What’s cooking at the Grand Tasting?

Seamus Mullen | Boqueria and Suba

Any fond/crazy/drunk memories from other festivals past?
We did go to the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen this year, and my craziest memory involves fending off the advances of cougars on the disco floor at the Caribou Club. The thin air and high altitude in Aspen must make the middle-aged women there very aggressive.

What are you serving at the Grand Tasting?
Chilled white bean soup with smoked house-made salt cod and Concord grapes. It's a riff on a classic Spanish dish: The combination of salt cod and beans is super traditional in Spain, and the addition of Concord grapes enables us to use one of my favorite New York seasonal ingredients.

How do you prepare for a massive, multi-day tasting? What is the prep like?
For this particular dish, we will start prepping 10 days in advance to house-cure and smoke the cod. For the soup, we'll start soaking beans three days before, cook them two days before and then puree them the day before so the flavors have time to incorporate. 

Will you be attending any of the other festival events? Anybody you look forwarding to meeting?
I cooked for Alain Ducasse when he came to Boqueria, and it would be a pleasure to meet him. I am also hoping to catch up with and see Ferran again.

The most memorable festival/benefit tasting dish you have ever, well, tasted?
On a personal note, one of my favorite dishes that Suba and Boqueria have cooked was the American lamb belly sandwich we served at this year's Celebrate Flatiron Chefs event. [Editor's note: We can attest that Mullen's decadent lamb fat sandwich was our favorite dish at the event...by far.]