[Sca-cooks] The Future of Food: Ferran Adria

[King's Taste Productions]

No one is a bigger proponent of natural and organic foods than I am.  My
initial thoughts echoed Tony Bourdain's in the beginning of this show
about how all this scientific tinkering was just 'wrong'.  (It is worth
watching the show just for the opening segment in the ham shop, btw.) I
have to say that I still feel that way, although I now understand a lot
more about what they are doing and realize it isn't all chemical
concoctions.  In fact, they go to some trouble to explain that what they
are doing at La Bulli isn't Science Class.  The methods Adria (my bad -
I spelled it incorrectly last night) employs are more about quantifying
foods, tastes, aromas, even the acoustics of foods to see what makes
them do the things they do, and then asking questions about how that can
be presented in new ways. In fact, "The Map" they have created to
explain the various properties of foods is quite extraordinary.  I would
love to own the book (next time I have an extra $200+ I'll run right out
and get it) just to be able to study the map and how they approach
defining fresh foods. 
	 There isn't as much artificial use of chemicals as I thought,
in fact they emphasize the freshest ingredients.  The thing that really
blew my mind is that in his restaurant they have 1 seating a night with
55 cooks serving 55 diners!!!!  They said a meal could last up to 5
hours - I believe they had 32 dishes - although none of them could have
been more than about 1-2 ounces each (which figures out about right - 32
oz is the size of the average human's stomach).  They discussed the
timing and orchestration of the meal as well - saying it was just as
important as the food itself.  

I'm not saying I'm all for this, but I understand a lot more about it
now and am not AS skeptical as I once was.  It isn't the way I want to
eat all the time, but given a lottery win, I'd certainly want to go and
experience it as a once-in-a-lifetime event.  (I've got to figure the
meal costs upwards of $500 a head...)  I think my favorite dish they
served was a shrimp scampi with a sprig of rosemary.  The rosemary was
just for sniffing while eating.  They said the flavor of the herb would
overpower the shrimp, but having it as an accompaniment to smell as you
were eating it gave the complimentary aroma that added to the taste
without taking over.  Actually quite brilliant.  

Here is a link for a video clip showing one of the many new techniques
Adria and his workshop team have come up with.  

http://starchefs.com/events/studio/techniques/FAdria/index.shtml

Here is a link for the cookbook (evidently a hot property these days)

http://www.connoisseur.se/elbulli/


I saw the Iron Chef in question too, and the judges loved his techniques
and his food, but Battali's tastes were better.  Just goes to show that
all the fancy toys in the world won't make superior cooks ;)
Christianna



Mairi Ceilidh wrote:
> If you caught this week's Iron Chef in America, Mario was pitted
against 
> an American chef who is into the same thing.  He had all kinds of
"toys" 
> and used chemical-type ingredients.
> Kiri

> I'm not sure I want to carry the concept of "better living through
> chemistry" into the kitchen.  We eat enough chemicals that have been
added
> to our food, I don't need to do it purposely. Yeah, I'm getting more
organic
> every day.
>
> Mairi Ceilidh

I agree.  Almost as "proof of the pudding", Mario won the contest....
Kiri