Sara Cámara was crowned the best pastry chef in our country at the XI National Cooking and Pastry Championship, which took place yesterday in Palma de Mallorca. The woman from Salamanca took first place with a dessert based on almonds, the ingredient around which all the participants in the pastry category had to work this year. “It was the first time I had entered this category, but I had worked hard and arrived with very clear things. Everything turned out fabulous,” says the pastry chef.
This morning, having overcome the nervousness of the competition and the emotion of having won the first prize, Sara was walking around Palma thinking about what the future holds for her. “I’ve been living at a breakneck pace for six years. I think after this award it was the only time I was able to relax and breathe and think about what’s to come. When you’ve planned for the future and know what you want, I think it’s a lot easier,” he says. That future involves the opening of his restaurant in Ledesma, his hometown and which he carries as a flag, literally, in all the competitions he wins. “I am very proud of my land. Of course I represent Castilla y León and Salamanca, but always Ledesma as a flag.”
There is no opening date yet for this new project, but for Sara, 35, it seems like the next logical step after an impressive career in which she spent, among others, in the kitchens of Rivas, in Vega de Tirados, Akelarre, in San Sebastián, Casa Pacheco, in Vecinos, or Eunice Hotel Gastronomic, in Salamanca. Furthermore, she has been collecting awards for years: in 2023 she was proclaimed best chef of Castilla y León, in March of this year she was crowned Novice Chef of Castilla y León and, just a few months ago, in July, she achieved victory in the Castilla y León Cooking and Pastry Championship, in the pastry category, with the almond dessert that she presented yesterday in the national championship.
The winning dessert prepared by Cámara was named Almond combinations. The heart of the preparation was a very particular soufflé, which had to be broken to blend the sweet, salty and acidic flavors of the dish. “It was made with egg yolks and pure toasted and untoasted almond paste, frozen and then fried, so that it was completely liquid inside. A very unctuous and sweet preparation, which was combined with acidic and citrus touches.” These touches were provided by mandarin and persimmon, to which he added a tile of sobrasada as a nod to Mallorca. “I also wanted to introduce thyme, which for me is one of the most important aromatic herbs we have and, moreover, reminds me a lot of home.”
The pastry chef underlined to the jury that an ingredient alone is nothing, hence her commitment to combining to obtain a balanced and innovative dessert. “As in savory cuisine, a main ingredient is important, but if it is not accompanied well it goes nowhere. It’s like in our personal and professional life, if we are not surrounded by good people, there is not much to do. That was the secret to making a dessert like that and achieving a perfect balance.”
Cámara participated in the championship in the name of Castilla y León with the help of the Maestres de Cocina, the Association of Chefs and Pastry Chefs of Castilla y León, who celebrated the Salamanca award as “another recognition for a tireless professional, who shows us in every competition her talent, her commitment and her passion for gastronomy”.
