Chef Enrique Olvera, Pujol, Mexico City, Mexico.
The distinction is awarded to a chef or another gastronomical dignitary of international stature at the apex of his or her orbit, serving as a role model and inspiration within contemporary gastronomy, taking it forward – and beyond.
“For
having elevated Mexican classics and beloved street food to new heights,
bridging modesty and sophistication, hindsight and modernity – and for bringing
the rich spectrum of regional fare into the limelight, including indigenous and
ancient delicacies, whose secrets he has successfully unlocked.”
Mexican
food is a universe in itself, spanning a vast diversity of regional produce,
ingredients and traditions, some pre-Columbian. Yet, sophistication is not what
first comes to mind when imaging Mexican food, but rather frozen Margaritas,
nachos and guacamole, which may be more Tex-Mex than authentic Mexican. Enrique
Olvera is about to change all that. He successively re-defines and elevates
this ancient and rustic cooking into contemporary gastronomy, with full respect
for its roots and unique qualities. With a little tweaking from the inspired
hands of Chef Olvera the legacy of Mexican cooking plays out in new and
sometimes unexpected ways at his restaurants, especially at Pujol in Mexico
City. Based on his stock of native ingredients like heirloom corn, wild herbs
and greens, rare endemic seeds, nuts, chillies, and indeed insects like maguey
worms and flying chicatana ants, he is not only moving Mexican cuisine forward,
but expanding our notion of food itself.
Olvera's "mole madre" features a 1,000-day-old sauce.
A
hallmark of his cooking is recognizing street food as a major culinary asset.
By analyzing its flavours in-depth he unceasingly works on enhancing these
rustic dishes, sometimes to higher clarity, sometimes to deeper complexity.
Inspiration is right around the corner. Nowhere is the varied abundance of
regional Mexican food more evident than in the streets of Mexico City, today
the home of more than 22 million people from all over the country, all of them
bringing the flavours of their regions to their pots.
At
Pujol, his new restaurant in Mexico City’s elegant Polanco district – which is
strikingly modern in a Zen way and more casual than its predecessor by 16 years
– the signature dishes demonstrate Olvera’s longstanding commitment to
unlocking the secrets of regional Mexican “grandma cooking”. The tasting menu
opens up with some glorious street snacks, including smoked baby corn served on
sticks in a hollowed out gourd with a chilli mayonnaise, remark- ably deep in
umami from ant powder.
Smoked Baby Corn with Coffee Mayonnaise and Ant Powder at Pujol.
The
iconic highlight is the mole madre, essentially a mole negro that has been
cooking on Olvera’s stoves for more than 3 years – and still is, and which
continues to deepen in complexity. A triumph of flavour, it is presented in a
dark aromatic ring with a freshly made mole in the middle, both of which one
wipes up in hot hoja santa (“sacred leaf”) tortillas, and eats as tacos. In
Mexico a taco is not a dish, it’s a way of eating.
Chef
Olvera has described his mole madre as an organism: old, but alive and still
kicking. This is the perfect metaphor for Mexican cuisine itself.
The
award ceremony will take place at a special event in New York this fall.
Previous award
recipients:
2007:
Ferran Adrià, ElBulli, Roses, Spain
2008:
Charlie Trotter, Charlie Trotter’s, Chicago, USA
2009:
Fergus Henderson, St. John, London, UK
2010:
René Redzepi, Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark
2011: Alain Passard, l’Arpège, Paris, France
2012:
David Chang, Momofuko, New York, USA
2013:
Gastón Acurio, Astrid y Gastón, Lima, Peru
2014:
Massimo Bottura, Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy
2015:
Magnus Nilsson, Fäviken Magasinet, Järpen/Åre, Sweden
2016:
Dan Barber, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, New York, USA
By WorldChefs