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Paco Morales's journey through the 17th century
The Noor chef sits down to talk about his latest journey through history and gastronomy
Paco Morales decided to sit down on the stage of Madrid Fusion Food from Spain and become just another diner at Noor***, his restaurant in Cordoba, to taste the menu of his eighth season. A course inspired by the Golden Age. Morales was not alone: he was accompanied by 16 members of his team, who presented a service while the chef ate and explained. "America and Asia have arrived in Europe and the Golden Age has arrived in the kitchen. I am inspired by these ingredients to make an Andalusian journey through North Africa," explained the chef from Cordoba.
"Noor cooks possible pasts," argued the chef as he tasted sheep's cheese with saffron or black bread toast with mole poblano and anchovy. "We have sharpened our minds," he commented. Before, when he and the historian Rosa Tovar were researching what was eaten in Andalusia from the 10th century to the present day, they had to discard some of today's everyday products to make the dishes because they were not common in the kitchens of the time.
"What we do now is put the ingredients into dialogue. There is acidity, frying, milk, saffron and a bit of umami. At the end there is an aroma," says the Andalusian chef, as a quail, a delicacy for the richest of the rich in those days, sits on the table.
"We love blood sausage, escabeche and almond slices, and we look for different textures," says Morales. "I'm very interested in making a baroque cuisine that isn't baroque, with lots of nuances that make you want to eat. I need to bring more dimensions to the palate," the chef sums up, with some peas with oysters and Lebanese wine on the table. If you think that Noor's Andalusian cuisine is finished with the 20th century, think again. There are still "a lot of old recipes" to revisit, "many ways of cooking and braising" to revisit. "We have left a lot behind and we can go back," he remarked. There is no end to the journey that began in the 10th century.
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