For three decades – from August 28, 1991, to October 24, 2020 – Hans Haas cooked at Munich’s Tantris, earning the restaurant two Michelin stars and making it a unique institution in Germany: a mecca for connoisseurs where the guest is the center of attention. To achieve this, Hans Haas worked flat out for 18 hours every day for 30 years, serving 50 to 60 lunches and 80 to 100 dinners.
The Austrian is well aware of his achievement, even if he doesn’t talk about it much himself. “Many people can cook well. But to give 100 percent every evening, time and time again, and to maintain that level of excellence is the real art.” Two things in particular have driven him in the kitchen: working with excellent products and preparing them to perfection. In addition to Haas’ childhood in the Tyrolean mountains, it was above all his great mentors Paul Haeberlin and Eckart Witzigmann who shaped him in this regard: in Haeberlin’s “Auberge de l’Ill” in Illhaeusern, Alsace, the serene harmony and opulence of one of France’s finest kitchens, and in Witzigmann’s “Aubergine,” the visionary perfectionism of Germany’s first 3-star chef.
His own culinary signature
Building on this, Hans Haas has developed his own culinary signature with his refined simplicity, in which the influences of French cuisine and his Austrian homeland intertwine wonderfully. Starting with the quality of the ingredients, Haas was one of the first top chefs in Germany to turn his attention to high-quality regional products. In order to preserve their natural flavor on the plate, he developed new, gentle preparation methods that caused a sensation. Much of this is now common knowledge and is copied in cooking magazines and food blogs. What is not so easy to imitate, however, is his outstanding sense of taste and harmony.
The ingredients in his dishes, rarely more than three or four, are always perfectly balanced. He does not serve up showpieces where every ingredient wants to be the star. Instead, his dishes are characterized by a culinary and aromatic harmony whose delightful effect often only reveals itself on the palate. Some people who have not eaten at Hans Haas’ restaurant and only know his recipes tend to underestimate him in comparison to his seemingly “more modern” colleagues. Yet Hans Haas has effortlessly and confidently ignored culinary trends and simply sought the best flavors.
This volume brings together 35 classic recipes by Hans Haas, illustrated with authentic photographs without food styling. They are accompanied by short essays by me, which highlight the special character of Haas’s cuisine and convey something of the culinary meaning behind each dish. Unlike a conventional cookbook, this book is less about the “how” and more about the fundamental question of “why.” The recipes and essays are preceded by a lengthy interview I conducted with him. In it, you will learn a lot about Hans Haas the chef, but also about Hans Haas the man.
35 Signature Dishes. The limited premium edition
With texts and an interview by Stefan Pegatzky (In German)
264 pages, format: 28 x 29 cm, hardcover, numerous illustrations
© images: Tre Torri Verlag / 3c4x food photography, London/Berlin
