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María José San Román, chef at the Monastrell restaurant, recognized with a Michelin Star since 2013, shares her relationship with olive oil and tells what it brings to her kitchen.
What can you tell us about EVOO and haute cuisine?
For me, frankly, EVOO has meant everything. Haute cuisine is highly linked to quality, to the best products, to the care of raw materials. Talking about Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is talking about Quality. If I want to talk about haute cuisine, I have to talk about extra virgin.
What does having a guide to the best international olive oils mean for gastronomy?
For those who are not so informed about the quality of the oils, which are the vast majority, a guide is as important as a wine guide. A jury is the expert and the one who objectively decides which EVOOs are the best.
Every year the quality of some oils varies and that is why continuous evaluation is so important. It is important that the government is involved in this, and I am glad that in the ESAO Guide, the Ministry awards are considered.
What are the greatest advantages that you see in EVOO so that it can be the protagonist in some elaborations?
It is without a doubt the best fat. As each variety has different structures and their organoleptic characteristics become so different, they help a lot in the elaborations.
After much research you see how with a potato, for example the EVOO you use can turn it into an unbeatable potato.You discover how with EVOO, you can have the perfect pairing. It is the perfect match for many dishes and many other products, and this is unknown by great chefs.
The high quality EVOO enhances the product tremendously and can change the production in a positive way.
María José San Román. Imagen ESAO Guide
What are the biggest difficulties that you see for a high quality EVOO so that it can be introduced in the best restaurants?
Unfortunately, chefs are used to very cheap refined oils, from seeds.They do not care about the nutritional table of the EVOO. It is a great cultural problem, there is a deep ignorance. When they see the prices of EVOO, they back down, but with champagne they do not question whether or not it is expensive. The type of packaging is also a difficulty. A restaurant cannot buy 500-liter containers. It is imperative that there is a more sustainable, ecological and economic system. The horeca channel must have its 20 liter containers, or 25 liters of EVOO, like other fats that are sold in these formats.
What is your opinion about the little training of chefs in olive oil?
It makes me very sad, very sorry and shows the banality that many times exists. Food is essential. EVOO is one of the most important raw materials in Spanish gastronomy. It is a question of gastronomic illiteracy.
Do you think the awards help cooks when choosing to buy a brand of oil?
Yes, because the experts do quality controls and that way we see that they are guaranteed.
How do cooks value the quality of extra virgin olive oils for some time now? How has the evolution been?
Evolution is taking place in young people. You have to invest in young people, where I have obtained more performance from my lectures, has been in them.
Young people do listen. Consolidated chefs do not listen and do not accept advice
What are your biggest concerns related to virgin olive oil right now?
The eevos, you have to take care of them, that they do not get light, that they do not freeze, the evoos do not improve over time, packaging is essential and keeping them at a good temperature.
Any product and more if it is of high quality, you tend to take care of it, and the EVOO must be taken care of.
What would you say to all those producers to encourage them to continue betting on the quality of their EVOO?
I would tell them that there is no other way. You have to bet on the quality of the olive oil, and I would even say that the best way is to search for an evoo in an ecological environment. The olive grove is not only the olive tree, diversity and sustainability is now more than ever prevailing.
What is the value that the work you do with olive oil brings to your restaurant?
It gives me everything. I am the queen of EVOO, in my house... there is no sunflower oil, it does not exist. For me it gives me tremendous personal satisfaction, although now other more banal things applaud you... What I do is healthy, sustainable cuisine. I eat here and I take care of myself.
* This conversation is an extract of the ESAO GUIDE, 2020/21 Edition. You can check the current guide here.
This guide collects the extra virgin olive oils awarded in the three most important competitions in the olive sector. In the ESAO GUIDE you can find: