingredients.
"I
wanted to find the roots of recipes and what the original idea was
behind them," he says. "I realized I could talk for hours
about Polish
products,
but I couldn't think of any (Polish dishes) that would stand at the
same level."
Old
school perceptions that its all potatoes and cabbage are being
revised, but there are still suspicions.
Jan Woroneicki, restauranteur
Jan Woroneicki, restauranteur
The
spark for Amaro's desire to improve and update Polish cuisine was a
month spent working in the kitchen of El Bulli with Ferran Adria, the
culinary wizard who is often called the world's greatest chef.
Chef
Wojciech Amarao
"He
changed my way of thinking," says Amaro, who first began his own
epicurean education after dropping out of university to work in the
kitchens of London restaurants.
From
Bialystok in the east to Katowice in the south, Amaro racked up
60,000 kilometers on his journey that also led him to the country's
best farmers and food producers, many of whom are now suppliers for
Amaro's award-winning
restaurant
in Warsaw.
"Many
of them weren't aware of how great their products were. I took their
enthusiasm and passion and added it to my cooking. Some of them
struggled to keep up the standard that I needed, but they're growing
with me," he says.
Top
5 classic ingredients
Bison
grass
Saffron milk cup mushrooms
Polish goose
Venison
Wild honey As chosen by Wojciech Amaro
Saffron milk cup mushrooms
Polish goose
Venison
Wild honey As chosen by Wojciech Amaro
Atelier
Amaro has been open for less than a year but became the first Polish
restaurant to gain a "Michelin Rising Star", indicating
that Amaro is on the right track in his quest to elevate Polish
cuisine to a new international standard.
Amaro
puts an emphasis on ingredients and reconstructing dishes from their
essential elements, putting him in a similar mold as celebrated "food
scientists" like Adria, Britain's Heston Blumenthal or Rene
Redzepi of the Danish restaurant Noma that was recently voted
the world's best restaurant
for the third straight year.
At
Atelier Amaro, classic recipes like hare in cream are reimagined --
"we cook it for 72 hours at 65 degrees, so its more like fois
gras or butter and is eaten with a spoon" -- while the kitchen
is also a lab in which to experiment with Polish ingredients hardly
used anymore like chokeberries, wild herbs and edible flowers.
Top
5 Polish soups & stews
Flaki
Warsawa - a peppery beef and tripe soup
Barszcz - with fermented beetroot
Zurek - with fermented rye
Botwinka - early summer soup with baby beetroot and their leaves
Kwasnica - with sauerkraut and pork As chosen by Jan Woroniecki
Barszcz - with fermented beetroot
Zurek - with fermented rye
Botwinka - early summer soup with baby beetroot and their leaves
Kwasnica - with sauerkraut and pork As chosen by Jan Woroniecki
As
Poles becomes more interested in their culinary culture, Amaro
believes the time is now right for Poland to takes it place at the
table of internationally respected cuisine.
"We've
spent 20 years (since communism) catching up in every department of
life -- getting good jobs, starting companies, getting mortgages. Now
it's a new country and people are starting to say, 'What about Polish
products and our traditions?'
"We
can't be amazed anymore by pizza or some French dishes. We are ready
to search for our products and be proud of them."
Outside
of the country attitudes to Polish food have been slowly improving,
says restaurateur Jan Woroneicki, the British owner of London's
Baltic restaurant and bar.
"Old
school perceptions that its all potatoes and cabbage are being
revised, but there are still suspicions," he says.
"In
soups and stews Polish cooking is equal to or greater than other
cuisines, and generally quality is improving, but for restaurants it
can still be a bit tricky finding quality produce like charcuterie
and supply lines are not great."
Even
if Polish gastronomy doesn't challenge cuisine like Thai food as an
international phenomenon, Amaro hopes his restaurant can do for
Polish food what Noma has done for Nordic cuisine.
"Compared
to Denmark, Poland is much more diverse, so if we are wise and
careful about promoting Polish cuisine... we can be one of the most
influential and really big cuisines like French, Italian and Spanish.
There's lots of work to be done, but I think its going to happen."
At
Atelier Amaro, classic recipes like hare in cream are reimagined --
"we cook it for 72 hours at 65 degrees, so its more like fois
gras or butter and is eaten with a spoon" -- while the kitchen
is also a lab in which to experiment with Polish ingredients hardly
used anymore like chokeberries, wild herbs and edible flowers.
Top
5 Polish soups & stews
Flaki
Warsawa - a peppery beef and tripe soup
Barszcz - with fermented beetroot
Zurek - with fermented rye
Botwinka - early summer soup with baby beetroot and their leaves
Kwasnica - with sauerkraut and pork As chosen by Jan Woroniecki
Barszcz - with fermented beetroot
Zurek - with fermented rye
Botwinka - early summer soup with baby beetroot and their leaves
Kwasnica - with sauerkraut and pork As chosen by Jan Woroniecki
As
Poles becomes more interested in their culinary culture, Amaro
believes the time is now right for Poland to takes it place at the
table of internationally respected cuisine.
"We've
spent 20 years (since communism) catching up in every department of
life -- getting good jobs, starting companies, getting mortgages. Now
it's a new country and people are starting to say, 'What about Polish
products and our traditions?'
"We
can't be amazed anymore by pizza or some French dishes. We are ready
to search for our products and be proud of them."
Outside
of the country attitudes to Polish food have been slowly improving,
says restaurateur Jan Woroneicki, the British owner of London's
Baltic restaurant and bar.
"Old
school perceptions that its all potatoes and cabbage are being
revised, but there are still suspicions," he says.
"In
soups and stews Polish cooking is equal to or greater than other
cuisines, and generally quality is improving, but for restaurants it
can still be a bit tricky finding quality produce like charcuterie
and supply lines are not great."
Even
if Polish gastronomy doesn't challenge cuisine like Thai food as an
international phenomenon, Amaro hopes his restaurant can do for
Polish food what Noma has done for Nordic cuisine.
"Compared
to Denmark, Poland is much more diverse, so if we are wise and
careful about promoting Polish cuisine... we can be one of the most
influential and really big cuisines like French, Italian and Spanish.
There's lots of work to be done, but I think its going to happen."
