The session of presentations of the second day of the San Sebastián Gastronomika – Euskadi Basque Country Congress was closed by one of the great names in cuisine, Hilario Arbelaitz. The chef has spent half a century perpetuating a traditional cuisine but keeping an eye on contemporaneity. A presentation, sponsored by the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, demonstrating through his three dishes how the “turn of the wrist cuisine” never goes out of style.

Talking about Hilario Arbelaitz, means talking about Cuisine in capital letters, about tradition, cooking pots, stews and sauces, but also about how to make the family culinary legacy not lose relevance nor significance. Not even after over more than half a century of history, the amount of time the master has been at the helm of Zuberoa.

Ours is a natural cuisine, seasonal, coming from our mother’s recipe book; with stews and sauces”, outlines Arbelaitz. Adding, “we have enhanced and also updated it, and it has evolved… in fact, the cooking our mother used to perform is not the same as ours today, despite following the same recipe book. Firstly, because times have changed and secondly because the dishes have been refined and modernised”, pointed out Hilario alongside his brother José María, with whom he directs the kitchen at the restaurant. 

“Being true to yourself, following the same philosophy, striving for continuity” are expressions which form part of Zuberoa’s discourse, a restaurant where the diner is fully aware of what to expect in his kitchen. In fact, he relies upon this and is loyal to his table for this same reason. “No one can think that I’m going to serve one thing on one day and something different the next”, points out Hilario. The chef reminds us, that in critical circumstances such as those caused by Covid, when some talked about reinventing and he was asked what he was going to change, his answer was the same “after 50 years you can’t change, but you have to become stronger. Always moving forward, against all odds”, a phrase taken from his good friend Vicente Zaragüeta. “Modernity is not at odds with tradition”, he said seconds before going on to present the dishes that ratify this idea.

Then, in tandem with his brother, Hilario prepared the three dishes. The first dish of boiled king crab -shredded- covered by a pumpkin soup, hints of candied orange peel, sea urchin and a grapefruit gelatine crowned with a smoked potato cream and a quenelle of caviar. In the starters of the restaurant menu, it is quite common to find dishes with molluscs and this is one of the variations they usually offer.

The second part of one of his mother’s recipes, veal snouts, but with a slight modification. With a base of veal bone stock and poultry stock, calf trotters -instead of the regular pork trotters- are presented boneless and in the shape of a small block. They are accompanied by tubercles. In short, this is one of the family stews adapted to today.

Since Zuberoa’s menu contains filling dishes, José Mari is in charge of preparing a fresh dessert, to ease our digestion. In this case he uses mandarin, pineapple and coconut. The fruit salad -previously macerated- in its own juice and lime- adding a sorbet covered with coconut milk and a hint of basil and mint.

For José Mari, Zuberoa’s cuisine brings together two concepts “Hilario’s cuisine which is representative of the restaurant with a touch of modernity encompassing the different range of diners who come to the restaurant”.

Finally, journalist Carlos Maribona presenter of the lecture, asks Arbelaitz a question related to the relevance of the presence of a chef in the restaurant. “We like to be there, and as my mother would say ‘the chef, should stay in the kitchen’. It’s like being admitted to hospital and, of course, I will be well cared for by the team of doctors, but I want the doctor to be there”. “We are located 12 km from France or San Sebastián and the travelling connections are very good. In fact, customers like to come here, to the homestead, because it has a charm. My colleagues Subijana or Andoni provide other things, we offer landscape”.