Last few years during our cigar minglings officially called Habanos Moments, mingling with cigar smoking chefs and winemakers of the same kind we have come accros some of the greatest matches between cigars, food and drinks. It was logical to put on test tobacco itself in form of a spice. Initially, It was not our idea, but we have decided to investigate it more thoroughly as a new interesting cooking concept.
A lot of recipes had been tested during those years and not all of them were successful. Tobacco plant is not easy to conquer. Chemically it is very rich and complex thus getting in many interactions with other food chemicals sometimes producing results not pleasant for palate. It is important to point out that all meals presented in Havana have been tested by Croatian Food Institute in order to verify that the food is suitalble for human consumption.
As a part of the Habanos cooking concept by Camelot, a creative cooking team of
Gastronomadi, managed to cure the salt on tobacco leaves. The flavor and the spice of
a Cuban soil from the tobacco grown in the Vuelta abajo region was successfully
imprinted in the raw salt from the Adriatic sea harvested in the ancient Croatian town
of Nin by the same method as in Roman times.
The development team
ALEN KOSANOVIĆ
Heart and soul of cigar business in Croatia and Slovenia, 15 years ago Mr Kosanović started the business of cigar selling in Croatia as an absolute pioneer. It has been a hard work, many long hours, educating, discussing, convincing. Creating a market from scratch was not an easy project to run. During these years many successful projects and events have been organized. A lot of great ideas were brought to life. Cooking with tobacco was one of them. When this particular idea crossed his mind, Mr. Kosanović gathered the best chefs in Croatia, presented his idea and invited them to join him in this interesting field of exploring tobacco as a cooking ingredient.
MASTRECHEF MR: GRGUR BAKŠIĆ
Born in Karlovac, Croatia 28th May 1974. To 1993 completed primary and secondary commercial and hospitality school, in 1995 passed the specialization for highly skilled chefs.
In 1996 finished pedagogy, didactics and psychology at the University, and then went abroad (from Germany, USA to Montenegro), where he was studying craft until 2002 in various restaurants and hotels carefully choosing mentors.
Having a well studied culinary values around the world, particularly in the areas of wildlife (ducks), freshwater fish and steaks, he returned to Croatia and runs the kitchens of several famous local restaurants.
Grgur regularly worked as lecturer at the catering school in Karlovac, joined Gastronomadi as partner and main lecturer until present day, running collinary school.
He has had thousands of their own copyrighted recipes , and more than three hundred only in the Club Gastronomadi.
Festival Habano XV 2013
Habano Cooking on Festival Habano XV 2013
