Five Minutes with Francis Mallmann, Master of Patagonian Live-Fire Cooking

Before The Bear, before somebody started feeding Phil, before the spectacular fall of the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen, there was Chef’s Table. When it debuted in 2015, the Netflix series, which has profiled some of the world’s best chefs, commanded attention like few culinary shows before it. And its first season introduced Argentinian celebrity chef Francis Mallmann to a global audience.

The romantic Patagonian’s life of pit-roasted pumpkin, clay-crusted trout and whole animals barbequed al asador style was more than just a theatrical demonstration of live-fire cooking – it was a thesis for good living. Mallmann and his team spend most of their time travelling the world, hosting grand fire-fuelled feasts and spreading the virtues of cooking and eating outside.

This October long weekend, Mallmann returns to Australia to headline Horizontal Festival in the NSW Southern Highlands. The weekend-long food festival is a showcase of the state’s produce and the people behind it, and features a line-up of chef masterclasses by top chefs including Mindy Woods, Matt Moran and Mark Best. Mallmann’s workshop, Godfather of Fire, is a fiery feast in which he guides guests through each dish while sharing stories from his remarkable 40-year career.

Mallmann joined Broadsheet on a call from Northern Egypt to share what guests can expect at Horizontal, why ambiance and company are more important than flavour, and why he’ll never stop travelling.

When was the first time you came to Australia?

In the ’80s, when Tetsuya [Wakuda] had his shop on Darling Street [in Rozelle]. I spent some days with him there. We ate. I’m a big admirer of Tetsuya – what he was doing in the ’80s was ahead of its time. He was using the best products of Australia, the best fish, and he had very creative cooking. It was very beautiful.

Everyone in Sydney misses Tetsuya’s – and its trout – a lot.

Yes, the confit – the one cooked in oil, very slowly.

Your visit in October will be your first time back to the East Coast in 15 years. What are you most excited about?

Feeling Australia again. Feeling Sydney again. I remember on the trips there I did in the ’80s, I felt something very special in Australia. I remember walking to different places and feeling warmth and politeness from everyone. In those days, I was doing the food for our national airline, so we would travel around the world to the most important airports. So that’s why we went to Australia a lot – because Aerolíneas Argentinas used to fly to Sydney from Buenos Aires. Those first trips to Australia brought a lot of inspiration to my life.

Will you be spending any time in Sydney while you’re here?

I will. We have quite an agenda, but I’ll definitely spend a day in Sydney, walking around and feeling the city again.

Tell us about your Godfather of Fire workshop at Horizontal Festival.

What I’d like to show guests who come to the cooking classes is the pace of fire. There’s a conception that cooking with fire is something very fast, and it really isn’t. What we do is very slow. Our way of cooking with fires, which involves many different techniques, takes a very peaceful pace. We’ll hang our meat for 12 hours, our chickens for six. The cabbages we hang are cooked for 12 hours, as well as the pineapples. You need time, you need silence to cook with fire. And you can’t leave the scene when you’re cooking with fires – you’re there all the time. So we’ll talk about that, and I’ll share my thoughts, because I think the most important thing is not only the taste, it’s the lifestyle we represent. A lifestyle related to the outdoors. That’s the most important message for me. People need to get out of their chairs and go outside.

In your Chef’s Table episode, you said you got into food because of the theatre involved. Does the value of live-fire cooking lie in its theatricality or flavour?

Flavour comes quite last, I think. What I try to do is make delicious food, obviously, but I think the whole experience has to be special. When we have smaller events, I like to have a beautiful setting for the table. And then another table on the side that will be empty until the end, and that table holds books, maybe some antique things like sculptures. And the idea is that after dinner you have pencils and paper to write. And then you start sharing, after food and wine, this beautiful possibility of reading poems to each other and taking notes. I like to ask people to forget the food and write one word about what they did that day and how they felt. And then I collect those little papers, and I put the name of everyone on them. I like that very much.

What’s your word today?

After a discussion I had with my guide in Cairo yesterday, it’s “belief”. She said that to me. It’s a beautiful word, and it will stay with me for some time.

Your meals and events are almost always shared experiences – do you think how we eat is more important than what we eat?

I think so. I’ll invite people to change seats during dinner. Maybe they’ll see a friend in a corner or someone they want to meet. I think that freedom of going up to someone and saying, “I would like to share some time with you”, I think that’s a beautiful thing about eating.

Where are you headed to next after Egypt?

From here, we’re flying to Utah, in America, where we’re doing the opening of the Chef’s Table Festival. For me, it’s important because I want to say thank you to them. They gave me an incredible space, and they had confidence in my documentary, and for me it’s the most beautiful confession of my life. I’ve been asked to do other documentaries and I’ve said, “No, that’s it. I’ve said everything I have to say.”

You say in the beginning of that episode that freedom is your biggest draw in life. Is life feeling free at the moment?

I feel free. I’m sometimes a bit more tired, but once I’m on the road, I’m so happy again. I don’t feel that my attitude is one of an old man, because I’m on the go. You miss your children, you miss your bed. But I’ll certainly die with my boots on. That’s what I want.

Horizontal Festival runs from Friday October 2 to Sunday October 4 at the Centennial Vineyards in Bowral. Tickets are on sale now.

horizontalfestival.com.au