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Heinz Von Holzen: Revealing The Secret Recipes
That morning, Baliâs legendary chef Heinz Von Holzen was driving toward a traditional market
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That morning, Bali's legendary chef Heinz Von Holzen was driving toward a traditional market.
Ten people were coming along with him.
All of them were tourists who joined the market tour as part of his renowned cooking class.
'Those pick-up cars bring the freshest vegetables that have just been harvested yesterday morning from the highland areas. In the afternoon, those vegetables are loaded onto the truck and arrive here at around 4 to 4:30 a.m.,' Holzen explained to the tourists while driving.
'If anyone of you in Europe or America have access to vegetables like this, unless you live on a farm, it's impossible.'
Holzen teaches Balinese cooking three times a week: every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
He started the class with an introduction of local markets and explained about exotic spices and fruits to the participants.
Later, he would take them for a quick tour to buy fresh vegetables, stocks and catches of the day from Jimbaran fish market. These ingredients would later be used in the cooking class.
When the morning tour was done, the cooking class continued for the next six hours at Bumbu Bali II restaurant in Nusa Dua, Holzen's second restaurant built to follow the principles of traditional Balinese home compounds.
The participants were later taken to an open kitchen where more than 20 of Holzen's secret recipes would be revealed.
'So far, we have done about 1,700 classes,' said Holzen, who is also author of many cookbooks.
His restaurants, Bumbu Bali I and Bumbu Bali II, are renowned for their authenticity and for the legendary cooking class that has operated for 17 years.
He said when the restaurant was first opened, he thought the location was not very good, but it came at affordable price.
'So I figured out if we do only a Balinese restaurant, we needed to attract some people. So we decided to put 'restaurant and cooking school'. The cooking school serves as a sign of quality,' he said.
Unlike other cooking classes that are available in Bali, Holzen's class also implements modern cooking methods that involve a scientific approach and the usages of modern cooking wares, such as pressure cookers and thermometers.
His new way of cooking as shown in the cooking class is also featured in his latest book, A New Approach to Indonesian Cooking.
Holzen's modern cooking technique is mostly influenced by American food scientist Harold McGee, UK celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, Nathan Myhrvold and Maxim Bilets (the authors of Modernist Cuisine) and Philips Pauli, author of Classical Cooking: The Modern Way.
Most of the recipes featured in his latest book were gathered from his travels across the country, such as recipes from places like Maluku, Padang or Palembang.
Holzen first moved to Bali in 1990 to take a position at the Grand Hyatt in Nusa Dua. He was transferred from the Hyatt Hotel Singapore in which he served for more than five years.
When he first arrived in Bali, he said he was disappointed to find out that Balinese foods were not very popular, leaving him with the impression that mie goreng (fried noodles), nasi goreng (fried rice), gado-gado (vegetables served in peanut sauce) and satay ' frequent food found on hotel's menu ' were Balinese foods.
He said the hotel has a strong philosophy about the foods of the countries in which it is located, such as by serving ethnic foods.
'With this philosophy, I came to Bali and found out there was no book in English about Balinese foods,' he said.
He came up with idea to write a cookbook on Balinese cuisine after holding a competition of chefs at the hotel.
Amazed with the diversity of foods presented at the competition, he took photos and collected recipes to document it.
His book on Balinese cuisine, The Food of Bali, then provided the basics in the development of Bumbu Bali. 'We still follow these recipes today and many of them are used in our cooking,' he said.
His knowledge of Balinese food expanded when he met his Balinese wife, Ketut Puji Anniki Oka, who took him to her house and introduced him to her community.
'Obviously, countless trips into villages and homes as well as by actively taking part in many ceremonies have helped me to collect and record a vast variety of authentic dishes,' Holzen said.
With enough knowledge to serve and introduce authentic Balinese food, he left his job, then at another upscale hotel, and took a chance to open his own restaurant.
As a chef, he said he never stops exploring the wonders of Indonesia's cuisine in order to deliver better quality cooking.
His travels and addiction to photography have resulted in more than 10 cookbooks, including three books that compile varieties of Indonesian foods, which recipes he collected during his volcano-hopping trips across Indonesia in the last 10 years.
'We always learn; that's what I need to do as a chef. How can I improve the quality? What can I do to maintain the quality? That is important for me. If you can maintain the quality of the restaurant, I don't think you will get problems in business,' he said.
His ultimate aim is to constantly find new things and create a good working environment for his staff ' believing that when his staff members are happy, they would work happily and in return make his customers happy.
As an adventure junkie, Holzen also hopes he can find time to climb more volcanoes and spend time with his family.
His life philosophy is simple: live the moment, work hard today and work better tomorrow.
'I don't know what I'll be in five years. What is important for me is today. Today I have the possibil ity to improve what I did yesterday. I don't know what I'll be tomorrow,' he said.
'What I know is, I want to climb more mountains and spend more time with my family and be together ' that we spent more time together than we have in the past, that is important for me.'
' Photos by Intan Tanjung
