Of Course
Then Pascal Schmutz tells the story of the birthday party at the golf club on Lake Geneva. Very chic guests, hoteliers, businesswomen, just what you would expect at such a noble place. The guest of honour had expressly requested Schmutz as the chef and given him a free hand. And so the crowd of guests first had to dig a deep hole and fill it with wood. After that, the guests were invited to help marinate a few of the less noble parts of the pig. The wood was lit and the pig was buried in this earth oven. A few hours later, just before midnight, the pieces of meat were dug up. Schmutz arranged them in small pieces on a very fresh brioche, added a little jus – and the audience was thrilled. The aroma alone. And the consistency of the meat. And the simple means with which he had conjured up a feast: ‘It’s so simple, and people were so happy – it was a great party!’ Of course, Pascal Schmutz is also a gifted showman, funny, eloquent, handsome, as you would expect from today’s chefs.
‘You can make this hole-in-the-ground oven anywhere,’ Schmutz explains. ’It’s especially great with children; they love it and are extremely curious to see if it works. And you can use it to prepare more than just meat. You can also do it with vegetables; beetroot is excellent. You can also wrap the meat in banana leaves, which makes it even more of a game. Everything is an adventure: is the fire burning? Where is the wind coming from? Why is there so much smoke? And the result always stirs up great emotions.’
Schmutz adds: ‘Incidentally, this also works with a campfire, almost more easily. I always have a large pot with me. Fresh vegetables, a few tomatoes, a decent loaf of bread – it’s such a good, satisfying meal. You can also make a pot-au-feu, a lentil stew. Of course, you have to stay with it, keep the fire under control, stir, make sure nothing burns. But it’s a pleasure to do, the aroma is magnificent.’
You can find Pascal Schmutz outside almost as often as in the kitchen. The 40-year-old could certainly have had a great career in a restaurant. Fifteen years ago, he was named ‘Discovery of the Year’ by the GaultMillau gourmet guide and had already achieved 16 points. But that was too boring for him. He wanted more, something different, not just to be praised for his wild, playful, sometimes even crazy dishes. And because he has always consistently taken regional businesses into account and used only local and seasonal products for his unadulterated, authentic dishes, he turned it into a business idea. He loves developing innovative strategies, realising them, supporting visionary projects as a competent consultant and giving existing ones new momentum. Whether it’s gastronomy, the hotel business, tourism, music or entertainment, he can always fall back on a large personal network. His combination of being a professional in the kitchen and a strategic entrepreneur with a creative mind makes Pascal Schmutz an extraordinary boss, food consultant, gastronomer and entrepreneur. He likes digging holes in the ground. And he’s a big fan of sustainable cuisine.
But what does sustainable cooking and eating mean to him?
‘It’s all about listening and asking questions, in the village, in his neighbourhood, at the baker’s, at the butcher’s, at the farmer’s. Today someone called me and said he still had three boxes of quinces. Sure, I love quinces, but actually I can’t do anything with three boxes of them. But I took them, made jelly, juice, so now I’m stocked up for a few months. Or take cabbage, which is being harvested right now – make sauerkraut out of it! Not only is it a wonderfully satisfying task, it also helps you through the whole winter. You have to plan more locally, more seasonally, and definitely think beyond the limits of the weekly shop and the refrigerator. Only eat meat if an animal has to be slaughtered. Eat boiled meat again, not just the best quality. Eat more vegetables that are really fresh from the farm. Use them even if they don’t meet the beauty standards of the major distributors. It’s good to think more and more about what you eat.’
With and in his network, Pascal Schmutz can do a lot of good. He strongly encourages the gastronomic projects he advises to work as closely as possible with local producers. He loves searching for them himself. Schmutz sometimes drives and walks for days just driving around, looking for farm shops, greengrocers, wine-makers, cheese-makers, talking to gamekeepers and herb fairies. He can achieve a lot that way. The secure purchase of the products has already encouraged many a farmer to try something new, such as growing turmeric. Or ginger.
Schmutz explains: ‘There has been tremendous progress in Switzerland in recent years, especially with vegetables. This is certainly also due to the fact that more people want to eat vegetarian or at least more consciously. The selection has become so much larger. But there is still a lot to be done. In Switzerland in particular, there is still too little holistic thinking, both among customers and among producers. And you don’t always have to process the most beautiful potatoes and beets – the taste remains the same if the carrot is crooked. Or cauliflower: the leaves are actually always thrown away. But they’re great sautéed with a little garlic and onions: fantastic! Or the green part of the leek, oh, there are so many more possibilities.’
He then calls these: uncomfortable dishes.
This is a story from the Volvo supplement of our print edition radical #2. You can find the table of contents here.
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