For the love of truffles and their edible flavour

His dishes are as authentic as his words, especially when he explains the essence and difficulty of true Italian cuisine. An economist by profession, he left Milan for Madrid in search of love and met his destiny. I went to eat at Don Giovanni's, I asked for a carbonara and they gave me a 'cabronada', so I bought the restaurant and became a chef. In my restaurants they only cook the way I like to eat, and I have good taste,' he said, introducing himself with humour.  

And there he found another place to specialise, thanks to his passion for truffles, "because although Spain is the world's leading producer of black truffles, it was the great unknown", he recalls. And so he has crowned himself king of the truffle, a student of all its varieties, shapes and flavours. He explains that the truffle is an emotion, it is an edible aroma and the best way to eat it is raw, cut with a mandolin, "never with a toothed knife, because you mistreat it", and in very thin slices. True to his maxim of using a good product and doing it little harm, the truffle is always at its best in his dishes, "and it always improves them".

He reminded everyone that the truffle is not a tuber, but a mushroom that grows on the roots of some trees and always reproduces in the same place. It is always sought by dogs, "and not by pigs, because they eat it and cannot be trained". He also said that its composition is 82% water, so it tends to lose weight over time, and that contrary to popular belief, "it is not an aphrodisiac, I say that from experience", he joked. He was serious about the price, which can range from 200 €/kg to 5,000 €/kg depending on the variety, but insisted that "it is not an expensive product, but rather an expensive product because it is worth its price".

He ended his talk by preparing his version of woodland carbonara, which he called Bosconara, based on cooked and sautéed spaghetti with porcini mushrooms, previously toasted to remove the water, to which he added two good quality egg yolks, grated pecorino cheese, plenty of black pepper and, of course, a good dose of slices of his much-loved truffle.