In the realms of global culinary figures Francis Mallmann conjures up more than a chef tethered to an urban kitchen or group of restaurants. There’s something almost mythical about him, and his journey from his first restaurant in Argentina in the mid-1970s to training in the gastronomic temples of France through the late 1970s and early 1980s, and now at home in the majesty of Patagonia. The three Michelin starred restaurants would shape him, as would projects across South America, but on being awarded the Le Grand Prix de l’Art de la Cuisine in 1995, he began to alter course from the expected, to focus on ancestral cooking traditions of the Southern Hemisphere. The fire was lit.
A chef, writer, restaurateur, Mallmann will appear at Pair’d Margaret River Region x Range Rover, as part of Burnt Ends and Friends presented by Mastercard with David Pynt, and alongside Andy Hearnden (of Andy Cooks fame), Don Macdonald (of Big Don’s Smoked Meats, and Sergio Labbe and Jed Gerrard (Wills Domain.) He’ll also headline An Evening with Francis Mallmann presented by Mastercard, a special event exclusive to Mastercard holders on the Priceless platform, and host a free industry fire-cooking masterclass at Pair’d Up – three ways to experience his legendary flame-driven cuisine.
You’re sometimes described as the “godfather of fire.” It’s a heavy crown to wear?
I think if there is a godfather of fire it’s history, a history of mankind. I always say that it’s in our collective memory, the use of fire since we were born. So, I think that I took over cooking with fire in the highest peak of molecular cooking, and that was a bit of a shock, I think. And very slowly over the years, I’ve created this language with new techniques, some that are related to our natives, some that I sort of invented, like the little hell and the dome. But I feel that the true godfather of fire is history.
Is there an element of the way that Argentines cook with fire and coals (and beef) that you think other parts of the world are missing?
Well, Argentines cook with fire, especially in the countryside. Breakfast starts with a fire outside for the gaucho, who is our cowboy, and they probably have a piece of lamb with some torta frita, which is a local fried bread, and then a maté, which is the tea we drink. At lunch, again, we will have a piece of lamb, as at night, around a fire. And then, you know, in the morning, maybe they will leave some vegetables buried in the ashes, and so they cook for lunch. I love that idea that as the fire sort of dies, there’s still very nice heat in the embers to cook vegetables, to then be part of the garnish of another piece of lamb. I sort of dislike aged meat because I feel that you know, for example, in beef, for me, the best thing is once the animal is slaughtered, you just hang it, cut in half lengthwise for 21 days to one degree two degrees and that gives it a very delicious taste, and it’s all it needs. It doesn’t mean that I’m complaining about ageing meat, I just don’t like to eat it, I don’t cook it. I feel that it loses a bit of the true core of what it is.
You’ve not cooked in Australia for many years. Is there something that you’re looking forward to about being in Western Australia?
Yes, I haven’t been in Australia probably in 10, 15 years, and the world has changed so much in all these years. So, there has been a revolution in the way we live and the way we think. And I think that moves into cooking as well. So, it will be very interesting for me to see what’s happening in Australia right now with products, with vegetables, with fruits, in how people are cooking and presenting them. It will be very, very interesting for me to see that. And I’m looking forward to this exchange we will have with different chefs who will be cooking with us in collaboration and as well as the younger ones who will be in the cooking class. That really excites me about cooking class to see their faces, to talk to them and to be able to answer some of their questions.
Is there anything about Margaret River that you’re looking forward to particularly?
Well, obviously, I’m very interested in the coast, the beaches, the sea, and the trees. I love to be in nature. I live in Patagonia, so I’m really looking forward to that. Now the wines, yes, of course I want to try the wines. For me, the wine at the end is an expression of the thought of a man or a lady who dreams about something they want to do. As chefs, we can practice our recipes at lunch and dinner, but every year we have to think that a winemaker can do only one wine every year, and that’s quite incredible. So that concentration of thought, of the risks they’re planning to take for the next season, seeing the sun, seeing the weather, seeing the rain, I love all that and I’m looking forward to talking to them. I don’t like to see the tanks and talk about malolactic fermentations or the process or the techniques because what I’m really interested in is drinking wine and tasting it, and talking to people. That’s the most beautiful reason why we drink at lunch, and I love that in Argentina, because after lunch we spend so much time at the table discussing, talking. with passion.
Are there any chefs on the bill at Pair’d that you’re intrigued to meet?
I’m so interested in interacting and talking to all the chefs, especially the ones who have a love for fire, because I think that every language of fire is different, and I love that. So, I’m really looking forward to spending time with all of them, seeing how they cook, discussing techniques, discussing products, discussing thoughts, and as well the future.
Travelling the world as you do, are there any travel rituals or routines that you have around food?
Wherever I am in the world, what I most like is to pull up a chair at midnight under a tree and start a fire to cook something that will finish for lunch – so it will take 12–14 hours to cook. I love the patience; I love the slowness of the gestures of fire when you cook. You can obviously cook something very delicious – a steak, a very thin steak in a plancha – very fast. But what I really like is the process of cooking slowly. And when I sit under a tree with a chair, and dawn starts and the sun comes out, I am constantly looking at what’s happening in the fires – how is the chicken, or how is the meat leaking fat into the fire? Is it too fast? Is it slow? I love all those things. So that’s my ritual: to peacefully sit and watch how the fires are cooking my food.
You famously broke away from expectations of what fine dining should be and channelled your South American culture. Was this a rejection of what had come before or more of a next step?
So yes, breaking away from traditional cooking after being trained over the years in three-star restaurants in France was a big thing for me. But I was very sure of what I was doing, you know. I really needed that change. I really needed to create my own language of cooking. Besides, obviously, I respect, I admire, I’m so thankful for France. It taught me so many things. France was a country that was very generous and very rigorous with me and my training, and I will never forget that. It’s been very beautiful. But cooking with fires and making that big change — I just flipped and turned to the other side and started walking in a completely different direction. And I think that France helped me a lot to create that because I had inside me all that culture, that history of French cooking, and that was really something I admired a lot. So, I think there are gestures in my fire of France.
I don’t like to mention age, but you’re 70 years old in January, and you’ve just opened a restaurant in New York this year. In a profession where many age out through the physical and mental demands is there ever any thought of an endpoint with the industry?
I feel that ageing is very beautiful. Yes, I’m going to be 70. I’m a grown-up man. I’m very active. I love what I do. I have a passion for it. I’m writing books. I’m thinking of many different projects around the world. And, you know, I don’t know until when I will work, but I feel strong. I feel confident in what I do. And yes, opening a restaurant in New York has been very challenging, as you know. It’s a very difficult city. It has such a huge offer, but we started two months ago, and I’m very, very happy with it.
If there were one element of modern restaurant culture that you would change, what would it be?
I think that this arrogance that restaurants have, sending the waiter to the table after people have chosen the menu and know what they’re going to eat, and saying, “This plate that we present to you has this apple, and there’s only one tree of this on the top of a hill, and the chef thinks that, and the chef thinks that, and the chef thinks that,” and so on and so on. I find that very arrogant. People don’t need that. They go to a restaurant to eat and to share love with others or for work. But why should we interrupt them in every dish and keep on asking constantly, “Is the food okay? Are you happy with it?” Oh my god, it’s so arrogant. It’s very sad. I hope that the restaurant world changes in that sense as soon as possible.
You’ll be giving a masterclass on open flame cooking exclusively for the industry. What advice do you give the next generation about achieving excellence and longevity?
Yes, probably this masterclass is what most interests me because I think that I have something to add to the thoughts and the knowledge of young people who are starting to cook, and they have dreams. I feel that the most important thing is to always keep going no matter how much you fall. You know, sometimes you fall, and you’re destroyed but you have to get up and follow your dreams, and work hard for them, and be patient, and know that every turn in life and every bridge you take drops you into a new place. Sometimes it feels uncomfortable, but you have to stay, you have to do, and do, and do, and keep on adding to your skills and your thoughts and break the roof and just fly out and find new ways of cooking and new ways that make you happy and will make people happy.