Jose Pizarro, award-winning Spanish chef (one of the ‘100 espanoles’), author, co-founder of Brindias restaurants and chef-owner of Jose Pizarro, tapas bar
The cookbook that has most influenced your cooking
Many of them but mostly The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden
The food of love… What would you cook to impress a potential date?
I never cook for a first date, we would go to a restaurant
Your top five dinner guests, dead or alive
- Picasso
- Madonna
- Tracey Emin
- Obama
- Martin Luther King
Fast food – your top snack tip
My luxury fast food would be Jamón Iberico Cinco Jotas
Most memorable meal in film/literature/painting
- Film: Breakfast at Tiffany´s
- Literature: Como Agua para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) by Laura Esquivel. The main character makes her sister´s husband fall in love with her through her cooking
- Painting: Leonardo Da Vinci´s The Last Supper
Your worst kitchen disaster
I made a mess in my brother´s kitchen before I was a chef. I put chocolate in a food processor, the lid was not properly closed and all the chocolate went all over the room!
What do you eat when you get home from the pub [or similar]
Something spicy like fried potatoes with plenty of chilli
What would you like your final meal to be?
- Baby goat stew with a nice glass of red
- Good plate of Jamón Iberico with a glass of Palo Cortado
- Leche frita (fried milk) with a glass of Moscatel
What is your secret talent [in or out of the kitchen]?
Sculpting
What did you eat for breakfast today?
Porridge with berries
Most over-rated/ under-rated food/seasoning/gadget
- Avocado (over-rated)
- Seafood in tins (under-rated)
- Salt, people don´t put enough value in this amazing product. (under-rated)
- Spiralizer (over-rated)
Your inheritance recipes – the one you inherited [and from whom] and the one you’d like to pass on to your children
My mum´s baby goat stew
josepizarro.com
Photo: Paul Winch-Furness / www.paulwf.co.uk
