In Spain, A Chef To Rival Dali - washing dishes in river in restaurant kitchen

Amanda hesset
1999 some say this is the best restaurant in Europe and probably the best in the world.
No one mentioned it so far away.
A friend of mine and I are in a hole.
On the lane mountain road in the northeast of Barcelona, there is nothing more than us and the Mediterranean.
The road winds up on the mountain and ends up sending us here at the bottom of a sunny, narrow bay.
There is an empty beach, a shabby cottage and a small villa on the hillside.
This is El Bulli.
This is Michelin Big Three
The star restaurant that everyone is talking about.
One of six top American chefs-
Charlie Trotter, Todd English, Norman Van Akon, Roberto Donna, let-
Louis Paladin and Douglas Rod Ritz-
All will gather together in the same week and the next week, not for an event, but for a pilgrimage.
Chef Ferran Adria is rarely called a chef, but a crazy scientist, a genius, a Dali in the kitchen.
When we went in, he sat on the reservation desk with his bow, like a primary school student struggling with math problems.
He is a short and fat man with curly black hair and tan in the Mediterranean.
He did not wear a hat, expensive shoes, and a divine gesture in the temple.
He pointed to the table where we met with some friends.
It's time for advertising to talk about business.
The waiter served the next lollipop.
They're flat caramel.
Color translucent wafer on the stick.
I put one in my mouth.
Salted Peanuts-
The honey melts crispy on my tongue like a rice cake.
A bunch of snacks, including Mr.
Tomato version of Adria-and-bread salad --
A crispy, hollow doughnut with a layer of olive oil hidden inside.
It was lying on a white bubble ---
Intense foam of camouflage tomato water.
The flood of surprises never stopped.
Bulli won the third star in 1997.
This is the quietest three.
Michael Gino says he is the owner of the goose liver in the Hudson Valley.
But then again, in Spain, three more.
Star restaurants outside France do not attract the same amount of attention.
But the situation is completely different among chefs and insiders.
Joel Robertson, a former chef of the three.
Starbucks in Paris visited France a few years ago and told everyone
Adria is the best chef in the world.
It's kind of like Picasso looking at your paintings and declaring you the best artist in the world.
This year, when El Bulli's position changed from professional touting to demanding dinner, attention reached its peak.
This summer, American chefs and diners are packed here.
Adria's small court parade, his clever impromptu performances on snacks, and outrageous combinations of bone marrow and caviar.
Many chefs are looking for time.
Kitchen in Adria
Jeffrey cerchello, chef at Thomas Keller bouchin restaurant in Napa Valley, has been practicing there for a year.
Chef Jose Andrés from the Atlanta, Washington, and gialio cafes work for him
Adria has been there for several years and he has been back many times since then. Many of Mr.
Andres dishes like his mango anchovy foam.
Adria's style: Not only did they try new flavors, they also tried the temperature, texture, fragrance and look. Some, like Mr.
Andres is a clear disciple. But Mr.
Adria also influenced American cooking in a more subtle way.
There are so many chefs visiting El Bulli and Mr.
Adria clearly inspired them. Mr.
Nevertheless, Adria gained most of his reputation with a particular technology he developed.
A few years ago, he received a gift from his friends in Madrid.
This is a nitrous nitrogen tank used to make fresh cream.
Most people will accept this strange gift and quickly store it in a closet,
Adria get it to work
He filled it with various liquids, and his ethereal "foam" was born.
Soon he began making tomato foam, shellfish foam and potato foam, and chefs from all over the world began to taste ---and copy --them.
It is this spirit of creativity and adventure that defines Mr. Adria's style.
He deconstructed the classic dishes, and in order to form a new dish, he ignored the familiar environment.
His tortillas are an omelet of potatoes and onions, served in a martini Cup, liquid and foam.
Someone handed you a spoon telling you to dip all the way to the bottom every time you take a bite.
You put a white potato foam in a soft pudding with eggs and caramel onions.
In his curry chicken, the curry is solid and the chicken is liquid.
Cooking does not follow any pattern.
It is described as everything from surrealism to technology.
It is not a special French, nor is it a special Spanish.
Maybe global.
The only element you can find is seafood, which is spectacular and rich considering the location of the restaurant, not surprising. (
One of his former students said the fishermen would drive the boat to the shore and transport the green mouth and sea urchins with diving suits. )
His curve ball is easily missed.
For example, some diners will have 12-
It was not noticed that only two dishes were hot.
In the process of a dish, the temperature will even change.
After the snack, the waiter came back with a glass full of grassgreen liquid.
We are waiting for our instructions.
Mint Soup with peas--
"Have a drink right away," said the waiter . ".
We all tried to lift our glasses to our mouths and tilt our heads back.
This is a delicious, slightly thicker pea and mint soup.
It's hot at first, but when you drink, a cold soup flows below the hot soup layer on your tongue.
It's completely cold. Mr.
Adria's latest breakthrough is to find a way to serve gelatins hot.
His tagliatelle carbonara is witty and smart.
There is pasta, but not pasta.
This is a chicken with qiongjiao.
Cut it into long ribbons with Brown transparency.
There is a ball in the sauce of eggs, cream, Parmesan cheese and ham.
The warm jelled tagliatelle feels like the pasta in the mouth, slightly dissolved and blended with the rich eggy sauce.
It's as good as it's confusing.
When you are moved by this creativity, he will stop you with a plate of shrimp fried with juice, nothing else ---
No gel, no foam, no decoration.
American chefs visiting El Bulli are looking for these innovations.
Boston Clio's chef Kenneth Olinger spent three days in the kitchen last year.
"His practice left a mark on me . "Oringer said.
On his menu.
Dishes like black truffle hot pot in coffee cups, foam covered with celery roots, black truffle crumbs and bitter cocoa powder are clearly affected by Mr. Adria. Mr.
The chef English from the Boston olive and fig restaurant was inspired by Mr.
Freedom of Creation in Adria
"It made me think, 'Why did you stop? ' '' he said.
"That's the inspiration I got: Don't hold back. ''Mr.
Adria, 37, has not received formal training.
In fact, he spent most of his career at El Bulli.
At the age of 17, he started working in a small restaurant in Barcelona, washing dishes and making money to go on vacation.
"I started to wash the dishes, just like I did as a car repairman," he said . ".
In the kitchen, he became interested in cooking.
Soon he made a leap.
After four years there, he found a job in El Bulli, where he has been working for 17 years.
This restaurant is 45 years old and has always been known for its good cooking skills. When Mr.
Adria was hired as the chef of El Bulli. -
Named "Bulldog" by the first owner who likes French Bulldog"-
There are two stars in the restaurant.
He became a cook two years later.
In 1984, he took a class at Jacques Max, then two chefs --
Good for Star Inn Negresco Chantecler.
People in the audience ask what creation means.
"Do not copy," replied the gentleman. Maximum.
At that moment, this simple definition, sir.
Adria said this is extraordinary.
It informed him of his cooking since then.
From April 1-10, El Bulli is only open for six months a year. 1.
This season, the restaurant offers about 45 people per meal.
A team of 35 to 40 chefs offers menus ranging from about 12 to up to 35. Mr. advertising
Adria worked with his brother Alberto in Barcelona for six months to develop recipes.
Alberto was a pastry chef, but recently he turned his attention to the direction of restaurant cooking.
They call the Barcelona Kitchen their lab, run it very much like a lab, use controls and experiment with countless variables until they get a combination of potatoes and coffee to work.
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Surprisingly, they succeeded.
They used it as a gem.
At lunch, a group of waiters walked around the big spoon.
One person said, "eat it in one mouthful . ".
The soft potato jar sitting at the end of the spoon is filled with a strong sticky coffee sauce.
It is rich, simple and delicious.
There's a difference, sir.
Adria says between having to create food because you have a restaurant and needing a restaurant because you create it.
He said he needed the restaurant to show because he had experimented with the food.
This is his gallery.
Like any challenging art show, not all diners leave El Bulli and feel like it.
But they were surprised to know.
"I don't think I'm eating or eating . "
I think I am taking the experiment.
I have never been satisfied with every dish I eat.
I'm not eating anything.
Like, "Wow, this is crazy.
Clara Maria G.
Mr. de Amezua, food historian and lecturer in Madrid, said.
Adria is widely respected in Spain, but is not always admired.
"When they say they don't like it ".
"They don't understand, I think.
"He is still in dispute," said Victor de la Senna, deputy editor and restaurant critic of the Madrid daily El Mundo, "because in the process of his constant search for new things, new textures, the new combination, sometimes he misses, is the risk.
I 've never had a meal he made and didn't miss Mark's stuff.
But I have never had the meal he made, because there are not a few things that are sensational.
"At lunch, a plate of frozen corn porridge showed his experiment, how his adventures, sometimes failed.
This is salty, granular, cold and unpleasant to eat.
Another dish featuring ducks seems to be just a mediocre egg foo yung.
But after so many unusual dishes, it's hard to see it as a defect.
Who can applaud the chef so bravely?
"It may be more of a chef's restaurant," he said . "
Trotter, a chef at Chicago's Charlie Trotter restaurant.
"It's more like a passionate gourmet restaurant than a welcoming restaurant.
You will be more grateful if you have more experience at the table.
"Advertising is a supporter of the most surprising Michelin guide ever.
Over the years, chefs have complained that Michelin's judgment of China, in addition to food, also forced them to go bankrupt by art and services, undermining the definition of catering.
Michelin insists that food is the only standard for stars, and Spanish inspectors are Spanish, not French.
Alain Arno, director of communications at the Michelin guide in Paris, said: "It's hard to say that you can have a meal in your life on a paper tray.
You need the least decoration.
"That's what you got at El Bulli.
Spider webs in the bathroom, dust on the copper pot hanging on the wall, and--mon dieu! --
Seat cushions are not loose.
No expensive artwork (
Although you can't price on the Sea View).
According to Michelin, a detour is definitely worth it for a restaurant that "deserves a detour. Even Mr.
Adrian seemed confused about the inspector's decision to give him three stars.
They bet on the future of restaurants and food because they are based on creativity, he said.
At the end of the meal, the petit fours plate he called "pequenas locuras" or "little madman" seemed to have brought it all together.
Lollipops appear again and only this time they are Lemonade and they will bubble when they melt in your mouth.
From solid matter, bubbles form and lift up from the tongue like champagne.
His chocolate mint is a fresh mint leaf that is framed with a flat piece of chocolate.
The chocolate is thin and sweet, with mint taste outside.
His thin and flat tuiles, all spread out on modern silver shelves, with a mottled surface, with cream, yellow and pink, and a taste of coconut, pistachio and beet.
Chocolate caramel tuiles with pink pepper flavored, chocolate-for anyone who starts taking it all too seriously-
Salty corn nuts covered.
At the end of the day, when the sun went down to the horizon, we were laughing and sitting lazily in the chair.
We visited the kitchen.
Technical Laboratory compared to family restaurant. Mr.
Adria didn't rush us.
He chatted, an eye staring at us, an eye staring at the young man wrapped in the clear water with plump coral clams --water jelly --
Production line of postmodern food.
Parmesan ice cream sandwich adapted from El Bulli, Rosas, SpainTime: 2 hours, plus 6 hours freezing time for ice cream: 5 cups of lemon sugar for 5 cups of heavy cream/2 lbs of Paral cookies: 5 large eggs whitening 1/2 lbs of ground Parma cheese stick cooking spray. 1.
Prepare ice cream: Place a fine filter on a medium bowl and set aside.
In a medium fire pot, put the cream in the sim.
When stirring with a wooden spoon, gradually add Parmesan cheese.
Keep stirring until the mixture is smooth for about 10 minutes.
Pour the mixture into the filter and press it on any solid to extract as much liquid as possible.
Allow cooling to room temperature.
Pour the mixture into 9-by-12-
Inch baking pan covered with plastic wrap.
Freeze to solid for about 6 hours. Advertisement2.
Prepare jam: cut all the peels with a sharp knife (
Including white pulp)from lemons.
Cut the lemon into 1/2-
Inch cube, transfer to a small pan.
Add sugar and cook it over medium heat-low heat.
Cook and stir occasionally until the mixture is thick for about 1 hour. (
Prepare Parmesan cheese cookies while the jam is brewing. )
Remove from high temperature and cool to room temperature. 3.
Prepare Parmesan cookies: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In the mixing bowl, mix the protein with the ground cheese. Spray two 10-by-15-
Inch non-stick baking tray with non-stick cooking spray.
Shop half the mixture in the center of each piece of paper.
Use wax paper on top and press the mixture evenly on each pan with rolling staff.
Take out the wax paper and discard it.
Bake the mixture to light brown for about 7 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and trim the dark edges.
Cut the remaining mixture in each pot into 12 3-
A total of 24 square meters.
Use a spatula to flip the square and put the pan back in the oven.
Bake for an extra 5 minutes and remove the pan from the heat. 4.
Assembly: take out a pot of ice cream from the refrigerator and put it on a warm damp cloth for about 5 minutes.
Dip in hot water with a knife and cut ice cream into 12 3-inch squares.
Put a square ice cream on a parmesan cookie with a spoonful of jam on it and another Parmesan cookie on it.
Serve immediately, or put it in the fridge until served.
12 ice cream sandwiches.
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A version of the article appears on page F00001 of the National edition in September 15, 1999, titled: in Spain, a chef who competes with Dali.