A Different Version of Reality According to Francis Mallmann

When René Magritte labelled a painting of a pipe, ‘ceci n’est pas une pipe’

He confronted the tension between meaning and language. So when Francis Mallmann says, “I don’t think I’m an incredible chef” he’s not expecting flattery. What Mallmann wants is for us to question the very nature of cooking, cuisine, food, eating … the fabric of life. 

While he trained in the classical French style, and can lay a haute cuisine table with the best, what Francis Mallmann does is not ‘cheffing’. His cuisine is about the primitive response to food – how we bring hunger to the table, what it means to be satiated, how recipes can be created from local means. He’s famous for finding a forest clearing, making a fire and then constructing a feast of complex flavours and rich elements: stone, wood, earth, fire, meat, wine… 

There’s something about Francis Mallmann that leads to the creation of lists. Number of wives – four. Children – seven: Andino, Allegra, Ambar, Alexia, Francisco, Alba and Heloisa. Courses served to the International Academy of Gastronomy – nine (every one of which was potatoes!) People he’s annoyed – innumerable: not only does he reject the haute cuisine he trained in, he’s notoriously rejected molecular gastronomy saying, “I don’t give a shit about who gets mad.” But his outspoken nature is in no way ‘shock chef’ behaviour. Everybody says that Francis Mallmann is one of the kindest, most romantic and easygoing, and down-to-earth stars of the culinary world.

Image credit: Laura Austin

Watching Francis Mallmann cook is revelatory. It begins with intense understanding of local food: grass-fed beef, lambs that browse on seaweed, birds that forage along the shoreline. It develops through use of local products: wood for fires, herbs for rubs and dressings, indigenous crops (those nine potato dishes were made from indigenous potatoes from South America). What he brings, uniquely, is intuition – where to dig a fire-pit, when to season a dish, how long it takes to cook a whole side of beef over an open fire. Wherever he cooks, from his private Patagonian island to the rewilded landscape of the Scottish Highlands, chef Mallmann decides which wine to pair with local game to create “clashes in the mouth”, which is part of his philosophy.

Francis passionately explains: “I like to eat something that’s delicious and a wine that contrasts with it, and they both fight me to convince me who is the best.”

He’s not a chef in the modern sense, that’s for sure, but he’s a cook. A cook who’s the bedrock creator of good food from the ground up, with that overused word, ‘passion’ and that underused one, ‘honesty’. There’s no confusion between language and meaning with Francis Mallmann, he sets out to make each meal unique, he achieves his aim with an honest approach to his locality, his ingredients and his guests. Nobody else cooks like Francis Mallmann, a non-chef who defies description.

In August 2022, Francis Mallmann will share his wood-fire cooking techniques in the wilderness of the Scottish Highlands for the first time. This experience is in partnership with Satopia Travel, and includes accommodation at the boutique hotel at Alladale Wilderness Reserve (Europe’s most eco-friendly hotel 2019 and two-Scottish Green Energy Awards finalist 2020) , with a 6-day gastronomy experience exploring the authentic philosophy of Francis Mallmann. 

This is a unique opportunity to spend time with Francis himself and learn his seven-fires technique on a 5-part masterclass.

To find out more about the Hosted Experience with Francis Mallmann in Scotland by Satopia Travel, visit the webpage here.