"The pandemic is reflected as the reality where many people learned to eat."

Oscar Enrique Díaz, chef and cook from Chajarí, Entre Ríos, Argentina. He is 31 years old and since he was 17 years old he has been "running behind the stove". Today he is the Plant Manager at the French pastries and patisserie CO-PAIN in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. His friends call him Kike and his team chef Óscar. He wrote the recipe for the lamb empanada for the Puerto Sorba book, being the ambassador of the Tierra del Fuego section.

Photo: Il Chef News

Mariano Pisani: What is it like to work in a French bakery and pastry shop?

Óscar Díaz: Compared to what I had been doing, which was avant-garde gastronomy, a bit of fast food and then port gastronomy, this is much calmer. Beyond that the volumes are large and it is produced from pastry, bakery, pastries and savory cuisine. At the time of production there is no clock that ticks as fast as an office behind the fires, grill or plates. But if we emphasize when assembling the product. Beyond this mass production, we prepare special croissants, Danish with seasonal fruit, signature sandwich and sourdough bakery, which are our daily and fixed dishes.

MP: When making the production, do you have innovative ideas or ideas that are different from other pastry shops?

OD: Of course, compared to the rest, I try to be innovative with the products. Today we are putting together a roll with peach compote (season on the coast) and pistachio powder. The jams that we use in the sales stores are also seasonal, which are made by us by the presidente plum and marsala.

MP: What is the most important thing in the kitchen of a pastry production center?

OD: And in this case it is the Croiassant. The laminate part, the pastries are the ideas for which I also decided and chose to work in this branch of gastronomy since one of my projects is to advance with a bistro where the products are as much as possible products made by our hands.

Photo: Il Chef News

MP: Is it more comfortable working with these products than in a pastry shop of another style or country? Why?

OD: Honestly, it's the only pastry shop I've dedicated myself to. Where I had to focus because, as I told you, before I was a chef in restaurants and food offices. This change occurred thanks to the fact that I moved to Buenos Aires because I was going to be a father and where I was was an inhospitable place.

MP: Was that gastronomic twist also reflected in how you cook?

OD: Actually yes. It took a very important turn. Today I find myself doing work that goes beyond being a cook, it's like an executive, where the administrative area is my new friend, so to speak. It was also changing when it came to seeing, knowing and practicing techniques that I had only seen very few times throughout my studies.

MP: Do you see any difference between today's cuisine and the gastronomy of 10 or 20 years ago?

OD: There are different forms of expression. What I see is that a lot of people, around 30 to 40 years old, are giving a very important and crazy turn to gastronomy itself. There are very careful products, the pandemic is reflected as the reality where many people learned to eat. I think that also impacted us in a trajectory of between 10 and 20 years that could not give that change or turn of the thread.

Photo: Il Chef News

MP: What is the product in which this change is most reflected? Why?

OD: In the laminates. The truth is that it was a wonderful discovery to learn and be able to copy that technique to later put together various products.

MP: Was that gastronomic change abrupt?

OD: Actually yes. It was quite a hard change because, as I told you, before I came from working in a fishing village in a port and, suddenly, being in Buenos Aires and doing something that, beyond consuming it and seeing it from a attractive prospect, I had never put it into practice more than a couple of classes in high school.

MP: What did you learn the most from this gastronomic change?

OD: That I cannot live without gastronomy. That beyond the job that I carry out the position in which I perform, I am going to enjoy every moment doing it because it is the perfect world for me. It helped me grow in the sense of how to handle a group of people totally different from each other but, at the same time, the same love for what we do.

MP: Would you like to change again? In this case from one bakery to another.

OD: Yes, I would change again, but I don't know if it was for another bakery. I like the rhythm of the office, the continuous action against the clock, controlling the fires, hearing the cookware working. That is something where I would change again. Although in the not too distant future we have been putting together our own project with my wife since she is dedicated to the salon part.