{"id":4954,"date":"2022-11-02T04:31:38","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T03:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/?p=4954"},"modified":"2022-11-02T04:32:08","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T03:32:08","slug":"chef-hector-garcia-a-creative-of-culinary-arts-that-keeps-the-essence-of-panama-in-each-dish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/2022\/11\/02\/chef-hector-garcia-a-creative-of-culinary-arts-that-keeps-the-essence-of-panama-in-each-dish\/","title":{"rendered":"Chef Hector Garcia, a Creative of Culinary Arts that Keeps the Essence of Panama in Each Dish"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This\ntalented Chef started cooking as a child when he lived alone with his father,\nhelping him in the cooking, basically the rice and the salad, since he went out\nto look for the daily sustenance of the house. When Hector Garcia was 16 years\nold he thought of making cooking his career, this happened because once upon a\ntime at home there was only minced steak and thought of making it fried and\ntoasted, an idea that surprised his father whom at that time was driving a taxi to make a\nliving, but understood that Hector had done it as a thank you for the effort he\nwas doing, leaving at 6 in the morning and returning at 11 at night. After that\nmoment Hector started his path into learning the art of cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Path to Becoming a Chef<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Chef Hector Garcia studied for his degree, he began\nwashing dishes, however, he continued until he entered the Interamerican\nUniversity of Panama, which at that time was the only academic institution that\noffered a degree in culinary arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little\nby little he knocked on doors until he went to China for 30 days to take a course,\nthen flew to Barcelona, \u200b\u200buntil later arriving in Bolivia. At that time, Chef Hector Garcia felt that\nthe cooking offered the great benefit of putting it into practice anywhere in\nthe world. One of the most universal professions that exists. Thanks to this\nfreedom, he already has 14 years in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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High Level Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today Hector Garcia is the Executive Chef of Hotel\nCentral, in addition to five others. The most recent was a Fuego Lento\nrestaurant, in Obarrio, where he had the great opportunity to learn how to make\nfood for large numbers of people since the venue has a large room for\nactivities and events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\nalso advises on everything that has to do with food and beverages. Chef Hector\nsays that there are restaurant owners who do not have the basic knowledge to\nset up a gas line, kitchen, stove, griddle or fryer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based\non this research, Hector offers\nadvice from the basics of how to calculate the cost of a meal, how much\nit costs, how to run the administration, how many waiters or cooks are needed.\nIt is also in charge of preparing the menu in all its stages until it is ready\nto offer to diners. For this talented professional of the culinary industry\nwith a certificate in Digital Marketing and courses in Haute Cuisine\nManagement, Food and Beverage Management, marketing and social media must be\nlearned when opening his own restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Local Ingredients, the Heart of his Culinary Creations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there is something that Chef Hector Garcia uses in\nhis dishes, it is Panamanian ingredients, especially green essences such as\ncilantro and chives to give his creations that tropical touch. There is even an\ningredient that he looks for during a specific season, which is San Blas red\nrice, a product that the Gunas grow on their land and that has a totally\ndifferent flavor compares to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nChef comments that before Panama in gastronomy was only about frying foods,\nhowever many Panamanian Chefs have been able to turn each Panamanian ingredient\naround and have merged it with other cultures. Of course, this talented Chef\nalso does it without losing the essence of Panama, always with a special touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Seafood and Fish, Dishes with More\nPotential in Panama<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chef Hector likes to cook seafood, especially because\nof the great potential it offers to make unique dishes, as well as fish.\nDespite the fact that Panama is surrounded by two oceans, many people still do\nnot have enough knowledge to enhance the flavor and experience when preparing\nthese dishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other\ndishes that the Chef likes to cook are also octopus and ceviche, so much so\nthat today he has a cevicheria called \u201cCeviches Garcia\u201d, a post-pandemic\nbusiness where diners can enjoy a wide variety of fresh and very delicious\nceviches. They have more than 20 varieties between cocktails and seafood, they\neven have a corvina cocktail with strawberries that is one of the most\nrequested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greatest Professional Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Chef Hector Garcia there are two great challenges\nduring his career. The first was during the Show of a large company where he\nhad to talk about meat before 1,000 people. Although he has participated in\ntelevision programs and it seems that he has everything under control, Chef’s\nnerves take over minutes before participating, however he ends up flowing and\nconquering the public’s attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The second challenge was when he had to put together a\nHindu wedding for almost 500 people with a very large logistics. It included\nice sculptures, flowers, even a theme related to the Cirque de Soleil. Chef\nHector had to find ways to assemble the structures, ensure that ingredients\nwere not lacking and that they had all the necessary personnel. A challenge\nmore than met and another star in the career of this Chef with many resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Delicious Creations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chef Hector Garcia has created many dishes\u2026one of\nthese was an Osobuco with a Ron Abuelo sauce. Another is a Pigeon Peas and\nCoconut Risotto with pieces of grilled chicken flakes. The third is a very\ntraditional dish that many do fried, but Chef Hector does it roasted: Fillet of\nYellow Corvina a lo Macho, with a mixed seafood, a touch of lemon, more\nessences of coriander, curry. A fourth dish is Chicheme’s Cheese Cake, created\nas a result of a culinary mistake, today it is one of his most applauded\ncreations. The fifth dish is a yellow rice with essences of chicken and pork in\npork rind mode with a banana curry. His signature dish since it was what his\ngrandmother fed him on Sundays, with the difference that instead of making the\ncurry she gave him the banana on a side plate. He named the dish: \u201cthe Eva\u201d, in homage to\nhis grandmother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagram:<\/strong>\n@chefhectorg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cellular<\/strong>:\n6812-6205<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E-mail:<\/strong>\ninfo@chefhectorgarcia.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos\ncourtesy: Chef Hector Garcia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This talented Chef started cooking as a child when he lived alone with his father, helping him in the cooking, basically the rice and the salad, since he went out to look for the daily sustenance of the house. When Hector Garcia was 16 years old he thought of making cooking his career, this happened […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4961,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4954\/revisions\/4961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}