DUBAI: French-Brazilian chef Clet Laborde discovered his passion for cooking while preparing snacks and sandwiches for events during his hospitality studies. “I enjoyed learning the ways that we do things and how we work in the kitchen that is very different from hospitality, from being a bartender or a server or a waiter,” he told Arab News.
Encouraged by a mentor who recognized his potential during a culinary competition in Brazil, Laborde pursued formal training at the renowned Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France. He went on to work with legendary chefs Yannick Alléno and Alain Ducasse in France, before expanding his horizons in Brazil and Peru.
In January 2023, the chef moved to Saudi Arabia. “I really love this country. It is very nice. It is a safe place. It is a very good country to live in with the family and kids. So I am very happy to be here,” he said. He is now the executive chef of Sushi Samba Riyadh, where he crafts dishes that blend Japanese, Peruvian and Brazilian flavors.
Here, the chef discusses mistakes, his favorite cuisines, and offers tips for amateur chefs.
When you started out, what was the most common mistake you made?
Organization is the most important thing in the kitchen. A very big mistake that is common in the beginning is that you don’t have everything ready to make the dish. We call it the “mise en place.” So, you don’t need to run around or be desperate to cook something very quick because you forgot something.
Seasoning is another thing that comes with time. Every person — and every country — has a different palette. I’ve had the opportunity to work in Europe, Brazil, Peru and Saudi Arabia, and the palette of each country is completely different. So, you need to adapt the seasoning. A common mistake in the beginning is that we tend to put too much salt, or not enough.
What’s your top tip for amateur chefs?
The best tip that I can give is don’t get stressed out. If you make a mistake, you can always change and adapt the dish without destroying the idea behind it. For example, when you put too much salt in something, the most effective thing to kill the salt is to put a raw potato in the dish. Let’s say you are doing a stew, and you put too much salt, just put a raw potato inside. The raw potato is going to absorb all the excess salt, so your dish is going to be perfect again. Everything can be solved, everything can be adapted.
What one ingredient can instantly improve any dish?
I have two. The first is soy sauce — a good quality soy sauce can improve a dish a lot. The flavor helps you not use salt, and it can give flavor to the dishes very subtly. The other ingredient is mushrooms. They are very earthy products, but the mushroom has umami — a flavor that comes from the earth that is something very delicate in the palette.
When you go out to eat, do you find yourself critiquing the food?
I'm very critical and my wife — who’s also a chef — is too. So when we go out to eat, we see all the details in every dish. I think everybody that has this career will be the same. We are always looking to learn — even if that’s learning what not to do.
What’s the most common issue you find in other restaurants?
The seasoning. Like I said before, it’s something very personal — some people like to eat food that is more salty, less salty, more sweet, more spicy… But, in the kitchen, we always need to have a base flavor. When we add salt, it’s not necessarily to make the food more salty, but to increase the flavor of the product. So, if we don’t put enough salt, like on a steak or on a fish, the fish is going to be bland, so we’re going to lose this good flavor of the product.
What’s your favorite cuisine?
Peruvian. I lived in Peru for 12 years. The cuisine has a mix of cultures and flavors that you’re not going to find anywhere else. My favorite dishes would be ceviche and pollo a la brasa. We have both on our menu here. La brasa is a very traditional dish that the Peruvians eat normally every Sunday — like how the Italians sit together to eat pasta on Sunday, in Peru they eat chicken la brasa with fries and salad. It’s very traditional and it’s delicious.
What’s your go-to dish if you have to cook something quickly at home?
Stroganoff. It’s an Eastern European dish. It is very quick. You can do it with salmon, you can do it with chicken, you can do it with steak. It’s very versatile. You can do it with just vegetables too. All you need is paprika, ketchup, cream and the protein that you want. Everything sauteed together, and you serve it with rice. In 20 minutes, you have the dish done.
What customer behavior most frustrates you?
Fake allergies. It is very common. I understand that some people have very specific allergies, like nuts, peanuts, seafood or shellfish. But now, you have people saying I’m allergic to mango, I’m allergic to kiwi. I prefer them to be honest, and say, “I don’t like mango. Can you do the dish without mango?” We either say, “Sorry, we cannot,” or we can give you another option, and we can work with it. But don’t try to give allergies that don’t exist. It’s something that’s very stressful in the kitchen — to try to adapt to allergies that you know don’t exist. But you cannot say no to the customer.
What’s your favorite dish to cook and why?
There’s a dish I always make at home for my kids and my wife. They love it. It’s a flavor that can bring us back to Peru. It takes time, but it’s not complicated. You need to marinate your chicken for 24 hours minimum, and after that, you put your chicken in the oven, and it’s done. So it’s very easy to do, but it takes time. But it’s very easy and very tasty.
What’s the most difficult dish for you to get right?
A traditional French dish — fish in puff pastry. The whole fish is cooked inside the puff pastry. So to have the perfect cook of the fish, to not be dry, or raw, with the puff pastry cooked perfectly, is very difficult. It’s a dish that needs a lot of attention to detail and decoration.
Are you a disciplinarian? Do you shout a lot? Or are you more laidback?
I’m not laidback, but I don’t shout. I think the image that a lot of people have about me because I am French, is that I will shout. Some French chefs are very nasty with the employees. I’m the opposite of that. I lived this environment when I was in France. I know how it is to work for a person that screams at you, hits you or denigrates you in the kitchen in front of everybody. That’s something that I am against. I always try to have a healthy environment for my chef and for my team. Here in Sushi Samba, I have 56 cooks under my responsibility. I know all of them. I tell everyone, when you arrive in the kitchen, you need to say hi to everybody. This is what makes the bond within the team — everybody cares about everybody. My team knows that my door is always open to them. And if I have any issue with a cook or any problem in the kitchen, I never call the person out in front of anybody. I take the person out of the kitchen, we go to the office, we sit down, we talk and we try to solve the problem instantly.
Chef Clet’s Brazilian cheese balls (Pão de queijo) recipe 
INGREDIENTS:
Tapioca flour: 500g
Water: 100ml
Sunflower oil: 80ml
Milk: 180ml
Salt: 2g
Eggs: 2
Parmesan cheese: 250g
INSTRUCTIONS:
In a bowl, mix the tapioca flour, salt, and grated parmesan cheese.
In a separate container, combine the warm water, milk, and sunflower oil.
Gradually add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing well.
Add the eggs one at a time, stirring until the dough becomes smooth and homogeneous.
Form small balls of approximately 30g each and place them on a baking tray.
Bake at 180°C for 25 to 35 minutes, or until golden brown.
Enjoy with salted butter or cream cheese.
