Who Is Francis Mallmann?

The Signature Mallmann Cooking Style

Mallmann has turned fire into an art form, developing seven signature techniques, each more theatrical than the last. There’s the ‘infiernillo’ – the little hell – where whole beasts are cooked between twin layers of flame, and ‘rescaldo,’ a slow-burn method that sees ingredients buried beneath embers. His book Seven Fires is a bible for devotees to his style of open-fire cooking.

Not only is he a master of his chosen medium, but his attention to service and mise en scene is just as keen. It’s rustic, yes, but also deeply refined.

Cabin Life

At the centre of it all sits La Soplada, a cabin as stark and striking as the land it inhabits. Blackened timber, panoramic windows, a crackling hearth, and shelves stacked with books that beg to be read by firelight. The silence is profound, punctuated only by the hiss of burning logs and the occasional splash of a fish breaking the surface of the lake.

Here, everything revolves around fire. Water is heated over flames. Food is cooked slowly, deliberately. Days are spent fishing in the glacial shallows, hiking through lenga forests, or simply sitting on the deck, watching the clouds shift over the mountains. Evenings bring long, wine-fuelled dinners that stretch into the early hours, stories traded across the table as the last embers glow in the darkness.

As part of the show, La Soplada cabin moved across Patagonia before finally retiring to La Isla.

Framed low against the horizon, the ink-black cabin is hemmed by lenga trees. Inside, there is an air of simple elegance. Shelves bulge with books and logs crackle in the hearth. The three bright bedrooms are replete with thick blankets. Large windows give on to Patagonia’s Cerro El Gorro mountain peaks and impenetrable forests reflect in the clear lake waters.

There is no WiFi or phone reception and lights run off generators. Fittingly, everything else runs off the power of fire – from heating water to cooking.