Professeur de Cuisine

PRESS Report about and by ECKART WITZIGMANN

Food in Life-Turkey 2017

How did you decide to be a chef?

I was always impressed as little boy, visiting the grand hotels in my hometown Bad Gastein and my desire was to grow up and to work in later times in such a hotel. The other, much bigger influence was created through my mother, she was a wonderful cook. With small budget, she created fantastic dishes and I fell in love with the smell and taste of her kitchen.

What is your culinary style? How did you improve it?

To establish an own style, you need a lot of time. Because it makes only sense, if your style is novel. My goal was always to create my own style. But first you have to learn from the best chefs, try to get as much knowledge as possible, and start this adventure...

You are named as the "chef of the century". What are your feelings about it?

I´m very proud and thank full that I have the honor to bear this title, especially as there are only three more cooks who carry this title. 

What do you think about the importance of Michelin stars?

People need lighthouses to explore the culinary world, a kind of road map for culinary exploitation. Therefore the Michelin is incredible helpful.

What is the concept of Hangar 7?

The basic concept sounds very simple: Bring the best Chefs from all over the world to Salzburg. This was the basic idea of Dietrich Mateschitz and I tried to help him out. A different top chef each month. It doesn‘t matter which continent or country they come from, whether it‘s the USA, South Africa or Japan. Or whether they serve traditional, fusion or molecular cuisine. What matters most is the variety. And, of course, the high quality of the dishes. The most amazing thing about the concept is, that gourmet’s don´t have to jet around to globe to get the best food from around the world. People have the chance to taste this international cuisine every single month at Restaurant Ikarus. This sounds very simple, but believe me, there is a lot of work to do in the background.

Since January 2014, the Ikarus Concept has been continued under the guidance of Martin Klein. Unique instead of mainstream, multi-faceted instead of simplistic, bold instead of boring, and cosmopolitan instead of narrow-minded will continue to be the motto under Martin. The result? Satisfied bons vivants who relish fine cuisine.

What do you think about Austria's and Germany's place among the world gastronomy?

When I started 1971 in Germany and Austria, this territory was not existing in the culinary world. After a sometime this changed, both countries are in the first row of fine dining now.

There are so many restaurants could be found in the World's 50 Best Restaurants List from Germany. What do you think about the fine dining of Germany?

There are German restaurants in this list, but I think Germany and Austria are under represented there. The level of the top restaurants in Germany is amazing high, they are competitive with the rest of the world. But I think it will take a bit more time to make the world notice this. 

Which one is more important: the techniques or the textures?

Both are important. Without one of this, nothing really works.

what are your suggestions to young chefs?

Work around the world and never stop learning. 

Do you have any future restaurant projects in the upcoming days?

In my age, you have to be very carefully with future projects. There are offers enough, but I am not in a hurry...

 

Gokmen Sozen

Maximilian Thomae

EPICURE Magazine - Singapore 2017

How have you seen the culinary world evolve in the years you've been active? 

In the beginning we were very inspired from French cooking. It was inevitable because we had in Germany nothing to compare with the great standard of french cuisine. In early seventies we organized car pools to go to France just tu buy herbes, créme fraiche and many of these things. It was not easy to create landscapes in blossom out of a culinary desert. However, I started to integrate in my kitchen the regional products growing in front of my front door. Today it changed completely, the regional food has become fashionable. Time before they threw 'stones' on me when I put on the menue 'offal' food, fish from the lake next door or 'sweet bread' as well.

Please touch on the food movements that are gaining momentum, where you see the international and Austrian food scene moving towards etc.

The constantly increasing number of two and three star cooks in Germany and Austria proves that something is going on in these places. I am sure that is not the end.

What specific challenges do chefs face in the very near future? 

Cooking at the highest level represents the pinnacle of the art of cookery. It is not only about enjoyment but also about issues that increasingly engage all of us: quality, sustainable management and a regional point of reference.

Chefs have a high level of responsibility. For this reason, all those who were honoured bear an important message: joy in the culinary arts is a crucial basis for the enjoyment of life. For all of us it is a heartfelt desire that children and young people learn this art of living from their parents and experience how important good and healthy nutrition is.

Eating and its rituals are an essential component of the culture we live every day. Cooking has been designed from time immemorial. It is always about the creative interplay between tradition and vision. As chefs, we need to keep posing ourselves this challenge in both a creative and a quality-conscious way. Our professional responsibility requires that we set standards. How believable and convincing we can be in doing so depends not least on the image of our profession in the public eye. And there’s still quite a lot to do here. What our industry has been lacking so far was an independent, as it were academic distinction committed solely to quality.

What significant trends do you see coming to the fore in 2018? Whether it’s a type of cuisine, a cooking philosophy, types of ingredients used, food technology, more pop-ups/XX-hands meals or chefs-in-residence concepts, or even the format and structure of a meal or layout of the dining room etc. 

Trends are like skirt and trouser lengths, which usually do not remain static for a long time.  Often a new idea is run through the roost and sometimes it is only a small talking point. The wareness that natural resources are neither inexhaustible nor capable of indefinite exploitation will become more and more important. If we manage our resources more carefully, find sustainable solutions to safeguard harvests, to produce food more sustainable and consume more sustainable, so we do not have to throw away our food.

Who would you say are the next 2 chefs who will make it big in 2018, or have impressed you greatly? Explain why you think they will make it big this coming year.

I prefer not to mention any names. I know these people very well, privately and in Business. Each of them is on his way just top.class.

How do you think restaurant's approach is sustainable long-term and applicable elsewhere in the world? How will this approach benefit chefs and the food scene?

We all have to contribute to weave a net of these factors: healthy agriculture, high quality products, halthy nutrition, traditinol though modern gastronomy on a broad scale, Haute Cuisine and academic study at the top form a field of operations wich we have to build and support, a field for wich we live and for wich we have to commit ourselves. In the midst of this field are the people fror whom we cook, especially the children.

What are your upcoming projects and initiatives for 2018 and beyond?

In my age (76), you have to be very carefully with future projects. There are offers enough, but I am not in a hurry...

Eunice Lew

World's 50 Best Restaurants on the occasion of the award for life's work, 2010

Eckart Witzigmann und Rainer Becker
Eckart Witzigmann und Rainer Becker

You worked for Paul Bocuse and other influential chefs- who was your greatest influence and why?

Great cooking is how many things in life, the quality and quantity what counts. I had the opportunity to learn from many 'chefs du rang' and increase my knowledge- only to mention some names Paul Haeberlin and Paul Bocuse. I believe that any normal cook is verifying his personal style from time to time, that is like a never ending evolution. For me personally, the product is what counts to a great extent, for me the quality of food is the real star and we should pay attention to this. Often I miss a certain respect to the gifts from mother nature.

How would you describe your approach to cooking-has it changed over the years?

In the beginning we were very inspired from French cooking. It was inevitable because we had in Germany nothing to compare with the great standard of French cuisine. In early seventies we organized car pools to go to France just to buy herbs, crème fraîche and many of these things. It was not easy to create landscapes in blossom out of a culinary desert. However, I started to integrate in my kitchen the regional products growing in front of my front door. Today I changed completely, the regional food has become fashionable. Time before they threw 'stones' on me when I put on the menu 'offal' food, fish from the lake next door or 'burger' as well.

You opened Aubergine in 1978 and had three stars in 1979- that’s one of the fastest every rises in the history of the guide-how did you feel at the time? 

 Just to be fair, I must admit, that I had at that time already two stars in the Tantris restaurant and then I was opening up at 1978 the famous "Aubergine". I felt the affirmation and reward for the hard work I did all years long. This feeling of happiness came with a certain time lag, because of the every day business and I felt like a marathon runner.

What restaurant do you currently run/oversee-are you still in kitchen everyday or have you stepped back?

When I stay at home, I do some cooking now; in restaurants I let the younger people go first. In the past few years I was consultant to several restaurants of Mallorca and Tokyo; and with the one and only 'Hangar-7 Conception' in Salzburg I was there from the very beginning. Since several years there exists an “Eckart Witzigmann Award” where not only newcomer and cooks with ambition were honoured, but also extraordinary personalities from the cultural scenery. To the winners belong such famous colleagues like Adria Ferran or Thomas Keller, the writer Günther Grass or the painter Tomi Ungerer.

Hangar-7 showcases guest chef-who has cooked their recently?

In April we have guests like David Higgs from Stellenbosch from South Africa, in June Nicolas Schneller and Supanut Khanarak from the Spice Market of the Four Season Hotels in Bangkok und in July we welcome Jordi & Joan Rocca, the new three stars heroes from Spain. In other words each month we have great guests from any angle of the world; each one of them is unique and different. This is a journey around the world in twelve sequences, without leaving the home country.

What’s exciting you at the moment in Germany-who are the chefs to watch?

In my opinion cooking and everything having to do with this, is a never-ending story. There is always something to discover some mysterious things. I reminds me to golf player who thinks, he is almighty and constantly he is faced with new situations. In addition to this comes the native curiosity; I am fascinated with kitchen abroad and the stuff what is in the pots all over the world.

I will not mention any names, but the constantly increasing number of two and three star cooks in Germany and Austria proves that something is going on in these places. I am sure that is not the end.

What do you see as your greatest achievement?

 I do not belong to these people who are proud of them selves; the others can judge me better. I am very proud of my culinary revolution in Germany and who is improving more and more. That is like a big avalanche who is not spreading fear or horror, but who takes us up with pleasure and good feeling, but all has not peaked yet.

You’re known to your protégés as the father of all chefs-why do they call you this and how are the best-known people you have trained?

I heard they call me 'mother of kitchen' in Germany, now they call me 'father'; it's nice. I always tried to pass on my knowledge to my colleagues and tried to help them where I can, even if they are already cooking at other locations. I do not like to keep my wisdom in a castle -tower or to treat it like personal property. It should belong to everybody. Wisdom only stands for power, if you have people who have the chance to participate. I prefer not to put up or raise some people or leave out the others, but we have a very long list to mention all these names. Representatively for all I should quote some names like: Harald Wohlfahrt, Hans Haas, Christian Jürgens, Andreas Mayer, Norbert Niederkofler, Johann Lafer or Alfons Schuhbeck. 

What single-piece of advice would you give a young chef starting out?

You should never give up, never stop learning or be satisfied enough. There is nothing left which can be improved more or a little bit more.

 

Joe Lutrario

Interview Rich-Magazin russia - April 2010

Interview Rich-Magazin russia, April 2010

You achieved a lot in cookery. How did you manage to be bracketed with Paul Bocuse, Joel Robouchon and Frédy Girardet ?

Is it all about talent, luck or hard work? Without any talent and luck, it is hard to achieve high performance, especially   when we talk about cooking. You need to have in addition a great extent of eager, creativity and endeavour.

You have successfully put into life a lot of important projects. What inspires you? How do you create ideas for new projects?

You should walk through life having always your eyes open and  constantly try to Improve things.

Tell us about your project IKARUS-Hangar 7. How do you choose chefs for it?

The ‚’Ikarus-Hangar 7 project’ is an idea from Didi Mateschitz and I was so lucky beeing asked from him first, whether I should become part of the project. There are no fixed rules for choosing each month the executive cooks, main thing is, whether they fit in the concept from ‚Ikarus’. There are 3 star cooks – for instance in July was Mr. Jordi and Joan Roca from Girona in Spain – as well as other special cooks who are actually focussed. Then Roland Trettl, chef de rang from Ikarus and myself are spoilt for choice. You can see the ‚Hangar 7’ concept also under another point of view. This restaurant saves you money and time to travel around the world and to see the best places.

What components does haute cuisine include?

In my opinion there are two different angles of view. One side is to take the best stuff, and ingredients, perfectly cooked and presented in an adequate frame. So ‚state of the art“ in all aspects. Haute Cuisine needs a professional audience who is able to differentiate and to spend a lot of money for that. That is the other part of the whole thing.

As far as we know, you’ve cooked for the Royal families of the Great Britain, Sweden, Morocco and for the world leaders. Are there any difficulties or peculiarities in cooking for such people?

I try to treat all guests in an equal way, whether they are nobleman, or rich people. Usually my guests are kings, prince or royals, but they are very pleasant people, who like to enjoy food and spend a wonderful evening.

Who is the most distinguished contemporary chef by your opinion?

I prefer not to mention any names. I know these people very well, privately and in Business. Each of them is on his way just top.class.

Our last traditional question… Your definition of luxury?

My greatest luxury is to have more time, more time for myself. You can only top this by enjoying having an ice-cold glass of champagne.