Chef Chat: Ignacio Barrios on Teaching and Eating Authentic Peruvian Cuisine

It’s one thing to cook the food of your homeland, but teaching it to a class of students is a whole new ballgame. Luckily, Chef Ignacio Barrios has mastered both of these feats. Hailing from Lima, Peru, Barrios has a long history in the kitchen – from London’s Wild Honey to Madrid’s Astrid y Gastón.

But it’s when the chef returned home to Peru that he put another idea into action.  After a year of planning and anticipation, Barrios and his team opened Urban Kitchen, a culinary wonderland of classes, workshops, and food and drink pairings.

We caught up with Barrios after cooking with him at DeGustibus Cooking School in Manhattan, where he dished on authentic Peruvian food, the art of teaching and more. 

Local, fresh ingredients are one of the most important aspects of your cooking and teaching. Can you tell us a little more about that?

Well, we try to [use only the freshest ingredients]. First of all, we do a little bit of everything in Urban Kitchen because we have to do local dishes but we also do pasta classes, then we can do tapas or different things but what we do try to do is to grab everything from what we find close by.

We have a lot of produce in Peru and we can get almost everything during the whole year so our seasons are not as smart as in other places like here or in Europe, but then in the end you have to always know when the product is better so you can use it. We use a lot of fruit, a lot of vegetables we buy in the markets; we buy what we see in the day. We change our menus and if we see something is not in season, we try to get that. That helps us do a better service and show people how to cook.

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Many of the classes you teach are unexpected for traditional Peruvian cuisine. For example, I see a Thai cooking class on the schedule. Do you teach authentic Thai or Thai with your Peruvian influence?

We try to do as authentic as we can. Obviously, it’s normal that when you cook something that’s not from there, there are some products that are difficult for you to find, but we will try to research or try to see what local things we can use instead. But then we try to maintain how it should be done.

If you cook maybe Spanish or French food, it will not be a problem because you can find everything – you can find all the herbs, you can find the products and you just have to replicate the techniques. When you do Thai class its a little bit more difficult, so I usually try the dishes before and I see what I can do or use instead but I try to maintain as traditional as I can to respect a little bit of what they do.[pagebreak]

How did your background – both in the culinary world and not – get you to where you are today?

I started working in sales for four years and then decided I didn’t want to go through the corporate business life my whole life. I said, ‘Why not try to go into cooking?’, and learn what to eat and work for a while. But in the end, I always wanted to have my own business.

I went to London to Le Cordon Bleu – a good cooking school there – and then I worked for two more years in London. I met these amazing people and I learned a lot and it was difficult because I was late [to the game] – I was like 26, 27-years-old, but I was cooking with 17, 18-year-old guys.

Then I went to Madrid and I worked there for Aster & Stone for two years, starting as a chef and ending as a head chef. I decided to go back to Lima to open my own restaurant. I had two ideas – one was a kitchen concept and the other was more of a breakfast-style casual place.[pagebreak]

Speaking of breakfast, what’s typical for Peru?

Breakfast in Peru would be probably sandwiches – we have a chicharrón sandwich that is like confit and deep fried pork. You know it’s not healthy at all!

I usually like to make eggs and giving more options for people. But the concept we have of brunch in Lima is not something like in New York, where everyone goes on Saturdays and Sundays. So thinking about that and what you see in other countries I saw an opportunity [for a restaurant] but I also saw the opportunity in the cooking class.

Do people approach you at the cooking school with requests for certain dishes or cuisines?

We have a program and we put the classes out and say, for example, that this Saturday is going to be pasta, this Monday is going to be a ceviche, this Tuesday is going to be a pie and then people choose just to go there but we do a lot as we are with the people everyday and we cook with them. But I do get comments everyday

Where people say things like ‘You know, you should do a soup class, since winter is coming.’ I do some of the classes and I invite some other people to do the classes –mainly friends of mine, people who cook there in Lima, sometimes people who come from abroad also and do classes over there – and that’s also great because I invite head chefs that I admire to my place and they can lead the class and I’m always there and I keep on learning and obviously take care of my customers, as well and I’m there trying to do a little bit of everything. [pagebreak]

Are there any chefs here in America that you really admire?

Of course! Since I started in London, I keep track of the London restaurant scene a lot. But I travel to New York, as well, because I have family here, so I try to come at least once a year. For example, I admire April Bloomfield a lot – she’s someone I think that has done something cool because this city is hard for people who come from abroad and who do things a little bit different. Also, David Chang is someone you just have to keep up with – the concepts he comes up with are amazing.

Let’s settle the pisco sour debate once and for all! Who invented it – Peruvians or Chileans?

Peruvians, for sure! There is a big dispute but what I always say is – Chileans have pisco, Peruvians have pisco. You have to respect that they both have pisco but if you really look into it, history will say that it was first done in Peru. We have a town called pisco, but also right now it would be impossible to say that Chile doesn’t have pisco, because they do. They have much more, but they’re two different methods. But again, if you look at history, you will see that it was first done in Peru.

Speaking of drinks, do you teach your students how to make cocktails at the cooking school?

Yes, we do! We do wine courses and then cocktail classes as well. I also do a class with a friend where we cook and try the dishes paired with different wines. And we do everything in the kitchen – so we cook, eat and drink in the kitchen. It’s very fun!