Magda Gessler: In the kitchen, love must be from beginning to end

Creating a restaurant is one of the most complicated things because it does not just mean that you can eat here. The restaurant is an institution of the Renaissance. It satisfies hunger, but the man who usually enters it relies on something more than what he will get a bowl of soup. In southern countries – and this awareness is highly developed – the restaurant is part of social therapy. There we meet friends, there we feel less alone, so it's no wonder people go to the restaurant as a psychologist. A restaurant owner who has been serving you for 10 years knows what you are in trouble, what hurts you and can help you. It's a therapy that brings fantastic results.

What is the hardest thing to do with the restaurateurs you work with?

When I arrive, I have two hours to recognize with whom I'm dealing, how to recreate a restaurant, how to call it. It is very difficult for them to understand that the restaurant is not a restaurant and does not depend on food. In order for it to work well, the restorer must first be in good mental condition, so that his troubles can not be seen and that he does not give them to the guests. Sometimes for some people, a restaurant is some sort of ultimate outlet for various problems. Either they are divorced or they have money and they do not know what to do with them, or they do not have money, so they borrow from everyone to open a restaurant. This is the worst option, because the pressure of money is so huge that the idea fails in general. Having a commitment, a man starts to deceive those who come to the restaurant because he wants to win quickly. In the meantime, if you have a restaurant, you must first forget to win and think more about giving. And it's already a difficult thing, especially in Poland, when the restaurant is treated as geszeft. This is not geszeft. It's a work of art, if it works, if it gives pleasure and something more than a bowl of soup, it will be a place to come back.

The cuisine is one, the personality of the restaurant is the other, but the decor is also important.

The decor is cool when the owner is cool. Recently, I had such a case that the restaurant owner abused alcohol. He did not want to admit that he had a problem. So how do you color a life for someone who does not want those colors? He prefers darkness, problems and weight despite the help. The decor should be a reflection of the soul, the heart, the energy. The place creates a climate. Colors are granted, they have power! It all depends on the attitude of people and their approach to life … The interior design of the restaurant is strongly linked.

What kind of Poland do you see today after 8 years of "Kitchen Revolutions"

Much remains to be done. When in 1975 I left Poland to study in Madrid, it was not so serious. There were places where you could eat something good, there were very good private restaurants. In Spain, I was telling everyone how wonderful, ecological and fun cooking is in Poland. I said it was a land of milk and honey flowing, a land of great cold cuts, delicious soups, of course, reminiscent of the dishes from my home. I was convinced that all this can still be eaten in Polish restaurants. After my return to Poland, and it was the second half of the 1980s, I found a culinary desert. And in the worst style. Sirloin, or Russian caviar, can be obtained from the server's apron.

There were no recommended restaurants in the capital?

At iwiętoszko, Jezuicka Street, a dish for ancient times was praised and honored by the Poles – hot shrimp. It was like we were saying today, big wow! There was also "Biała Daria" in Konstancin, and very good Strogonow and kremówki were served in the hotel "Forum". Everything was about Warsaw. At that time, I fell asleep almost literally and discovered that I did not have a place where I could stay, so I would have to create a tasteful embassy. Polish, at home. My taste.

So?

This is a very sophisticated, noble taste that was in a way a fusion of Polish cuisine, and it was born over the centuries. As a country located in the center of Europe, we had Swedish influences, hence the tendency to the sweetness of the fish, and the Jewish influence, sweet and sour, cinnamon, almond, Tatar cuisine and French cuisine, thanks to Napoleon and the close relations between the Polish court and the French court. Italian cuisine with avant-garde Italian was also known in Poland for a long time. And the spices, the golden road, we traveled from Turkey. All these influences have been forgotten over time, but I've dug them up. I dug deep to find them. At the beginning of my "Fukier", which exists to this day, almost 30 years, and in which I tried to restore all the Polish cuisine – it was a model for other restaurants, but you can and it's tasty, interesting and surprising to strangers. And then I did it in my other restaurants.

What surprises people from abroad?

For example, the fact that our dumplings are much better than Italian dumplings; there is not even what to compare. But the marketing we have, as we say familiarly, is zero. We do not believe in ourselves, so we can not treat our products as seriously and with as much respect as Italians. And because of that, we do not bring success in the world with our cooking.

What was the first problem you had to face when launching "Kitchen Revolutions"?

The biggest problem is that restaurants use the worst type of chicken, unknown, unknown breeding … and pork, or the two least sophisticated meats you can imagine. We will not find a restaurant where we can get a tartare. Most withdrawals, restaurant owners prefer to serve strange salads, preferably Caesar or Caprese. This culinary globalism hit us hard. Probably the reason is that it is much easier than Polish cuisine, much faster in preparation. But it is also mostly shortcuts and a non literal kitchen, because there is always an ersatz, a product that replaces the original. I think that my merit and "Kitchen Revolutions" were the elevation of Polish Tatar to the heights; herring in various editions a hero, and the Polish potato or cabbage can reign on the Polish menu. I've tried to show that with simple products that surround us, you can create fantastic dishes that build restaurants, and what evidence is certainly my guide to wild strawberries, which shows how many of these restaurants are.

Well, how much?

In more than 8.5 years, I've revolutionized 300 restaurants. With the hand on my heart, I can say that 65% of them work perfectly. People walk the "Kitchen Revolutions" trail, they visit them, because there they will find Polish products, natural, but treated in a historical way, completely different and unexpected. A few days ago, in a restaurant "Baked Gołąbki" in Trzebinia, I made black pudding with an apricot chutney. I saw the surprise on people's faces, how come? Can you combine blood sausage with apricot? And yet, in pre-war Poland, some butchers made sausage with almonds and dried apricots, a little cinnamon and cayenne pepper, which few people remember today. So, you can create fantastic dishes enriched with the experience of the past. And learn that, for example, the tomato sauce is not flooded with pelati, because right now in Poland there are fresh tomatoes and you can get them very well even in winter. Instead of pelati, I prefer a simple tomato concentrate, because pelati sauce is very weak, not very expressive. The goal is therefore to get what we have, to combine so that it gives a thundering effect of taste, as happens in "Kitchen Revolutions", where single rolls of cabbage can become a exquisite meal.

What are the Poles in the kitchen today, the restaurant? What are the requirements?

It seems to me that they are waiting above all for things that are not frozen. Fresh fish Generally fresh, regional products. They are looking for lamb, looking for venison, despite the basic trend of asking for fries and chicken when the average Pole enters the restaurant. The restaurants after "Kitchen Revolutions" do not have these dishes on their menu, they put aside the fryers because they are trying to use the bad fat to fry. And this in turn causes the whole restaurant to be infected by both this fault and the same taste. Of course, you can use the fryer, but wisely, using good fat, and there should be good ventilation so that you can not smell it. To come back to your question, many things have changed, for example the fact that we no longer serve water for tea from a coffee machine, that a dessert is in preparation, but that there are homemade pastries and that there is not a lot of menu. It is best to have a shortcut menu, but be very careful. An example may be "Malinówka" in the Vistula, where the Polish trout is treated royally, where there is a trout soup with trout balls, trout breaded with hazelnuts, marinated in lovage and in season, fried with clarified butter, finally sandwiches with hot trout smoked on bread with butter, honey and horseradish in the best Polish edition. The restaurant "Malinówka" exists since 6 years and today, it is difficult to access it.

If you have already mentioned a full menu, how many of these dishes should be on the menu? I still see in the restaurants or bars more than 200 different dishes that are offered.

Fortunately, that changes too. People see that the multitude of dishes offered only loses money, and the quality of these dishes is not one of them. An example of this is the 'Bavarian House' in Tychy, which serves every other 8-course series, for which you pay 29-32 zlotys, including the pork seal. Today, the majority already know that the fewer dishes, the greater the specialization, the greater the effort for natural products, the greater the success.

Do restaurateurs set trends, or do guests clearly define their needs, influencing their change?

Conservators must define trends. Guests in the overwhelming mass are accustomed to junk food, which they choose for reasons of economy or lack of ideas.

Thus, in the average Polish cuisine, as many frozen and diced vegetables

is true. But today everyone really believes that it is almost a sin.

What should a good restorer look like?

Whoever gets up in the morning and buys himself the products that he gives to the cook or cooks himself. This is the base – go to the market yourself and choose the best sausages, the best meat, the best vegetables and fruits.

But it's not enough to be passionate? Leading a good place is probably not just opening a bar because I like to cook?

You touched on the problem of culinary education. There is no cooking school, no good waiters, no real professional chefs; That's why cooks returning from London are so successful in Poland. In general, it is difficult for people to work in this market. We are in a complete stop because there is no one to teach them either. Restaurants tear up more and more chefs, superficial cuisine is created as if it were molecular, modern, but devoid of the basics of basic knowledge, such as Picasso, when he painted realism, to transform it into abstraction. If you know the rules of cooking from A to Z, then you can break them.

I like to turn to books such as "Babette Feast" or "Quail of Pink Quail" to remind us what food really is and what value it brings.

Eating together, eating well, served with love is a chance to create a true community, a family. It's a way of conveying feelings and making connections. If there is nothing that binds the family, there is no ritual to give food, even modest, such as sour milk or kefir potatoes, so these families disintegrate, and the television and the cell replace the food.

For you, the key to cooking is love. Do you have to prepare food with love?

In the kitchen, love must be present from beginning to end. You buy products with love, cook with love and serve with love. Therefore, you can not cook too much, so the menu should be limited, take the strength for the intentions, because if the kitchen becomes a slave, then we will hate to cook. Many women hate cooking because they associate them with a typical Polish dinner: appetizer, salad, soup, potatoes, then a second dish, some salads and desserts. No lady will last long. Unless there is nothing else to do. Only Polish women work today, realize their ambitions, so cooking should be an interesting addition. People look at ads, believe that you can live a good life, but to achieve that, you have to work for a long time. Therefore, the cooking time should be much shorter, the organization of the kitchen should be well thought out, so that the preparation of food would be fun, not bitten. Moms or grandmothers have experienced such a slap, preparing real delights, but also sitting in the kitchen for days. Today, you can achieve the same effect by doing it practically and quickly. You do not need to make three dishes, one thing is enough, the fruit for dessert, and the ritual will be preserved.

One day, the best dishes were reserved for special occasions, for holidays, "for guests".

The goal is to cook everyday and to have special dishes every day. Regular but well-made lettuce can also be a special dish.

What does a Polish culinary province look like today?

Unfortunately, pork chop is still a sacred pork cutlet. Priority is always a nightmare, because not at all ecological, grilled chicken. But it's starting to change too. People are more and more interested in cooking, they boast of traveling, collecting recipes that they can cook. It is a pity that this traditional Polish cuisine is still somewhere behind.

Have you somehow changed your life with "Kitchen Revolutions"? On Instagram, I read that they call the Queen a Queen, and even the Mother of God Besosowski.

The perception of my person by society is strange. They consider me as someone who can do miracles that no one else can do. Of course, for culinary reasons. (To laugh)

But what is the significant change in your personality, your character, your life?

That the help I give to others is not a joke. But I do not boast either. I do it with a lot of pleasure and it gives me great satisfaction, although I would say that it is a quiet satisfaction, because I do not like it, I do not talk about it.

Some take a cold shower. You deprive them of your illusions, you bring them back to reality.

I come from another world in their world and I say what they can not see. They do not see dirt, dust … both metaphorical and literal. They do not see that they have fallen into a stupid situation, that they can not do much, that they are stingy. They do not trust others. Managing a restaurant is based on trust and sympathy for people. If you have a restaurant, you can not dislike people. You can not just open the cashier and delete the money.

What is your greatest success?

My greatest success stories are my children – Tadeusz and Lara. This is without a doubt my biggest challenge, joy, stress and hope. And from elsewhere, people – my husband Waldemar, wonderful friends, that I have with me for good and bad. I am animated by energy, smile, goodness, conversation, delicious dinner, travel … But I can not say that my success is not "Kitchen Revolutions" – what was created around this program is phenomenal. A crowd of fans, broken audience records, emotions. It's a program that lasts 8.5 years! It's an absolute sensation in the world! In no other country, this format has not lasted that long. But also because of the "revolutions of the kitchen", I went into order, because working in it means giving up personal life. It's a little easier for me, because my husband is abroad, but it's maybe also the only way to survive when we are not together. So I am among others, I support them; I've always wanted to do it, I've always wanted to teach, transfer the knowledge gained from my home because it's the most important knowledge.

It seems like you already have everything. Is there anything else you want in life?

More time for you, more peace, the opportunity to drown in my wonderful garden. My dream is to create a restaurant with my children. The one I'm going to cook for. Maybe everyone will understand how the kitchen is delighted. Usually, when I make decorations at the end of the episode "Kitchen Revolutions", you can see how shocked, enthusiastic and charming people are that you can imagine original, delicious, delicious but homemade dishes with simple Polish products. . Nobody is waiting for it. The worst is that in Poland, people do not build, support or compete, and all of this results from the feeling of financial and economic insecurity. We do not have generational money with us. Hence where irritability, anger, jealousy. It seems to me that food is the way for Poles to love and soften their negative feelings.

In what places would you like to eat today in Poland?

Silesia is extremely rich in cooking. The Silesians have a tradition, land for centuries and there are places where you can eat very well. I really like my restaurant in Gdynia, "Santo Porto", which offers 30 different exotic and Polish fish on ice, which is prepared as the customer wishes; with my inner arrangement. The next is "Smaku's Hostel" in Bukowina Tatrzańska. I like to eat there. I like to eat tatara and duck from "Fukier", but I also like to eat in the dispensation, which is close to my confectionery – "Sweet Salty". I like to eat at "Biały Królik" in Gdynia, which I consider as the best restaurant in our country. I must admit that the leader, Marcin Popielarz, is an absolute genius. I am charmed by his talent. Passion works wonders, but dreams too. You must have a passion to change the world. If, of course, you want to change something.

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