Les Cols in a sweet key #PR54

Les Cols

In this second edition of PastryRevolution for 2022, number 54, all the secrets of Les Cols' sweet world are revealed.

The marriage between Manel Puigvert and Fina Puigdevall inaugurated the Les Cols restaurant (Olot, Gerona) in May 1990. Today, Clara, Martina, and Carlota – their daughters – work hand in hand to continue bringing La Garrotxa to diners. José Carlos Capel, gastronomic critic for El País, points out, "In their cuisine, bearing the family's seal, local products and producers appear in alliance with modern techniques." And Marta Fernández Guadaño, journalist for Gastroeconomy in Expansión, adds, "Their landscape cuisine, something like gastronomic nakedness, extends to the physical space of the restaurant." This poetic, intimate, local, and therefore universal gastronomy has earned them 2 Michelin stars (2005 and 2010) and the green star (2021).

Throughout the 180 pages of this monograph on the sweet world of Les Cols, we find a total of 75 creations – with 240 processes – divided into five families: [sweet] kitchen, [savory] kitchen, [sweet] bites, liturgy, and [sweet] celebrations.

In the [sweet] kitchen, adaptations of traditional desserts coexist with more avant-garde ones made with vegetables, fruits, flowers, nuts, and mushrooms in the two-starred restaurant (Les Cols). Once again, the Puigvert Puigdevall family demonstrates that the connection between savory and sweet is a winning tandem. All this is reflected in the [savory] kitchen, where pastry techniques – such as puff pastry or choux pastry – are used in their dishes. Next, small [sweet] bites – or petits fours – such as basil tocino de cielo or fennel macaron, are the protagonists. In liturgy, they showcase typical sweets for different festivities, such as panellets for All Saints' Day or turrones and neules for Christmas. Finally, this monograph is topped off with the classic cakes served at their [sweet] celebrations held in La Carpa.

In this edition, we present 2 reports on 2 traditional bakeries in Catalonia. Both are highly renowned for the excellent quality of their products, using sourdough.

Forn Quelu 1903

The oldest bakery in Sant Boi de Llobregat, owned by the Quixal family since its inauguration, has passed from fathers to sons. Now Miquel Quixal is the baker.

In the magazine, we present 6 creations:

Whole wheat spelt bread with seeds

Buckwheat, yuca, and rice bread with seeds

Sourdough bread, in a round loaf and baguette

Whole wheat spelt bread

Coca de brioche

“Dit de crema” (xuixo or suiso)

L´Artesanna

L'Artesanna is a workshop for sweet and savory bakery, pastry, and confectionery products, established by baker and pastry chef Anna Tort Marcet, chef Josep Tort Marcet, and barista and bartender Maximiliano Gubler, located in the city of Terrassa, Barcelona.

We present 10 creations:

Vienna bread

Cheesecake

Orange and/or chocolate brioche rolls

Cocas (4 different ones, savory and sweet)

Pas de Pessic (traditional Catalan sponge cake)

Carquinyolis (almond shortbread)

Traditional Ensaimada