The dish from my Gelinaz Shuffle experience at Aqua in Germany that I chose to present is the “Smoked arctic char with cod liver pâté, pine nut milk and pickles,” one of the starters that I served at the dinner.

When Andrea Petrini asked me to create a recipe inspired by Sven Elverfeld‘s work I started reading about German cuisine and ingredients, and especially studied Sven’s cuisine.

I’m not very used to cooking with cold-water fish, so this was a big challenge for me, but I wanted to do something different, something new.  I believe that one of of the Gelinaz’ main goals is to do exactly that … to make you think, to make you create something new, to exchange experiences and knowledge.

Gelinaz was one of most interesting, fun and amazing events that I ever participated in, and I was very happy to “take control” of Sven’s kitchen.  With 3 Michelin stars, Aqua is, undoubtedly, one of the best restaurants in the world. Sven’s team was wonderful and very supportive.

José Avillez, Belcanto (Lisbon, Portugal)