Roland Trettl

In May of 2003, a guy just 32 years old took charge of what was and is probably the most demanding job on the international culinary scene: the mission was to realize the vision of a culinary world tour at Ikarus, the restaurant that had just been opened in Hangar-7. Month for month, according to the idea, a different world cooking star was to give a guest appearance in Salzburg; the young man’s assignment was to accompany, assist and inspire them, as well as to interpret their cuisine.

Since then, Roland Trettl has been visiting the world’s best chefs month for month, cooking together with them, making recipes of their creations and seeing to their exact execution back in the kitchen at Ikarus. It’s been about three dozen so far, from New York’s Jean-Georges Vongerichten to China’s Jereme Leung, from Mexico’s Martha Ortiz Chapa to Luxemburg’s Lea Linster, from Gianluigi Bonelli of Hong Kong to Frank Zlomke of South Africa, and from Robert Feenie of Vancouver to Ryuichi Yoshii of Sydney and Alex Atala of Sao Paulo. So the culinary world tour at Ikarus has been quite literally a world tour for Roland Trettl.

Trettl received his basic training at Parkhotel Holzner in Bozen/Bolzano. After that, he went to fine-tune with the most appropriate teacher one could think of in the German-speaking world: Eckart Witzigmann took him on at his own Aubergine, where Trettl advanced with characteristic speed to become the first German three-star chef’s best pupil. There followed Tantris with Hans Haas, before the young upstart received his first own assignment from Witzigmann at the age of 26: at Ca’s Puers on Mallorca, he perfectly implemented Witzigmann’s highly refined concept of a small, exquisite high-class resort eatery with inspiring cuisine, after which he went to the restaurant Marine Terrace in Tokyo as a trainer. Finally, in 2003, he took the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to manage the guest-chef concept at Ikarus as Executive Chef. A job which he—together with head chef Martin Klein and the team—has mastered so convincingly, that he was awarded (together with Ferran Adrià and Günter Grass, by the way) the “International Eckart Witzigmann Prize” in November 2005; not by its namesake, of course, but by an institution that stands well above any suspicion of favoritism: the “German Academy for Culinary Studies”.

As the host at Ikarus, Trettl not only stages the appearances of his guest chefs, but is also responsible for his own accompanying set menu each month. Since 2005, the South Tyrolean has also been stepping into the spotlight for his own month—acting as host and guest in one, so to speak. Thanks to the enormous range of culinary expression that Trettl has at his command—from the subtle, highly nuanced Mediterranean style he developed at Ca’s Puers all the way to uncompromisingly modern creations—his appearances always hold some surprises in store. Last year, for example, he enchanted guests with his autobiography in four set menus: “Homeland” (including, for example, tagliolini aglio-olio with spring leeks and seafood), “Eckart Witzigmann” (baked sole with clams and saffron fennel), “Mallorca” (sea bass on bean purée / olive pesto and chorizo sausage) and a vegetarian set menu called “Lifestyle” (braised zucchini blossoms with eggplant and chanterelles). Trettl’s plans to conclude the year 2007 at Ikarus will, true to tradition, remain secret until the last minute. But that it will be a fireworks of creativity, virtuosity and pure cooking joy, laced here and there with a fine pinch of irony—that’s a given.

Trettl@Home

Roland Trettl has spent months travelling the world to find guest chefs for the “Ikarus” at Salzburg Airport.  In December, he himself will be in the kitchen – and his expectations will be high

INTERVIEW RECORDED BY CHRISTOPH SCHULTE
PHOTOS: RED BULL PHOTOFILES/HELGE KIRCHBERGER

Once a year I am my own guest chef, when I travel no further than myself – no long haul flights to the ends of the earth.  The initial shyness that I inevitably feel when I am getting to know the guest chef doesn’t arise.  And I don’t have to note down dozens of recipes, ingredients and basic products.  When I cook, however, there is still a huge amount of work that falls to me, and this has something to do with the demands that every ambitious chef makes of himself.  And when I am the “chef of the month” at “Hangar-7”, I really do want to have new dishes to present to the guests.

From the years I have spent at the “Aubergine” and the “Tantris”, and from my time on Mallorca or in Tokyo, I could easily put together three menus that would satisfy every guest.  But I want more.  Idealism and pride will not allow me to do that.  For this reason alone I am glad that this year December will by “my month”.  In previous years I have always been in charge in August, which in Salzburg is Festival month and there is always something special going on.

So this year it is December, the festive season, when I am allowed to cook something a bit more difficult.  And it is the month when the very best truffles are available.  This is why the main theme of my menu is “black and white”.  Why truffles?  The tuber is regarded by many as being proof of the thesis that they are only considered good because they are so insanely expensive.  As a chef, I say: Truffles are insanely expensive, and rightly so.  For a chef they are the ultimate commodity that nature offers.  Their aroma and fullness of flavour are unique.  No other natural product has such power.  A restaurant concept that makes it possible for such a product to be offered, and guests who know how to appreciate such a product, constitutes a challenge and a gift to any chef.  When I think of truffles, I then think of products that provide a proper “stage” on which to present them: potatoes, spinach, pasta, risotto.  But of course these are just the basic thoughts.  Finding the actual recipes is something very different.  Certainly you do get spontaneous inspiration occasionally – an idea which you have to get written down immediately.  But the greater part of the menu I won’t have got ready until just before December.  It is the time pressure that really gets me going.  The nearer the date, the more creative, the more “associative” I become.  It can happen while I am taking a trip through the market.  I will be strolling past the stalls on a free day, I might see radicchio, I might see nuts, the Fontina cheese from northern Italy – I think of truffles – and something happens.  Or I see a beetroot and have an idea: the earthiness of the beetroot with black truffles – you could make something out of that.

This form of cooking works without the market too.  I go through my laptop, where hundreds of recipes with photos are stored, and I let my mind wander through them.  A picture of green beans comes up: I think of mozzarella, quail eggs and truffles.  I come across veal fillet and associate it with tofu and truffles – tofu because it is a neutral base that forms a kind of trampoline for the truffles.

After I have thought about the products I think about the techniques with which I can create further permutations on all my ideas: steaming, sautéing, roasting, smoking.  I take old ideas, take them apart and put them together again.  espumas, jellies, vinaigrettes, stocks, everything is like a construction set.  I see tuna, I think of sushi and get a picture in my mind: rice, topped with a dollop of truffle puree instead of the wasabi, then a disc of pan fried pigeon breast.  And instead of the soy sauce an emulsion of black truffles.  In other words: I am looking forward to December, more than words can say.

White Truffle

Just Black

Sot-l´y-laisse with calamari, beans, buffalo ricotta and apple truffle yelly
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Stew of crawfish with cabbage turnip, pea ravioli and black truffle
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Octopus-tripe-fig-Jerusalem artichokes and black truffle “en Papilotte”
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Sauteed sole with pumpkin cannelloni, artichokes and black truffle
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Potato-Scamorzaroulade with pot-roasted egg yolk and black truffle sauce
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Potato-Scamorzaroulade with pot-roasted egg yolk and black truffle sauce
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Goat cheese brulée with ragout of quince and black truffle
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Dark chocolate with pulse, Muscovado sugar and black truffle

Just White

Polentacream with marinated scallops, almonds and white truffle
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Poached langostinos with spinach tortellini, goat milk and white truffle
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False gnocchi with Atlantic turbot, Lardo, lettuce salad sauce and white truffle
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Risotto with white truffle, cauliflower florets and broccoli Agar-Agar
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Bone marrow dumplings with spring leek, roasted onions and white truffle sauce
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Pheasant breast in a vacuum bag with braised pointed cabbage and white truffle
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Glazed chicory with Vacherin Mont D’or, pear yelly and white truffle
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Delice of white chocolate, spinach, pumpkin and white truffle