Chef Anna Ryazanskaya about working in a thrice Michelin restaurant
IN RUBRIC "Case"We acquaint readers with women of different professions and hobbies that we like or are simply interested in. This time we talked with Anna Ryazanskaya, the sous-chef of the restaurant "Sant Pau" not far from Barcelona, created by Carme Ruskayeda - the only woman in the world who already has seven Michelin stars. Anna told us how she was once inspired by the program about the culinary school, why it turned her whole life and how she worked for women in the stereotypical male world of chefs.
About dreams and drugs
I think the main thing is not to be afraid to dream and do what you love, without expecting praise. Life is too short to do uninteresting things. Once, however, I didn’t want to do anything at all — neither study nor work. I first came to Spain at the age of twenty: I had serious problems with drugs, and my mother sent me to a rehabilitation center for three years. Then I managed to learn the language. Returning from a dangerous lifestyle, I just went to idle. True, I always liked to cook, but seriously I didn’t think about it - I didn’t think seriously about anything then. Mom made me graduate: every six months I came to the sessions and paid for the exams - so I got a diploma as a translator.
Slacking off once, I saw a program about the cooking school of Mei Hoffmann. I was so struck by this woman that there was a turning point, and on the same day I announced that I was leaving for Spain to study. I gathered for a week and a half, sold the car to pay for my studies, received a visa and flew away. Of course, everyone turned at the temple, but the decision was made.
About study and useful acquaintances
Studying takes three years - this is something like a magistracy, but due to the fact that I did not have a specialized education, I just had to recruit courses in separate subjects. On the very first day, when I met my teacher, he said that he saw me in the kitchen at a truly high level and that it was not necessary to sway - it’s time to get down to business: he gave me the first practice. May Hoffmann, who died last year, also helped me a lot - thanks to the teachers, the doors opened in front of me.
In the first year of my studies, I went to dinner at the Karma Ruskayeda restaurant - and met her. I looked at how she worked, and realized that I wanted to her kitchen. But not everything is so simple: my student visa did not allow me to work. It was also impossible to formalize the practice through the school: Hoffmann has its own Michelin-starred restaurant, and usually the practice takes place in it, alternating it with theoretical classes — two weeks at school, two in the kitchen. Nevertheless, they helped me: May “through an acquaintance” arranged for me to a restaurant with one star in the province of Tarragona.
I met the chef, and from the very beginning he knew that I would not stay there, that my dream was to work with Carme. But he went to meet us, we cooperated perfectly, and after three years of study, when it was already possible to obtain a residence permit with the right to work, he issued all the documents to me, opening another door.
The founder of the school, May, laid life on her; Now the institution is managed by her daughter. In general, Hoffmann is a place where you can make great acquaintances and where many of the chefs, from whom Michelin restaurants are now, studied. The level of training is very good, they teach exactly what they need; The possibilities with such education are, of course, the most diverse - for example, one of my fellow students for some time was a personal chef in the family of Shakira and Gerard Pique.
About Karma - a woman admirable
All this time, almost three years after our acquaintance, Carme and I maintained contact. When documents appeared in my hands, the staff of "Sant Pau" was full and there was no place for another employee, but she found an opportunity to hire me for two weeks. I have been waiting for this for so long that I was ready for any option - two weeks so two weeks. A week later, Carme asked: "Do you want a contract for a permanent job?" After another year and a half, she offered me the place of the chef: there are three chefs in the kitchen, we develop the menu and control what is happening.
What strikes me is Karma - she is always with us in the kitchen, every day, during every lunch and dinner. This is a woman who, for example, has the opportunity to fly to any place in the world first class at any time at the expense of airlines. At the Barcelona Hotel Mandarin Oriental, there is another restaurant with two stars, and the Mandarin Oriental network gives it access to the best rooms in any of its hotels in the world. But she does not go anywhere, because she is always in the kitchen, always working. Karma is over sixty, but in the kitchen sometimes it seems to me that she has more energy than all of us together. She is an engine, she is an engine, she is admired.
Karma, in fact, is such an ambassador of the town of Sant Pol de Mar in the world. Sant-Paul is an ordinary Catalan village, but people come from all over the world for the sake of the Carme restaurant, making reservations for half a year. The second "Sant Pau" - a replica of ours, with only two stars - works in Tokyo, and one of our chefs, Jerome, flies to Japan every two months. In addition, every day there is a skype broadcast from the kitchen of this restaurant, that is, all processes are constantly under control, primarily Karma itself. This is her reputation, and it is important to constantly monitor the quality of every detail. They repeat our menu, but also develop theirs too - and we, in turn, repeat it here.
About real passion
I get great pleasure from my work, starting with ideas and their development and ending with embodiment and grateful clients. Our cuisine is a creative story in which everything - from snack to dessert - is connected by a single concept; For example, when developing the past menu, we were inspired by artists, one of the dishes was based on the work of Chagall - and this was borscht, my work. Right now the restaurant serves a tasting menu, the idea of which is based on the planetary system, the stars and meteorites. This is exactly what is called "gourmet". Physical fatigue is nothing compared to the joy that a profession brings to me. For me, this work is love, passion, feelings that I have never experienced before. She turned my whole life. This pleasure, which can be compared with sex.
There are some difficult days, problems, but when I cross the threshold of the restaurant, I leave it all on the street. And there is always a return, there is always some gratitude both for work, and for tears, and for the fact that not everything works out the first time. The only thing you sometimes want is for people around you to understand it perfectly. We have a huge team, thirty employees for twenty-two visitors, and it is not always easy to explain to another person what you want from him. Perhaps nothing is more important than a team in which everything is on the same wavelength. It seems to me that many people choose a profession according to some other criteria — not for all this passion, as for me, and therefore it is difficult to speak the same language.
I cook at home when I go there. To go to a cafe or restaurant - no problem, I do not think about what is happening in the kitchen. The only thing is, if I go to a restaurant that claims some kind of status or rank, I sometimes understand that this is unnecessary: cook simple, tasty food, you can do it perfectly, and don’t try to jump over your head. But I do not feel any distrust or disgust, if I want tapas, I go to tapas and eat it.
About the load and stereotypes
I do not limit myself to anything, but I try to eat healthy foods. I don’t play sports, I sleep little - I come to the restaurant by nine in the morning, and I’m not returning until one o'clock in the morning. We work all year round, without vacations. Now we first began to close the restaurant for three days a week: we work on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; until recently, the restaurant was open six days a week. And now, even when we do not open and there are no guests, we continue to work. Karma plans to open another restaurant, and I, for example, develop its menu.
I was lucky that I studied with women with the highest level of professionalism and very respected. There is such a stereotype that the best cooks are men, but I did not feel any pressure in this regard. Yes, men rule the gastronomic world, this is such a closed party, in which there are still few women, and they cause only admiration and respect. This is a profession in which something can be achieved only through labor, sweat and blood. There is no option "to pull" or for money, if there is no due professionalism and talent. Karma is the only woman in the world who has seven Michelin stars, another one is not - not yet. I always had a dream to open my own restaurant, and it has not gone away, but for the time being I am in my place.