Alberto Chicote: "Sweets drive me crazy but I can't eat them because I'm diabetic"

There is something in Alberto Chicote, in his way of communicating, of speaking, that reminds me of neighborhood kids. A title that he wears with pride, because it is there, in Carabanchel, where he learned to stand up to life, thanks to the freedom that his parents gave him to choose what he wanted to be when he grew up. Years later, he managed to become one of the most beloved chefs on television.

Loved for his work in a world, that of gastronomy, in which he has made viewers passionate about his way of expressing himself. Not only that, Alberto Chicote is in the news today because during the pandemic he has written a book, 'Resistance Kitchen' (Planet), in which he introduces thoughts, experiences about his most personal life.

The resistance to Covid has led many to get into the kitchen like Santa Teresa de Jesús. The idea was not to write a book, the idea was that during confinement I tried to respond to the people who wrote to me and told me that they had to cook day and night, and they did not know what to do. And I began to remember what I cooked at home.

"My memories are related to food and nutrition"

You have gone further. I have valued the essential things, although when rearranging it, I realized that moments, people, stories, reflections, that I had to tell, accumulated in my memory. I showed it to friends and they all agreed that they liked to know such things.

Memories that have marked his life. For me, they are related to food and nutrition. There's more, when one publishes a recipe and the photograph is amazing, in the end, that's a barrier because there are readers who think that the dishes will never be the same. And we found a way that I am very satisfied with.

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What does it consist of? We are looking for a photographer, Heva Hernández, who likes to cook. She cooked the recipes as I told them to her, and she photographed them. They appear in the book, and so people see that the dishes are the same, not as perfect as if I had made them, but the same.

In these recipes, bet on the basics: legumes, fish… It is what I consider the bottom of the fridge, it consists of having a wide variety of those foods that you are going to consume, because if you are going to cook a lot you do not want to eat the same thing every day. What do I do to take advantage of everything and not throw anything away? If I roast 6 peppers, I put two in a salad, and I keep the others, that way I make better use of the cost of the oven to make more quantity. I do the same with lentils.

"I have very little time to cook at home"

Have they told you that it's very neat? Yes, of course, since I have very little time to cook at home, I do the shopping, then I take out what I need. In the freezer the food can last you a couple of months, except for the lentils. Not because they don't last but because they last four or five days in the fridge.

What should I eat to be healthy? Seasonal vegetables, fish, red meat at least, but I save it for special moments. Hardly any sweets because I'm type 2 diabetic, they drive me crazy, but I can't eat them.

How have you managed to lose so much weight? Not being a specialist, I preferred to put myself in the hands of a good nutritionist. My doctor told me: you have to eat five meals and not skip any. You can't go to any of them hungry. What do I take? A lot of vegetables, things without fat, grilled, I don't eat pasta or rice because I'm diabetic. That's why there are no carbohydrate recipes in the book.

Has he gained weight during confinement? No, because I ate what was always eaten at my mother's house.

Alberto Bernardez

What flavors does she remember from her adolescence?The most important ones are associated with people, not because Purita's donuts are the best I've ever eaten, they were the ones we made when she came down to my house. These are things that stick with you, like mothers' cooking, which is not always the best, but it is the one we remember most fondly. It is the taste and smell that we have stuck in our hard drive.

Have men replaced women in home cooking? I have my theory: in home kitchens, women were the ones in charge of gastronomy because of those roles where the man went out to work and the woman stayed home. House. My mother said that she was not a housewife but a domestic engineer. In contrast, professional chefs were always men. When women enter the world of work, it is the woman who flees from these established roles.

"Whoever cooks cooks, the important thing is that they cook more at home"

Has it been a great liberation? Without a doubt, it is when the man discovers that cooking is not only for women, and he takes it as a hobby. A place to be, but like I cook paella on Sunday.

It is a way of valuing women's work. The good news is, whoever cooks cooks, the important thing is that more cooks at home, because it is good for the family, for those who cook, for those who have a good time, and at a general because as long as food is healthier in society, it will be good for all of us, because it is related to living better.

With confinement do we value food more? Of course, many people who refused to cook due to lack of time and bought pre-cooked food, suddenly discover that they can cook and have a good time.

Anyone know how to cure an earache? I'm dying over here 😭

— del-me 🇧🇿 Fri Dec 15 02:50:59 +0000 2017

Television has helped a lot. Because it brings society very close. When we premiered 'Nightmare in the kitchen', in 2012, all cooking programs were educational. Suddenly 'Nightmare in the kitchen' arrives, and other programs begin to appear that make people feel closer to the kitchen. Even the kids see it as entertainment.

Alberto Bernardez

How have you lived this last year? Terribly, you can't live any other way. Since March 13 of last year when we decided to close the restaurants out of responsibility, we have been very scared, especially since there are many employees who depend on this business. From being working very well to suddenly, this falls on us.

Optimistic about the future? I don't see it at all clearly. I dare not say that in summer this will have happened. I prefer not to make predictions because so many times we have thought that this was going to end, that I only hope that we will improve.

"With the Covid, they blame the hotel industry for all the ills and I don't know why"

Yakitoro closed. Yes, now my wife and I are dedicated to Puertalsol, which is only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, because we have no other option, a few days to keep the staff, imagine how complicated it is.

The hotel industry is one of the most affected. They blame us for all the ills, and I don't know why. When I see people in a restaurant, everyone wears their mask, and if there are ten tables with four people each, they are easier to control than if they are at home, where they relax and where the police cannot enter.

Don't you think there are too many bars and restaurants? The world is going to change, if after what has happened and we are going through we don't learn anything, we're screwed. When they tell me that everything is going to return to normal, I answer them: no, please, let it not go back to the way it was before.

What should change? Many things. I told my cooks the other day: the mask is here to stay, because if what we have suffered, with the thousands of people who have died, if we have not learned, general and particular, I do not know what has to happen plus.

And on a culinary level? Cuisine is always changing, because through food we learn many things about the towns, about the people. What we understand today as traditional cuisine was once avant-garde. For that I am quite commercial.

And is that good or bad? I understand that a restaurant is there to satisfy the customer, I make dishes that I'm fed up with, but since the public demands them, I have to keep cooking them. I prefer to trust the needs of the public than fashion. I've always thought about it because of the type of business I have.

Alberto Bernardez

What scared you the most about the pandemic? That my parents and my mother-in-law would get infected. Thank God the three of them are very responsible, but they are older, and they saw how older people died on TV every day, and that worried us and scared us a lot. When they couldn't leave the house, we brought them food and left it at their door. That's what we had to do, but now that they are vaccinated we can have the pleasure of eating with them.

And as a couple, how have they been? After spending nine years without setting foot at home, spending two thirds of the year recording abroad, suddenly meeting my wife for three or four months has allowed us to do a lot of things that we didn't do

"I was really looking forward to home"

Like what? We got up early, we did things around the house, because we had moved three years ago and we had a lot of unopened boxes. In the afternoon he painted, read, did a little exercise and after dinner, to rest.

That's life. It's also true that I was very anxious about home. Ignoring the terrible situation, I admit that we had a good time.

Haven't you thought about new projects? A good thing about wasting time is that you can dedicate yourself to thinking, planning... Don't forget that my wife and I left everything in November of last year, and most of this time we have spent to think about what we are going to do.

Alberto Bernardez

And what are they going to do? Set up a business because we have it in our veins. We do not do it out of necessity but for pleasure. I have another job, which is on TV, where I'm doing very well...

Was it difficult for you to manage her fame?I was clear about the things in my life that I wanted to preserve. The most important ones, the people you love and who love you, and since popularity caught me a little older, I kept doing almost the same as I did before.

A pending subject? Having children, but I have a grandson.

A grandson? It belongs to Inma's daughter, for whom I am her granny.

My favorite photo

Assigned

"I like this photo because my wife took it for me one day when there was no one in La Granja, Segovia."

Who is Alberto Chicote?

He was born in Madrid, in the Carabanchel neighborhood, on June 23, 1969.

Career He has been interested in cooking since he was very young. At the age of 17 he entered the Higher School of Hospitality and Tourism at the Casa de Campo in Madrid. For 10 years he worked in luxury restaurants such as Zalacaín or Mar de Alborán in Malaga. He was one of the first to mix Spanish and Japanese food. After passing through 'Nightmare in the kitchen', he has shown that he was born to cook on and off screen. He has presented the 'Top Chef' contest, on Antena 3, with great success, in which prestigious chefs participated, in addition to starring in documentaries such as 'The price of food', 'The myth of food', 'Diets under examination', among others. His most personal project is his Puertalsol restaurant, on the 5th floor of El Corte Inglés in Sol, Madrid. During the Covid he has written 'Resistance Kitchen', Editorial Planeta.

Family For years he has shared his life with Inmaculada, a professional partner.

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