Revolution in the kitchen
A new alchemy is being cooked up in the kitchens
of Spain’s top restaurants.La nueva cocina(the new
kitchen) is a form of molecular gastronomy inspired by
new techniques and technologies. Items previously
more at home in the food processing industry, like liquid
nitrogen and dry ice, are being used in the kitchen.
The innovation hasn’t gone unnoticed in the wider
culinary world, and Spain finds itself at the cutting edge
of contemporary cuisine. Ferran Adrià is the big name,
a chef who famously spends half the year in a corporate
sponsored laboratory devising new recipes for his
restaurant (which is open for the remaining six months
of the year).Adrià pioneered deconstructive cooking, manipulating
the established harmonies of taste and transforming
the texture, form and temperature of the ingredients.
For example, he takes a classic Catalan dish of sautéed
spinach, pine kernels, raisins and olive oil, served hot,
and mutates it into cold spinach sorbet served with a
reduction of sherry and pine kernel praline. Other
memorable – and successful – deconstructions include
polenta of frozen powdered Parmesan cheese and
almond ice cream with a swirl of garlic oil and balsamic
vinegar. His meals comprise a series of bite-size
courses, sometimes numbering as many as 30. Other
new wave Spanish chefs include Juan Mari Arzak (aka
the father of new Basque cooking), Sergi Arola and
Pedro Subijan, all helping to fuel the belief that Spain is
the new source of Europe’s most exciting cuisine.268- Identity: the
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the details of
Ferran Adrià:
the man, the myth
He began his career as
a dishwasher, hoping to
earn enough cash to
spend summer on the
beach.
Bookings for his
restaurant in Catalonia,
el Bulli, are all taken on a
single day prior to its
annual six-month run.
For each available
dining space, the three-
Michelin starred el Bulli
takes 400 reservation
enquiries. And it still
operates at a loss.
In 2003 he was dubbed
‘the best chef in the
world’ by theNew York
Times.