Santiago Sansone is one of 10 talented young chefs who have been selected for the 2024 Pacific Region S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition. Santiago works as Chef de Partie at the Four Seasons in Sydney, and he was put forward for the competition by the Executive chef. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Santiago grew up watching his grandparents cooking every day, preparing dishes for celebrations and holidays, and making pasta every Sunday. Santiago spent four years doing a law degree but realised that he enjoyed the joy and creativity he got when he cooked for his friends and in a part time job he had and so he changed direction and signed up for culinary school. He did various internships in Buenos Aires and then Santiago went on to work for a catering company specialising in Italian cuisine. Here, he became passionate about working with flour, pasta, bread and Italian sweets. Following this, Santiago started working in his first leadership role, as Chef de Partie, at Negroni in Buenos Aires before heading to the States to work at The Ritz Carlton in Santa Barbara and working across four outlets including fine-dining restaurants, sushi restaurants and more. Santiago came to Sydney, in 2023 and started work as the Chef de Partie at the Four Seasons. It was such a pleasure talking to Santiago and hearing about the inspiration behind his dish, Sweet Memories, which features sweetbreads, or as Argentinians call them, molleja. Through childhood flavours, Santiago aims to encourage people to experience something different by creating a beautiful and colourful dish and he hopes he can change peoples minds and perceptions with this dish and in so doing, help utilise all parts of the cow, so that there is less waste.
Hi Santiago. First of all, thank you so much for your time today, and also congratulations on being a finalist in the competition.
Oh, thank you so much. It's a pleasure for me.
Let's start with your dish. Can you tell me a little bit about the dish and how you created it?
Well, first my executive chef suggested that I participate in the competition. When I first started reading about it, I started thinking about what I wanted to show. Now I'm here in Australia, I want to share a little bit of where I grew up. The first thing I thought was showing a little bit of my culture. I'm from Argentina, and in Argentina sweetbread is really popular we call it molleca. When I was travelling, I saw that many people didn't even know about sweet bread. I thought it was a really nice way to show a little bit of my culture and let people know about what Argentinians really enjoy. So I decided to use sweetbread as the main ingredient of my dish. We do it on the grill, one of the many pieces we put on the grill. So I decided to keep the same essence, and do it with a salad. I try to incorporate also modern techniques and I pair it with a corn puree and a chimichurri foam, chimichurri is very popular in Argentina. That's how it came to me.
Obviously you have to think about how you're going to plate it up as well. When you were thinking about the flavours and the ingredients, were you also thinking about what it would look like on the plate?
Yes. The sweetbread, is a beef gland, so it has a lot of fat. It's heavy. So I decided to balance it with the freshness of a salad. And then the colours: I tried to represent the nice sunny day which is what I remember when I was growing up and enjoying by the grill. I have yellow, green, all outdoor colours where I spend moist of my life, all my free days. I spend it outdoor will by the grill.
It sounds idyllic and like a really interesting dish. And as you say, we don't eat a lot of offal in Australia. Have people tried this dish and been surprised by it, do you think?
I think people will be surprised by the taste. Luckily I have really close by my place an Argentinian Butchery, so I can find all the cuts that we usually cook in Argentina, so I can share the sweetbreads with my colleagues. They all enjoyed it and were surprised that it was beef and that they like offal. Maybe people are a little bit judgmental about that, but I think when you try it, you will be surprised by it.
That's handy having an Argentinian butchery nearby. That's must be nice.
It's really nice. I feel like food brings back memories, and then you dont feel far from home.
Exactly. That's right. I see that the judging panel have three particular things they're looking for with the dishes: technical skills, creativity and personal belief. Can you explain a little bit about how those three things are present in your dish?
Well, for the technical skills, I used a lot of new techniques, like I sous vide the sweet bread. I'm using the technique of foam. Also, the garnish is a chip made out of tendons which is a big process where you cook the tendons, then you freeze it, and after that you slice it with the slice machine, and then you dehydrate them for one day is perfect. You can do it faster, but you know, good things take time. So as much as you dehydrate them, it comes out better. Then the story, my belief, its about bringing people to try new things now. And helping people to be open to try new things. Here in Australia, offal is not really popular. So if I can show people how to use it or include it as in their diet, or make it a choice, that will really be an accomplishment for me.
It's amazing. I was reading in the regulations for the competition as well, that once you've submitted your recipe, you're not allowed to change it. So I imagine that before you submit the recipe, you must have to make it lots of times to make sure that you've got the perfect recipe. What was the process? How long did it take for you to work on that and get it to the point that it was ready to submit?
It took a long time. I also talked with my superiors to help me make the process of the dish easier and their opinion helped me a lot to come up with this dish that I'm really happy with now. It took a couple, a couple of times to plate it, to rethink it again. I was lucky to have all the support of my superiors which made me really confident about the dish.
What I really enjoy is creating memories. That’s what I most enjoy. I always try to give the best of me in every meal, in every service. Currently I’m working in banquet, so it’s a lot of volume. But I try to always keep the same attention and the highest standards. I think people always remember places or experiences with food. That’s what motivates me to try to create that experience for people and maybe make memories. ~ Santiago Sansone, Four Seasons Hotel
And now thinking more about your journey as a chef, I read that you started a law degree, but then you changed to a culinary one. What drew you into becoming a chef?
I was studying law for four years. It was super overwhelming studying, and I was looking for something, to distract myself with, something that I enjoyed while I was studying. Back in Argentina with my group of friends, I was the always the one who was in charge of cooking or when we got together, Id turn on the grill or make pizzas or whatever, just to have a good time. I thought, why not try culinary school and I started studying at the Institutos de Gastronomia back in Argentina. I started really getting into it and practising and trying to get the perfect techniques. The perfect julienne, the perfect brunoise. I was really into it. The classes were fantastic, all good teachers. They really transmitted what it was to be a chef. I was doing both careers at the same time. Then I start working in a restaurant in an internship, my first in internship in an Italian bar that was in the centre of Buenos Aires. Slowly, slowly I started turning more to the culinary side and I was studying both careers and I decided to go into culinary and use all my time on that. I quit law school and then from there I kept studying at culinary school and I think it was the right choice.
What do you enjoy about being a chef? Obviously, there's creativity, but it's a stressful job.
You said the creativity, but what I really enjoy is creating memories. That's what I most enjoy. I always try to give the best of me in every meal, in every service. Currently I'm working in banquet, so it's a lot of volume. But I try to always keep the same attention and the highest standards. I think people always remember places or experiences with food. That's what motivates me to try to create that experience for people and maybe make memories.
I love that. That's so good. You've worked in restaurants, but you've recently been working in hotels. Do you prefer one or the other?
I like both. Both have their pros and his cons. Maybe hotels, your menu has to be approved by a lot of superiors. Your ideas got to be approved by general managers and in restaurants maybe you are more free to try and experiment with new things. But with hotels, I think I'm really comfortable with all the structure and the support they give you where maybe it's harder to get that in restaurants.
How and when did you come to Australia?
The main reason is my girlfriend. We met around four years ago back in Argentina. We worked in a hotel together. We started dating just before Covid appeared. We started dating in February and in March Covid happened, quarantine and the lockdown. So after that we decided to go abroad and we first travelled to the US where we stayed one year in California in Santa Barbara. After that we wanted to keep traveling. So she suggested Australia because she already had an experience here. Before we met, she lived for one year here. And she said to me, you will love it there. And I was like, yes, it must be really nice, but it's really far away. We decided to try it. Before coming to Australia, we did a little tour around Europe that really motivated me to keep traveling and keep looking for new experiences and new cultures. We arrived in Sydney and we love it. Luckily The Four Seasons is sponsoring me. So now I can stay. My girlfriend and I are enjoying staying here. I really love the hotel. I get a lot of support from them. I can feel like I can express myself. I would never have imagined participating in this competition if they hadn't suggested it to me. So I feel like they really motivate me to do this. I'm really happy with all this happening now. WE are really happy here in Australia. I think it brings a lot of beautiful things to us.
Oh, that's so good to hear. I love that. Well, thank you so much and all the best for the next stage of the competition.
I'm really looking forward to it.