The countdown to the end of the first-ever Sammic Scholarship for BasqueStage is now at a week! We know Tracy and Athena have put their blood, sweat and tears into their six-month stages here in the kitchen of Restaurant Martín Berasategui. So we were wondering, what are some of the moments, food, and memories that they will look back fondly on from the kitchen? Here’s what they told us:
Tracy’s favorite memory:
The every day surprises. spontaneous combustion? check. 4 ft long corvina? check. Pierre Hermé? check.
Her favorite dish:
If I only had one favorite dish, I wouldn’t be working here. Top three in no specific order: Salmonete con escamas comestibles: crispy, edible scales? Porfa! Or Pichon. No one makes it this tender, not Mugaritz, not Café Boulud, not Robuchon. Or Ensalada Tibia. No salad has ever made a wowing impression on me until this one.
Athena’s favorite dish:
It’s hard to choose a favorite, because the food’s all really good, but I have a soft spot for the pigeon dish. I spent a lot of time working on it, all the components are fabulous, the plate is beautiful, and the pigeon itself is the best I’ve ever tried.
Her favorite memory:
There’s so many! I’m hard pressed to choose one, but… okay, two. “Go Team Pigeon!”, an invention by myself, my friend Luis from Mexico, and Gustavo from Argentina, when we were all in charge of plating the pigeon. We worked really well together, had perfect communication, and were all really dedicated to food. We would make little post-it note signs, hide them in our pockets, and then every once in a while, the person holding the “Go” card would catch “Team”’s gaze, then “Pigeon!” would join the fun from across the partida. It was light-hearted and fun. I miss those guys.
The second favorite memory is probably all the time spent making squid ink raviolis with Gonzalo, our shared sarcasm and dark sense of humor. So many hours folding, so many faux conflicts, good times. If you’re going to be spending 17 hours folding cephalapod skin over frozen ink cubes, you might as well spend that time with someone you can converse with intelligently.