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Aug 22 2022
Innovation and the Avant-Garde in Spanish Ice Cream
Jordi Roca, Alejandra Rivas, Fernando Saénz, and Angelines González take sub-zero desserts to the next level
Although ice cream, for these purposes understood as a mix of ice and other ingredients, has existed since time immemorial, Spain has played a decisive role in this sub-zero delicacy's leap to modernity. It's believed that it was a Spanish doctor based in Rome named Blas de Villafranca who, in 1553, shared the idea of freezing ice cream by adding salt to the ice. Nearly 500 years later, the history of ice cream in Spain has been long and fruitful, with many companies flying the flag for innovation and avant-garde creations, although it was not until the revolution in Spanish gastronomy that cutting-edge and signature versions opened up untrodden paths for this refreshing product.
One of the people responsible for the fact that today's ice cream can be considered a fine (gastronomic) art is Jordi Roca. Jordi is the youngest of the Roca brothers and was named Best Pastry Chef in the World in 2014 by Restaurant magazine as a result of his work at El Celler de Can Roca (Girona), which was also named Best Restaurant in the World by the same publication for several years and boasts three Michelin stars.
Jordi launched Rocambolesc, an ice cream parlor in Girona, with his wife Alejandra Rivas in 2012. A decade later, it's a raging success and not only are there several establishments in Spain, but they also opened a locale in Houston (United States). "Rocambolesc was designed to share the sweet side of El Celler de Can Roca as a street-level shop that's accessible to all consumers. When we started thinking about how to use the space, we realized that we both love ice cream and that we could use it to offer a different and fun way to make desserts," Roca and Rivas explain. "That's why our ice creams are served with toppings that we create for each flavor. This way we end up creating a complete dessert, something more than just ice cream. Additionally, the soft serve machines we have allow us to prepare a creamier and buttery ice cream in the moment, which is complemented perfectly by these toppings," they both say.
Impossible brioche ice creams and imaginative popsicles
Among Rocambolesc's most popular products is the panet, a brioche bun filled with ice cream and toppings, which they place inside a machine they designed. It provides the perfect temperature for creating a brioche bun that's cold on the inside and toasted and sealed on the outside. It's just one example of how they're able to create ice cream magic. Their popsicles are also eye-catching. "Many of them pay homage to cities where we operate. One example is Columbus's finger, which we made for Barcelona as a tribute to the explorer's statue. It's one of the city's emblems, and it's made from chocolate, extra virgin olive oil, and salt. We also made one in honor of the bear and the strawberry tree, a symbol of Madrid, prepared with strawberry tree fruit and peach."
Roca and Rivas agree that fun is Rocambolesc's defining feature. "We want the customer to enjoy each ice cream as much as we do," they say. Additionally, every recipe uses "premium ingredients from suppliers who can provide us with information about their products, such as where they come from."
Speaking of origin, it's easy to find Spanish products in Rocambolesc ice creams. Blood orange is used in the Golden Hand, a popsicle that pays homage to Game of Thrones. The lactic ice cream uses rag cottage cheese from Mas Marcé's Ripollesa sheep, a local breed from that area of Girona.
When the company entered the US market, the owners decided to ship all of the ingredients from Girona, which allows them to "guarantee quality and uniformity;" however, Rocambolesc there has an even more important purpose: "We employ people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. They account for 20% of the staff and our idea is to increase the ratio over time. We want Rocambolesc to be a platform and for more companies to join this movement towards inclusion to create a sweeter and better world."
The dellaSera ice cream adventure: symbolism and flavor
Fig tree shade ice cream, a summer stroll The creations prepared at the Grate workshop (Viana, La Rioja) and sold at dellaSera in Logroño (La Rioja) defy the chocolate, vanilla, and plain ice cream flavors to which we are accustomed. The work of Fernando Sáenz, winner of Spain's National Gastronomy Memorial Award for Best Pastry Chef, and Angelines González, is pioneering and groundbreaking. "We've been working on this project for 20 years now. My question is, why do we consider chocolate, coffee, and vanilla ice cream to be 'classics' when they're products that didn't arrive in Spain until the discovery of America?" asks Saénz.
Saénz and González head to their orchard to play with "flavors of proximity" and, sometimes, with those that lack economic value. "La Rioja is wine country, so examples might be the frozen vines that aren't used, the lees from fermentation, the grape skins... Right now we're working with green grapes to create a green grape ice cream with butter, so that we're adding value to a product that is usually discarded," they comment.
Conceptualizing comes naturally in dellaSera's proposals. That's the case, for example, with the surprising ice cream that pays tribute to the Camino de Santiago that runs La Rioja... "We use raw almonds with skin, a fennel sprout, natural aromas from a blade of straw or hay that's chewed out in the fields..." Another example is the fig tree shadow ice cream, one of dellaSera's classics, which is made from the tender shoots of the leaves from this tree
There's no lack of raw materials that reflect the area, such as Marcona almonds, which are used in different recipes. In other dellaSera ice creams, the Spanish products make them stand out: two examples are the Ortigosa Roca de Cabra goat cheese with blueberries, and the Abel Mendoza 5V white wine lees ice cream, a wine from Rioja, with a dried apricot and black tea sauce.
Local products are always used by Sáenz and González, such as Basque apple from Astigarraga and Los Cameros PDO cheeses. They've also been organizing the Ice Cream Conversations event for the past 11 years, where attendees discuss ice cream, gastronomy, and many other topics. "We attract very different people, from anchovy producers to musicians to crockery designers." The goal is to talk about processes and ideas and share experiences and knowledge. A way to connect with "artisans, which is what we all are at the end of the day" and to evolve the world of ice cream towards a gastronomic dimension beyond that of a simple summer pleasure.
Conceptualizing comes naturally in dellaSera's proposals. That's the case, for example, with the surprising ice cream that pays tribute to the Camino de Santiago that runs La Rioja... "We use raw almonds with skin, a fennel sprout, natural aromas from a blade of straw or hay that's chewed out in the fields..." Another example is the fig tree shadow ice cream, one of dellaSera's classics, which is made from the tender shoots of the leaves from this tree.
There's no lack of raw materials that reflect the area, such as Marcona almonds, which are used in different recipes. In other dellaSera ice creams, the Spanish products make them stand out: two examples are the Ortigosa Roca de Cabra goat cheese with blueberries, and the Abel Mendoza 5V white wine lees ice cream, a wine from Rioja, with a dried apricot and black tea sauce.
Local products are always used by Sáenz and González, such as Basque apple from Astigarraga and Los Cameros PDO cheeses. They've also been organizing the Frozen Conversations event for the past 11 years, where attendees discuss ice cream, gastronomy, and many other topics. "We attract very different people, from anchovy producers to musicians to crockery designers." The goal is to talk about processes and ideas and share experiences and knowledge. A way to connect with "artisans, which is what we all are at the end of the day" and to evolve the world of ice cream towards a gastronomic dimension beyond that of a simple summer pleasure.
