The philosophy of Saltxipi (Calzada Vieja de Ategorrieta, 3, San Sebastián) is summarized in three words: product, product and product.
We can add a fourth: elaboration.
And up to a fifth: mime.
But the motto of the extraordinary Ortega-Añorga food house already says it: "Only from the best product comes the best gastronomy."
Motto that seems dedicated to the insistent and hard-core fans of easy adornment and impostor costumes, which in the kitchen there are, and abundant.
Good suppliers, good product and good technique, if there is not more ...
From left to right, Jon and Gorka Ortega, chef and head of room respectively, Ana Mari Añorga and Javier Ortega.Miirta Rojo
In the case of Saltxipi, the king product is called spider crab - say
txangurro
if you are in San Sebastián, or even
txangurru
-, both in its cooked and baked versions, and even in variants of proven popular success such as cream, croquettes, stuffed peppers or salad. Let's also not forget the crab, used in some of the tasty preparations that land on these tables. The two, in addition to the lobsters, clams and oysters in season, arrive on time from the San Antón de Getaria nurseries, where they are received in tanker trucks with salt water from the northern coast of France that overlook the canal. from La Mancha (more reddish in color) or from Scotland and England (more garnet, sometimes purple). “It goes seasonally, but in general throughout the year there is more French…, although I personally like English more. There are hardly any differences in flavor ", explains Jon Ortega,who is the one who sees them with these creatures in the kitchen.
Crab freshly taken from the nursery, with its characteristic spiked shell.
Left: back of the shellfish.Miirta Rojo
But let's do a little history.
There was another Saltxipi, and without that there would not be this one.
It was 1973 in Usurbil (Gipuzkoa).
“I was a farm girl who helped with jobs, but I was fed up.
And one day I commented to my
father
why didn't we take a place that was there, which they used to store apples and cider boxes and that, and we would set up something. It was the time when the grill craze began, but there were still very few. And you know, the girls in the hamlets at that time had neither voice nor vote, but my father was so good that he said 'go ahead'. Word of Ana Mari Añorga, owner of Saltxipi along with her husband, Javier Ortega. "With the help of my father and what little I knew, well ... you know, difficult, but in life, if you want to, things will turn out for you." They started with the cod omelette and the chop. And later, through his brother, who transported and distributed French spider crabs in Asturias, they started with the spider crab, "which hardly anyone gave back then." Years of total success would come at the old Usurbil spit.But various life circumstances that are irrelevant in a happy gastronomic story like this one made the Ortega-Añorga couple embark on a new adventure. And so, in 2007 Javier and Ana Mari made the decision to leave the old Saltxipi and look for a place in San Sebastián, where they already had a loyal clientele who did not hesitate on Sunday and Sunday to travel to Usurbil (including the infernal access that you had to get into an old gas station to turn the curve, but pleasure and hedonism have their tolls).where they already had a loyal clientele who did not hesitate on Sunday and Sunday also to travel to Usurbil (including the infernal access that had to be made by getting into an old gas station to turn the curve, but pleasure and hedonism have their tolls).where they already had a loyal clientele who did not hesitate on Sunday and Sunday also to travel to Usurbil (including the infernal access that had to be made by getting into an old gas station to turn the curve, but pleasure and hedonism have their tolls).
Jon Ortega, chef from Saltxipi, in the middle of cooking the crab meat.
The specimens, between 1.2 and 1.3 kilos, come from France, England or Scotland.
So it was near the foot of Mount Ulía, halfway between the neighborhoods of Ategorrieta and Gros, where they found an imposing and beautiful villa.
The house had previously been a restaurant, so it was equipped for catering.
In case something was missing, it had a winery and a swimming pool that the new owners of Saltxipi-Donostia turned into their private shellfish nursery.
At Saltxipi, the
baked
crab
is served as a filling inside the animal's own shells, those full of hard skewers, which arrive from the table empty, are thoroughly cleaned, frozen to disinfect and are refilled.
The shells of the bug are, then, part of the tableware of the house, as it were.
Account Ana Mari.
“There we put the filling, which is one of our star dishes and the one that most people ask for, along with the
txangurro
croquettes
, which come out of a tube.
People in these times, especially outsiders, prefer to eat easy, it is less difficult for them to eat this dish with a spoon than a cooked spider crab, they do not appreciate it, just because it is difficult for them to handle it, and we already take advantage of it and everything " .
Jon Ortega with the txangurro shredding work.Miirta Rojo
The secret of the filling is kept like gold in cloth Jon Ortega, the son who officiates with his mistress in the kitchens of Saltxipi while Javier, the
father
, controls the accounting warehouse, and the other son, Gorka, takes care of the wines and of the restaurant spaces: main room, reserved rooms and the splendid terrace, one of the most privileged places to dine on a good summer night in San Sebastián (“good” and “summer night” are not necessarily accompanied in this city) . Jon now prepares, on the strong days of the summer season, about 25
crabs
per service (the restaurant is open every day for lunch and on Fridays and Saturdays for dinner), while controlling the cooker, where the pieces of 1.2-1.3 kilos are cooked for 12 minutes with the right point of Salt. "When people ask for it cooked, they already know that they have to wait, because it is cooked instantly, because the spider crab loses a lot from one day to the next." Jon also reigns over the coals, from where succulent steaks and superb monkfish, sea bream and turbot come out in procession, not forgetting the eternal kokotxas. Which makes him sometimes drop the proverbial saying of good grills: "I can't even feel the tips of my fingers."
With the
crab
and
the
spider
crab there is a conceptual fuss that is better to clarify: “In the Basque Country and Navarra,
crab
is called
specifically what the
spider
crab is, to understand us, the seafood with spikes [and long spider-shaped legs] .
But outside of here the
txangurro
is known
more like a preparation, like a dish.
And then there is the crab, the one with the fat claws [and smooth shell] ”.
Good.
Once the verbal and conceptual problems have been solved, let's go back to the Saltxipi filling, which crumbles us — never better said — Jon Ortega: “The base is onion and leek.
Then a lot of food [seafood] that we spent hours and hours crumbling.
And then a special brandy that we burn.
And the trick: an American sauce based on a lot of vegetables and a lot of seafood, and a tomato sauce ”.
The restaurant's king product: baked crab, with the Saltxipi filling served in the animal's own shell, cleaned, frozen and reused.
Miirta Red
And that's it —eta kitto, tell me if you want to do your first steps in Basque.
It only remains to sit and wait for the delicacy.
And, paying attention to Gorka Ortega, accompany the cooked spider crab with a
fresh, non-aged
txakoli
, a Txomin Etxaniz for example;
and
sprinkle
the baked
crab
with another
txakoli
, this time with more body and stem.
A K5 from Arguiñano will do this time.
The happiness.
Health.