Pilar Rodriguez teaching me how to cook!

Good Morning!

This day of my apprenticeship might have been the most surprising day. It was Sunday and since they do not pick grapes on Sunday, everyone except a small handful of folks at both the Lapostolle wineries have the day off, including myself. So, they arranged a cooking class with Pilar Rodriguez. I had no idea of who she was until the night before and I looked her up on the net. I was excited to learn about typical Chilean cooking and maybe pick up some techniques in the kitchen, but I had no idea what was about to happen to my soul.

One of the chef’s at the Lapostolle residence Francesca picked myself and Aurelie (She works for Moet Henessy as a Brand expert out of NYC. Moet Henessy sends all employees, no matter what level to work part or all of the harvest at Clos Apalta or Cunaco after they are hired). Anyway, Aurelie is a trained Chef and Sommelier, but now works in the “business” end of the company. there were 4 students and we drove to a kinda remote cottage looking place in Santa Cruz, Chile and we hop out of the truck and the second I walked into the cooking studio, I knew I was someplace special.

Let me back up and tell you what I had learned about Pilar Rodriguez from the internet. I read she was kinda the founding mother of the local food movement in Chile. She had cooked for all the famous folks and been in every magazine, she once cooked dinner for a famous opera singer and he sang for her at his concert. She is to Chile what the most famous female chef is in the states (maybe a chick version of Todd English or the bald dude on Top Chef, Tom C.). I was kinda intimidated because I was being trained by a famous chef along with others who are also trained chefs. Remember when Paula Deen was on Iron Chef…kinda like that feeling. Who put the hillbilly in the kitchen thoughts were running through my mind.

When I walked in, I noticed it really was like the most quint cottage, a small but professional kitchen and she was about 5’5″ and dark hair, dark eyes and wearing a pink chef’s jacket. She handed each of us an apron with her name and cooking studio on it and at the bottom was printed, comida +vino, which means food and wine. She was so warm and charming and engaging and first she said we will start with the meat because it takes 3.5 hours and we can get it out of the way. Her english was perfect, her french was perfect and I assume her spanish is perfect too, but we all know I have no idea if it is or not.

We made a total of 5 dishes. Costillar en Adobo (Pork ribs/pork belly) rubbed in Merken peppers, kinda like paprika, but only in looks not flavor. We made Cebiche (cheviche with fresh corvine fish), Chupe, (a crab casserole kinda dish), Guiso de Mote (Barley and mushrooms side dish), and for dessert we made Leche Nevada (whipped egg whites floating in fruit and milk).

I am fully aware I have not done these dishes any favors with these lame descriptions, I will make up for that is just a minute and go into full detail how they tasted! What struck me was how light and easy of a place this serious chef had created. The room was state of the art but not huge and all the cabinets were open with no doors, all the plates, platters, cups and bowls were right there on the wall. All the spices and ingredents were right there in the open. It was impeccably clean and the kitchen had a step down to a dinning area that might be big enough for 10-12 people max. There was a set of french doors that made up the back wall and when you looked out, you saw a huge tree and small yard and of course the vineyards. It was a cottage in the middle of heaven.

So as she is giving out projects, cut up mushrooms, onions etc, I was asking her tons of questions and she would answer in a very matter of fact way. She was funny without trying to be and she was new to social media and we laughed at how people follow you even if your just eating a sandwich. She was so energetic without being a spaz. Just a super charming personality.

As the meat was basted and we were slicing fish to make the cheviche she said when she first decided to be a chef she was either 29 or 39( You know I can’t heard everything) and moved to Paris and had a tiny studio and every day she would take a train and smell like fish and food and they would be packed in the cars and she was not making any money and lived so modestly. She said at that time in Paris, nobody had dark eyes, her skin color and spoke Spanish, she was truly an outsider. She said it was lousy but she would walk across this one bridge each day on the way to work and back home and the view was so spectacular that it would stop her in her tracks and that moment made her feel anything was possible. She said she hung on that thought every day for 2 full years and while she was working she learned everything about french cooking she could. At the end of her time in France she moved back to Chile and started in a very high end restaurant and the rest is history…

So what I heard while she is telling this story is she was later in life changing careers for something she loved to do and she struggled through the low pay, living someplace she did not always feel welcome and she was fixated on those moments each day that made her feel like anything was possible. I found out later that she rarely teaches cooking classes unless someone is really a powerhouse, she never teaches on a Sunday and the fact that I was with her and my other classmates on this day was really divine intervention.

As the food all came together, and it did happen at the same time with perfect order and no chaos (unlike my home kitchen), I was standing there just watching her be excellent at what she does. She is a chef, not a cook. The food was not good, it was OUTSTANDING and of course all the wines paired perfectly with everything. This may have been one of the top 5 meals of my life. The meat was rich, roasted, fatty, suculent and wild. The salad was just greens and dressing and never has a salad tasted so perfect. The cheviche was the freshest most awesome fish I have ever had in my life. The trick is how you cut the fish and when you add the dressing. The barley mushroom side dish was earthy, rich and satisfying. The Chupe, was a huge surprise it tasted like this creamy seafood explosion in my mouth, but there was no cheese at all in the dish. The wines we had were all Lapostolle and each dish just built on to the next. By the time the dessert hit the table I was on sensory overload. I was a big ball of happiness.

I sat there are heard more stories from Pilar and the other gals about cooking and kitchen stories. I have only ever worked at the fryer station at the Dairy Queen in Yorktown, Indiana, so I had nothing to add, but just soaked up the time. We were there 4 plus hours and it felt like 30 minutes. When I knew the time was winding down, I felt sad, because I did not want it to be over. But I felt so blessed to meet and spend the time with Pilar and my other co-chefs I could not stop smiling.

People always amaze me. Sometimes, I don’t take the time to hear all the stories that are behind the person I am working with or standing next to, but when I do I am always inspired that no matter their situation, everyone has a story. Pilar Rodriguez inspires me, she is a strong, engaging and lovely woman. She has worked hard, stayed true to her cooking beliefs and after years of being real and authentic to who she is, she lives by her own rules and is a huge success. We are hoping to meet up in Washington DC later this summer, when Pilar is at a food industry event. I hope we always stay connected. If not, I pray she knows the 4 hours I spent with her, made a huge impact on my journey!

Tomorrow, I will discuss hand destemming grapes for the premier brand Clos Apalta wines.

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

This is painted on the wall at Pilar's cooking Studio