With over 35 years of experience in the sector leading the catering group catering La Bastilla, José María Lasheras has been a pioneer in the development of the fifth range in Aragón. Founder of Fetén, a company that offers high-quality fifth-range products to the sector, Lasheras exudes passion for hospitality, doing things right, and innovation. He recalls how his father described him as «an advanced waiter» and asserts: «the fifth range is the future of catering». He adds: «I have seen things that would surprise you». In this interview, he explains the keys to the fifth range, a silent revolution that is transforming the hospitality industry.
The first thing to note is that the fifth range has nothing to do with pre-cooked food. One should not confuse pre-cooked foods with pre-prepared ones. Pre-cooked means precisely that—pre-cooked—but the fifth range is something else. The fifth range requires preserving all nutrients and organic properties, all flavors and all aromas. As a rule, the fifth range is a product that never contains preservatives, additives, or colorants; that is, it is natural food, cooked and packaged in real time, rapidly chilled or frozen, depending on the process. The fifth range is designed for assembly cooking, with quality raw materials cooked at controlled temperatures and ready to be finished by the chef.
When I started catering 35 or 40 years ago, people associated it with school lunches, airplane food… but now the concept has completely changed. Talking about catering is no longer the same: now people say «who provided the catering for that wedding.» It has transformed and specialized significantly.
Gradually, the same will happen with the fifth range, just wait and see. Organized catering will bet on fifth-range products and highlight them, just as it is now clearly indicated if a ham is five jotas. We will have dishes from established brands or recognized authors made with fifth-range products, and authorship and quality will be valued. There is a quality fifth range, and I’ve seen things that would surprise you.
“The fifth range has nothing to do with pre-cooked cuisine. We need to educate people. The fifth range is something else; it is natural food or product, cooked and packaged in real time, rapidly chilled or frozen, designed for assembly cooking, with quality raw materials cooked at controlled temperatures and ready to be finished by the chef.”
In reality, the fifth range is an evolution of the pre-prepared cooking that has always existed. Any traditional restaurant, during slow periods or slow days, prepares vacuum-packed food and then recovers it for their busy Saturday service. The pre-preparation of dishes that are later regenerated has always existed. The great revolution came with vacuum cooking and temperature chillers. Both techniques—vacuum cooking and cold conservation methods that allow for the preservation of product quality—changed the hospitality industry.
By combining both techniques, you can achieve spectacular results. If you cook at low temperatures, for example, confit at 180º for 60 minutes, take it out of the oven, place it in the temperature chiller, and in 8-10-15 minutes, it is at minus 18 degrees. The product hasn’t lost anything, not even a little, and when you recover it correctly, it has spectacular quality. I bet you: very few people can distinguish whether a well-prepared, well-chilled, and well-recovered product is frozen.
Yes. If you follow the processes correctly, it is difficult to distinguish a regenerated dish from a freshly made one. But if you thaw improperly, under hot water, you ruin everything. The secret lies in how the product is treated and recovered.
The main point is quality. If the process is well done, it’s very difficult to distinguish a fifth-range product from a freshly cooked one. The quality of the fifth range is based on it being freshly made, cooled for later recovery at the service moment. This is what any high-level restaurant does, what we call «mise en place,» which is prepared well in advance. The other great secret is that waste is eliminated. You never throw anything away because nothing spoils, and it allows for exact cost control. It also guarantees safety.
