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Rooftop Smokehouse
How did the project start and where did the passion for smoking come from?
The Project started in our rooftop, that’s why it’s called rooftop smokehouse. The passion for smoking really came through curiosity and experimentation. After cooking school, I really wanted to learn more, so I started experimenting with chef friends and Carla. This was initially a kind of hobby, a passion and a curiosity that accidentally turned into a business. Just through time, there was a point where we seriously started developing it as a project. Though we realized this was going to be a business after the food truck period.
What is your day-to-day like at Rooftop? Do you distribute the different products by days/weeks, or is there a constant production of everything?
My day-to-day at rooftop can change quite radically. I do everything from creating new recipies, doing research and development to supporting the team and “apaga fuegos” which is kind of ironic, since we make fire often and smoke with them. The products production flow is mostly based on seasonality.
Where does the smoking technique come from? Was it originally used for food preservation?
The smoking technique dates back to the caveman era. At that time, they didn’t consider it a preservation technique, but basically it was logical to them that, after hunting and killing the animals, they wouldn’t leave them on the cave floor entrance. So they would put it in the safest spot in the cave, in the back where there was a fire, and hang them from the ceiling so no to attract other predators to come in. I suppose that, as a byproduct of that logic, they realized the food lasted a bit longer and did probably taste a bit better; and that was the beginning of smoking techniques. But I suppose it wasn’t something that was consciously done at the beginning; it was the byproduct of an accident.
Since that time –the caveman era to now– the smoking process has changed, though not radically. Really cold smoking is still a method of preservation, the difference from the caveman until now is the application of salt and probably some butchery skills with proper knifes and not just sharp rocks. And there’s also hot smoking, which we use a bit of both. However we are very true to the traditional and ancestral techniques which is making a fire, making sure it burns well, very simple product, quality produced salt and carefully taking care of the smoke. Industrialized processes, by contrast, happen in machines where they use wood chips, or sawdust or chemicals to make smoke, and they try to do it as fast as possible. Our objective is to make it taste as good as possible, not to do it as fast as possible.
Are there different techniques to smoke a product? Have you used the same one since the beginning or have you tried several? Or does the technique depend on the product being smoked?
Our smoking technique started in our rooftop with a wine barrel that we converted into smoke with a wood burning stove, hasn’t changed too much. We’ve just refined this same system; we still have a good burning stove. We do not use a wine barrel anymore because we are not allowed to use that, but we have the equivalent in a chamber and we have the chimney which uses a flue and that helps us give more control of the smoking process. But really the origins of how we started and how we do it now have stayed true to the original system –we’ve just refined and improved it.
Over the years with the Rooftop Smokehouse project (including the beginnings on your terrace), have you had any uniform or work attire that you hold special affection for or that has been especially comfortable and useful? Could you describe it to us?
As for what we wear in the kitchen, it all started because Carla was a fashion designer when we began Rooftop. We used to make our own uniforms, they would usually be sewn by a friend, and so we had our own aprons, which I loved and still have. We even screen-printed our own boxes to put food in for Christmas presents, and we use to make our own chopping boards. So we were very very hands on and crafty at the beginning. Now we have to be a bit more practical, and we use outfits that are confi for the kitchen, that are easy to clean, since we are no longer doing it on our rooftop, but in a proper professional kitchen. We need gear that is durable and comfortable but we also like to look smart. That’s why we are really happy with your jackets cuz they look great and they would fit into something we would want in our kitchen.
Photographer: Iris Humm
