Paco Roncero: “In my house we don’t have a dining table”

In “Sublimotion”, Paco Roncero runs one of the most expensive menus in the world, but he is dying for a plate of salad and a flan from his mother. Because to break the rules and be at the forefront, you have to know the tradition by heart and be a wizard of “chup chup”.

And he is one of those. He is also capable of going viral by making a sandwich on YouTube, breaking audience ratings in Latin America and participating in marathons because, despite trying everything – well, everything, not everything, he doesn’t like oysters, – it’s pure fiber.

In front of the Casino de Madrid and about to open «Seeds», his new restaurant, with him, Paco Roncero.

Much simpler than all that: Consistency and health, and I try to make that prevail in my life.

He is the creator of a viral sandwich on YouTube. When you started on this, did you imagine that these things could really happen?

If I had known as many things as I know now when I started, the magic would have been lost and that sandwich would not have half the oil or grace that it does.

What is the secret to get your “punch” in networks?

Do they have a punch? I’ve never considered it. They are personal networks where I only try to show a small part of my random day to day.

He is the creator of the most expensive menu in the world at the “Sublimotion” restaurant when his mother was the queen of the humble Russian salad. Has Mari Paz ever said to you, “Paco, darling, don’t go overboard …”?

My mother, like all, proud of her son. She is naturally enjoyable, she has done it in «Sublimotion» and every time she cooks her delicious salad for me, although I eat it more when I eat it as well as her flan with holes, I cannot forget to mention it, they are things that I love.

Gold does not taste like anything and yet there are those who put it everywhere. Fashion, tacky, show?

I want to think that whoever puts it does it with a meaning and if not, there is plenty. It is clear that in those cases it is pure ornament.

Are Michelin stars like a whip that only serves to flail itself?

On the contrary, they are a constant motivation. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a person of challenges and we work very hard, as a team, every day, to achieve them.

The preparation of your dishes requires a previous study, confess that on more than one occasion you have not said to yourself: “if I find out, I’ll put a bar of bravas and calamari a la romana.”

And how delicious those bravas and squid! There are times for everything. But studying both what is on the plate and around it, I am passionate about it.

If I want to look great next Christmas and I tell you I’m going to spherify the turkey, what do you say?

Completely unnecessary, experiments never with the family at the table … Better make your traditional recipe, the one that comes out so delicious. For another time.

Thigh or breast?

Wings and if they are barbecued and previously marinated, they have no competition.

Sweet or salty or umami?

Why choose?

Paco Roncero

Tell me, can classic be modern?

It is not easy but it is possible; I invite him to «Seeds», the new restaurant that we open in January at our school, MOM Culinary Institute, and he tells me about it.

You have to choose a lesser evil: carbohydrates, salt or fat?

I do not see the lesser evil in any of the three, as I began by saying, I consistently stay with all three. Necessary and irreplaceable.

That food that, no matter how expensive it is to you, hey, neither fu nor fa.

Oysters would be a good example of that claim.

Tell me about that dish that is bullshit but that drives you really crazy.

Some fried eggs with potatoes.

Did his mother force him to eat vegetables or was he the typical weirdo who liked artichokes and chard?

They forced me to confess it, why deny it and make me pass as an exemplary son?

In the blacksmith’s house, a wooden knife? That is, 8-hour reduction broth or a little Avecrem pill and walking?

The doubt offends, I love to cook at home, over low heat, without haste. We do not have a dining table in the living room, it is in the kitchen itself, sharing around a good table is irreplaceable.

A menu to fall in love with.

A good raw material, just a touch of cuisine and a lot of passion.