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Cooking for Ferran Adrià: Reflecting on Inspiration and Innovation

Posted on July 10, 2014 at 4:28 pm.

Written by Caren

There are always stories behind food, whether it’s a quintessentially Modernist dish, spheres and all, or a beloved recipe handed down over generations. Mistakes are made, learned from, and then ideas are refined through trial and error. You can taste the labor, the love, and the inspiration in sublime flavors and intriguing textures. In the same manner, thoughtful food creates memories. Flavors comfort and transport us with dishes that surprise and delight us.

There are many memories wrapped up in the experience of cooking for Ferran Adrià. Here are a few of the stories behind a handful of the fifty dishes we prepared that afternoon.

Head Chef Francisco Migoya: Rye Levain Noodles

I own many of the elBulli books, and I’ve certainly tried many of the recipes. But the influence of elBulli goes beyond simply producing their recipes; their work changes your way of looking at food and what it can be. Cooking is about seeing the potential that lies beyond the obvious by looking at food from a different perspective.

The idea for the rye levain noodles came to me shortly before I joined the team. With our upcoming book on breads in mind, I was thinking about pasta, which traditionally doesn’t have yeast. I couldn’t find any recipes that added yeast to a pasta dough, which got me thinking: why are there no yeast-leavened pasta doughs? As commercial yeast has little flavor, it occurred to me, conceptually, that a levain would be more flavorful. And in the realm of levains, a rye levain would be even more flavorful.

To make the pasta, I replaced some of the water and flour in a rye pasta recipe with a fully ripened rye levain. Getting the sour taste right was one of the most challenging things about the course. The lactic acid produced by lactobacillus in a levain preferment has a very characteristic taste and is what makes sourdoughs taste sour. If it doesn’t have the right degree of ripeness, the sour flavor will not come through, and the concept is lost. Timing the levain preferment just right is the key.

We served the rye pasta with sauerkraut beurre blanc and toasted nigella seeds. This dish preceded the pastrami dish (one of my favorites) because it ties into the Jewish-deli classic of pastrami and rye, with the rye in this instance being rye levain noodles.

Cooking for Ferran Adrià was an honor. It was nerve-racking at the same time, especially since I had joined the team as head chef just prior to his visit. It was my first dinner at the lab, so I saw it as a tremendous challenge with a responsibility to succeed. In the end, the team performed at a very high level—we had one of the smoothest services ever.

Research and Development Sous Chef Sam Fahey-Burke: Onion Soft Serve Ice Cream

It’s really impossible to measure the influence of elBulli on my work as a chef. The work that was done there pretty much established the Modernist movement, and I’ve spent my entire career cooking that type of food. If it hadn’t been for the work of Adrià and his team, I would still be a cook, but every day would have been completely different.

I’m always a little nervous right before a long tasting, and with 50 courses (and chef Adrià in attendance) I was probably a little more on edge than usual. But once we got into the service routine, the nervousness faded and I started to enjoy it. We normally serve our dishes in a traditional progression, but we switched it up for chef Adrià. We added courses we had never served before, including Onion Soft Serve, which kept us on our toes.

The Onion Tart recipe in Volume 5 of Modernist Cuisine is one of my favorites. It’s a great example of fundamentally Modernist cooking—it’s the evolution of a technique, as opposed to a technique that exists for the sake of adding obscure gelling agents or emulsifiers to a dish.

A champion of the tart, I’m always trying to convince Nathan Myhrvold to serve different versions of it at our tastings, which is where the idea for Onion Soft Serve originated. Fortunately, Chef Migoya and I are both experienced ice-cream makers, so we succeeded on our first try. To get the texture right, we processed the ice cream in a Pacojet for about 10 minutes before serving time and then put the mixture in the freezer (in piping bags) on a frozen Baking Steel. To keep the dish cold for service, we gave the cones, handmade by head chef Migoya, a quick dip in liquid nitrogen before adding the ice cream.

The idea of onion-flavored ice cream might seem alarming to some, but it’s sweetened just like traditional ice cream. The onion purée creates more depth, adding an incredibly savory element to the base. And the crunchy cone adds a nice textural contrast to the ice cream. We’ve done this course at two lab dinners now, and each time the diners seemed to be taken by unexpected enjoyment.

Research and Development Chef Johnny Zhu: Binchotan

When the first translation of the elBulli books came to the U.S., I was a young cook in New York. I remember at the time that it cost about $350, which was the most expensive cookbook I had ever heard of. I was still determined, however, to save up and get it. I remember finally getting my copy and rushing home on the subway, like I was smuggling some kind of treasure. When I opened the book, I was simply blown away. Everything I knew about food had been completely reimagined in those pages. It taught me that food is never static but always evolving.

The inspiration for the Chicken Liver Binchotan is trickery, a play on the theme of trompe l’oeil (culinary deception), a theme perfected at elBulli and a common element of Modernist cooking. The dish is served with points of toasted brioche on a binchotan grill; inside, the actual binchotan coals are charred just to the point of smoking. Coal-shaped chicken livers are then placed in front of the diners, who are still drawn to the hibachi grill in front of them. For just a moment, the diners think, “What is this, a spare piece of charcoal?” The illusion subsides quickly, but the aroma, aesthetic, and interplay of smoke and liver mimics the look of binchotan exactly, and, when diners dig into it, it spreads like butter.

The Chicken Liver Binchotan recipe started with a sous vide version of chicken liver mousse. If you look at most recipes for chicken liver mousse, they are pretty vague. You’re supposed to cook chicken livers to what you think is medium rare and then purée them with aromatics and butter. But the livers can be easily undercooked or overcooked, so the texture can range from gloppy to gritty. When cooking the chicken livers sous vide, however, they are medium rare every time, and the texture is incredibly smooth. Such consistency is a testament to cooking sous vide.

Chef Migoya introduced us to silicone mold making and suggested that we try a few shapes. We tried shapes that we had lying around, one of which happened to be a Japanese binchotan charcoal. When we cast the chicken liver mousse into the molds, the effect was striking. The mousse captured every nook and cranny of the wood, resulting in a realistic imitation. To complete the effect, we dusted the mousse with edible dietary ash.

The evolution of this dish was so natural that all we had to do was pair the tasty mousse with toast points, but presenting the dish was tricky. Excited about the trompe l’oeil, we enthusiastically (and artistically) piled the binchotan grill with toast points; getting the binchotan grill onto the table and in front of chef Adrià without dumping the toast-topped grill in his lap was nerve-racking. Even he looked a bit nervous as we made our way over.

Cooking for Ferran Adrià was an incredible honor, being both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. Preparing a meal for one of my idols is an experience I will never forget.

Research and Development Chef Anjana Shanker: Caviar Service

Cooking for the world’s greatest chef was a dream come true. It was an opportunity I had been hoping to have for a very long time. Ferran Adrià’s visit turned out to be incredibly humbling—when you meet him you realize that he is remarkable and simple at the same time.

Chef Adrià and the elBulli team played an important role in my culinary career, inspiring me to value creativity and to better understand the connection between food and science. Their work influenced how I approach deconstructing a dish—how I will transform all of its elements or modify its texture and taste so that it appears fully Modernist, while retaining the dish’s original essence.

Our caviar service was inspired by a course at elBulli. The dish appeared to be a traditional pile of caviar—decadent, salty, and delicious. Even the first bite confirms its appearance: this is good caviar. The caviar, however, was actually mustard seeds.

It took me a great deal of work to perfect this recipe before chef Adrià’s visit. Caviar has a distinct flavor and texture, so developing the faux version was a scientific process. I researched, experimented, documented, and analyzed many variations of it, but the trickiest part was replicating the mouthfeel—getting the mustard to gently pop like caviar with each bite. We also had to figure out how to reproduce the buttery, oceanic, and delicate tastes that are reminiscent of traditional caviar.

We soaked yellow mustard seeds, pressure-cooked them with a neutral oil, and then centrifuged with the mixture with anchovies. Olive oil and squid ink were added to disguise the seeds. We then served the seeds on a blini to mimic traditional service.

Because Ferran Adrià’s work and research has been such an inspiration to me, it was a tremendous feeling when I read The New York Times’s coverage of his response to the dish. He declared it “Fantastico,” which is an incredible honor.

Research and Development Chef Aaron Verzosa: Cryoblanched Lobster

Cooking for chef Adrià was like painting to impress Picasso—why would you do that? You’re making food for a man who has seen it all, broken all the rules, and written the language that we at Modernist Cuisine have chosen as our industry dialect. In fact, it was slightly terrifying. Hours before the dinner, to my amazement, chef Adrià walked through the kitchen by himself, taking in the atmosphere. What was I doing when we first met? Making spheres, of course—a technique synonymous with his name.

Despite the anxiety and fear that accompanies such a moment, and after months of preparation, the dinner finally started. The first course went out, then the second, and finally the 50^th. When you’re in the moment, it’s easy to be swept up in the details of each dish and the intensity of service. You hardly have a moment to realize that within 50 courses, the man, Adrià, had asked for seconds of many of our dishes.

One of my courses was a spoonful of delicate, cryoblanched lobster. We dipped the lobster in liquid nitrogen for 10 seconds (not long enough to freeze the meat), and then submerged it in cold water. The temperature differential between the liquid nitrogen and water is enough to completely release the meat from the shell. Classically, to remove a lobster from its shell, you blanch it in boiling water, but the problem therein is that the lobster and its shell are then partially cooked. By cryoblanching we are able to cook an entire piece of claw or tail to an exact temperature; the pieces are cooked all the way through without overcooking the outer portion of meat. The Coconut Lobster Sauce, made from lobster shells, is also more intense because the flavor is never lost to the boiling water, an artifact of classic blanching.

The concept behind this technique evolved from a method I learned in Paris. We would put the lobsters in the freezer from 45 minutes to one hour, then place it into the fridge for about an hour or two—the result was similar to cryoblanching. In Paris, we didn’t have liquid nitrogen, so, when I came back to Modernist Cuisine, it was the first thing I tried. Getting the timing right was difficult. If you keep the meat submerged in liquid nitrogen too long, it freezes. If you defrost the meat too quickly, the texture is compromised—the result is mushy lobster. Aside from producing incredible results, liquid nitrogen drastically reduces prep time—hours can be shaved down to minutes.

Being able to serve Ferran Adrià a dish that was born out of my own culinary explorations was amazing. Through the momentous challenge of preparing and executing our most ambitious meal to date, to see chef Adrià eat our food with curiosity, intrigue, and a childlike delight was undoubtedly the single greatest moment in my career.

ElBulli and the concept of elBulli Taller have probably influenced me in more ways than I realize. It was certainly the first establishment that got me interested in Modernist cooking. I suppose then that it was the reason I was so enamored of the possibility of joining the Modernist Cuisine team. But more so than any one technique, the philosophy and mindset of elBulli—to be ever dedicated to curiosity, innovation, and purity of flavor—is what has truly influenced me as a chef.

Director of Applied Research Scott Heimendinger: Laser-Etched Tortilla

The Virgin Mary has made hundreds of appearances on toast, grilled-cheese sandwiches, and quesadillas. Far fewer people, however, have witnessed the visage of legendary Spanish chef Ferran Adrià on the surface of their tortilla.

As part of the epic, 50-course tasting, we decided to have some fun with the presentation of our Milagro al Pastor. Before the course arrived, servers littered the tabletop with English- and Spanish-language newspaper articles touting miraculous appearances of the Virgin Mary in various griddled foods. As our guests curiously pored through the flyers, the dish arrived: alternating layers of pork and beef, laminated and cut into perfect cubes, which sat atop an avocado purée embroidered with dots of fiery red achiote sauce. The dish was a richly flavored and technically exquisite interpretation of tacos al pastor, but it was also the setup for the punchline that followed. Head chef Francisco Migoya rounded the table inauspiciously, offering corn tortillas to accompany the course. When chef Adrià pulled a warm tortilla from the top of the stack, he was more than a little surprised to see that his own face adorned the surface.

How did we create this eBay-worthy tortilla? In the days leading up to the dinner, we worked to perfect the technique of transferring black-and-white images onto the surface of tortillas using a laser engraver in our machine shop. Although designed for cutting and etching plastic, wood, and thin metals, the engraver happens to be remarkably useful for toasting the faces of unwitting guests onto flat foods. You might remember the time we etched Jimmy Kimmel’s face onto an omelet for Nathan’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. This time we had much more control of the joke, including the rather elaborate setup leading to the final unveiling.

Why, you might ask, go to all this trouble? The dish would have been just as delicious in the absence of Adrià’s face. The joke demonstrates one of the hallmarks of Modernist cooking—the desire to extend the dining experience beyond our five senses—in this case, to include humor. Many Modernist chefs, including honoree Ferran Adrià, punctuate their tasting menus with moments of levity: welcome reminders, amidst a marathon meal, that the point is to enjoy yourself.

Making humor part of the menu is a gamble in the same way you might wrestle with using a joke to begin a speech. Will the joke fall flat? Is this as funny as we think it is? We anxiously held our breath before the reveal. When chef Adrià recognized his likeness on that corn tortilla, he heartily laughed out loud, smiling ear-to-ear with genuine exuberance. He even tucked an extra tortilla into his notepad to show his brother, Albert, who is opening a Mexican restaurant later this year.

It was one of many incredible moments that night. We’re thrilled that our joke paid off and honored to have shared it with a chef whom we so admire. Only time will tell if laser-etched faces will be the next big trend in Modernist cooking, but, for now, we’ll keep inspecting our tortillas for signs from above.

Read more about how chef Adrià and experiences at elBuilli inspired Nathan and the idea behind Modernist Cuisine.

Cooking with Syllables: Carrageenan

Posted on July 3, 2014 at 10:19 am.

Written by Caren

What is Carrageenan?

History

From eggnog and soy milk to infant formulas and toothpaste, carrageenan is found everywhere. The word carrageenan may sound foreign and vaguely exotic, but it’s simply a generic term for a type of sugar extracted from various species of red seaweed. In Modernist cooking, it’s classified as an emulsifier, stabilizer, hydrocolloid (hydrophilic colloid), or gum, all of which function in some way to thicken or clarify ingredients, or to bind moisture. The term carrageenan has been around since at least 1889 and is derived from carrageen, circa 1829, which is a purplish, cartilaginous seaweed colloquially known as “Irish moss,” found off the coasts of North America and Europe. In fact, the seaweed gets its moniker from a small Irish fishing village, Carragheen, where it’s plentiful. Traditionally, the seaweed was boiled in sweetened milk to create a pudding. Simmering the seaweed unlocks the ingredient’s gelling properties. Its use, however, can be traced back even further to at least 400 CE, where it was used as a gelling agent and as an ingredient in homemade cold-and-flu remedies. Industrially, carrageenan is extracted chiefly from the red algae Chondrus crispus (class Rhodophyceae), but it can also be extracted from various species of Gigartina and Eucheuma.

Function

Inherently vegetarian with no nutritional value, seaweed-based thickeners like carrageenan have new, modern applications. Most commonly, carrageenan can adjust the viscosity of dairy products like cheese, or it can serve as an emulsion stabilizer in salad dressings by keeping your oil and vinegar mixed. In more advanced applications, it will glue meat together, allowing for the creation of hot aspics and other seemingly contradictory foundations. Chemically, carrageenan is classified as a polysaccharide, a type of sugar. Its properties are varied and complex, but its basic function is to thicken and stabilize. It does this by forming large yet flexible matrices that curl around and immobilize molecules. Because of its inherent flexibility, carrageenans can form a variety of gels under a wide range of temperatures, but each type of carrageenan only becomes fully hydrated at a characteristic temperature. Some carrageenans can be hydrated without adding heat, while others must be brought to 85°C / 185°F or higher before saturation occurs, and a few have a hydration temperature that depends on the presence of other ions, the most common of which is calcium. Carrageenan actually comes in five varieties, classified by how much sulfate (SO₄) it contains and its solubility in potassium chloride. Named after Greek letters, they are ι (iota), κ (kappa), λ (lambda), ε (epsilon), and μ (mu), however, only the forms iota, kappa, and lambda are used in Modernist cooking. All forms contain roughly 20–40% sulphate, which dictates how firmly (and whether) a gel will set, how the gel freezes and thaws, and how syneresis (the separation of water from its gel, also known as weeping) is affected. As the amount of sulfate increases, the strength of a gel decreases.

Safety

Recently, there has been some speculation over the safety of carrageenan. Carrageenan has been a focus for many mammal studies because of its potential to cause inflammation, ulceration, colitis, polyps, and colorectal tumors. Although such maladies are reported in animal studies, at the time of writing this connection has not been validated in humans because carrageenan’s molecular size and accompanying bonds prevent it from being digested naturally. To understand why carrageenan does not cause morbidity in humans, it’s important to differentiate between carrageenan and its degraded form, poligeenan. Poligeenan is the digested form of carrageenan and consists of molecular fragments small enough to pass from the digestive tract to the circulatory system. It is poligeenan that causes the many illnesses researchers describe in mammals, but current research has shown that the human digestive tract is limited in its ability to break down carrageenan into poligeenan. The primary pathway of human digestion, the alimentary canal, is, despite its placement, considered to be outside the body; a compound is not considered to be in the body until it moves from the digestive tract to the circulatory system. And, in order for any compound to affect human organs, such as the brain, liver, or heart, it must be small enough to cross the intestinal walls. Carrageenan is too large to do so, but poligeenan’s small size can. Not surprisingly, it has been postulated that carrageenan can be fragmented by natural digestive processes, but, to date, this has yet to be demonstrated in humans. In addition to carrageenan’s large size, its inherent bonds pose another challenge to the human digestive tract. Carrageenan is held together by β-glycosidic bonds, which are ubiquitous in the plant world, but most mammals, including humans, lack the proper enzymes to break them.

Recipes and Sourcing

Because of its utility, carrageenan is an ingredient that we use frequently, appearing in many recipes throughout Modernist Cuisine and Modernist Cuisine at Home. Carrageenan is used to create the creamy texture of our Pistachio Gelato and to stabilize our American Cheese Slices. Although you may not be able to find carrageenan on the shelves of neighborhood grocery stores, it’s easy to source online. If you’re ready to start testing this ingredient, try out our Pistachio Gelato recipe or Raspberry Panna Cotta in Modernist Cuisine at Home.

Welcoming Ferran Adrià

Posted on June 18, 2014 at 2:41 pm.

Written by Caren

Ferran Adrià is one of the most creative and influential chefs alive, but that isn’t the entire story. He’s also a philosopher and an avant-garde provocateur. From 1983 until it closed in 2011, elBulli was a fountain of tremendous creativity and stimulation, and it was often a source of controversy because of its techniques, approaches to food, and fine-dining philosophy. Ferran, along with the entire vanguard of chefs who pioneered Modernist cooking, played an influential role in the inspiration to write Modernist Cuisine, which covers science and technique but is also a testament to the power of food to be intellectual, emotional, and unpredictable

I had heard a great deal about elBulli—both the enormous praise and the debate over what Ferran was doing—well before ever eating there. Although I had already visited its sister restaurant in Barcelona, I was completely shocked when I finally experienced elBulli. Within three dishes, I was blown away. Why hadn’t I eaten here sooner? The food was interesting, intellectual, and deeply profound. This statement sounds somewhat silly, but, in reality, what I was eating spoke to me in the most amazing way. My first spherified olive was a revelation.

Throughout the evening, it became apparent that what I found truly stunning was the enormous range of techniques, methods, and ingredients. In one course diners might be presented with something highly technical, quintessentially Modernist. The next would be insanely simple yet equally as imaginative. Immature pine nuts, harvested by breaking open green pinecones, were transformed into something entirely original. It’s a simple, overlooked ingredient, but at elBulli it became tender risotto.

Incredible moments of playful surprise were always expected, and yet unexpected, throughout the meal. I was served what I thought was a perfect, small baguette. It appeared to be entirely ordinary, but the first bite revealed the “bread” to be completely hollow. I then might discover that a heavy-looking item was actually a foam (essentially a wisp of air bound together by minuscule ingredients) in disguise.

After experiencing elBulli, one can’t help but wonder who Ferran is cooking for because his food works on so many levels at once. Dishes are not intended to simply showcase a new texture, flavor, or technique—they reference the history and future of gastronomy in a single bite. In many ways, the experience is akin to discovering the work of a truly prolific writer for the first time. A gifted writer can do something amazing with words, producing work that is polysemous, that is simultaneously evocative and provocative, reminding readers that words can be powerful. Ferran’s food works the same way. A single dish at elBulli could be amazingly novel and unique, yet, on the same plate, allude to the familiar and classical: the neoteric pine nut risotto simultaneously celebrated this tradition. Understanding the history of gastronomy provided an even greater appreciation of what I was eating. These weren’t just meals—they were servings of a deeply cherished philosophy.

Though elBulli is gone, now reincarnated into a series of exciting projects, we are certain Ferran Adrià will continue to drive the culinary world. Our team was thrilled to see his newest book, elBulli 2005–2011, an incredible masterpiece that not only captures the final seasons of elBulli but also the creative spirit of Ferran’s restaurant. Of course, we were also rather amused when we placed Modernist Cuisine and elBulli 2005–2011 next to each other. With numerous volumes, both are heavy, to say the least, and must be contained within acrylic cases. The books, however, couldn’t be more different.

Modernist Cuisine is an exploration of techniques employed across the world of cuisine—the contributions of 72 different chefs are found throughout our volumes. In contrast, Ferran’s book is amazing because it’s the singular vision of one chef, supported by a fantastic team. The intellectual evolution of his cuisine, a concept particularly important to Ferran, is covered in fascinating detail. Last fall we were thrilled when we got word that Ferran would be able to visit The Cooking Lab during his book tour. It would become an incredible opportunity to demonstrate how he has influenced what we do and the evolution of our food.

Normally, lab dinners showcase the techniques we describe in Modernist Cuisine with a menu that typically spans 30 courses. Dishes range from very traditional to very modern in order to demonstrate the content of the books. But for Ferran, our goals were different. Firstly, we wanted to serve him as many courses as he had served me. Secondly, we wanted to construct a menu centered on creativity and innovation as well as celebrate elBulli by organizing the courses into thematic sequences so that the experience would be similar to what diners encountered at elBulli.

The idea of cooking for Ferran Adrià is truly exciting but also rather daunting. It is quite rational to worry that we might make fools of ourselves. We started planning the menu as a team in January, casually bouncing ideas off each other for new, exploratory concepts. Over the course of several months, we reimagined our repertoire, fine-tuning and perfecting some of our hallmark dishes. A dozen new courses were debuted, and we ultimately eliminated several others. In fact, we met just three days before the dinner to go over the final menu. A handful of dishes didn’t make the cut, but eventually our sequences emerged—nine in total. Each sequence consisted of five to seven dishes bound together by a theme, whether it was a country, like France or Italy, or a phase of the meal, like cheese or dessert.

Meals at elBulli started with a welcome cocktail, which is something we had never done before. A cocktail at elBulli was not your standard gin and tonic or Manhattan; it was always a cocktail as Ferran imagined. As an homage to elBulli, we started our meal the same way, with a shot of olive oil and basil-infused alcohol. The nine sequences took our guests on an international journey of traditional dishes, all presented in unconventional ways. The night ended with a round of desserts, culminating in absinthe poured over sculptures of 3D-printed sugar.

The dinner was a tour of what Modernist cooking is and can be. We toasted Ferran with intriguing texture, sublime flavors, and, hopefully, a bit of the unexpected. In all, we hope the dinner was a fitting tribute to a chef who continues to inspire us to explore, imagine, and create.

elBulli 2005-2011 Exclusive Offer

Posted on June 16, 2014 at 9:46 am.

Written by Caren

When Modernist Cuisine went to press, Ferran Adrià had just announced that elBulli would be closing its doors by the end of 2011—in light of this news, the culinary world reeled while eagerly awaiting what would come next from Adrià. For anyone who was not able to experience the Catalonian restaurant, elBulli 2005–2011 captures elBulli’s pivotal last years and is a truly gorgeous treatment of its final seasons. The 2,438 pages of our own Modernist Cuisine span an entire culinary movement of history and science, and they chronicle techniques developed by a number of chefs, including Adrià. elBulli 2005–2011, with even more pages that chronicle every recipe and the creative process of the restaurant’s final six years, is an amazing testament to the creativity and singular vision of one chef and a fantastic team.

With 750 recipes, beautifully presented in incredible detail and developed during elBulli’s final six seasons, the seven-volume opus captures both the art and meticulous research elBulli is known for. The set also offers a fascinating evolutionary analysis of the innovations, techniques, technology, and methods developed by Adrià and his team.

As an exclusive for fans of Modernist Cuisine, Phaidon is pleased to offer readers a 20% discount on copies of elBulli 2005–2011, when ordered directly from their website. As an additional perk, while supplies last, you’ll receive a bookplate hand-signed by Ferran himself and presented in limited-edition box. Visit Phaidon.com before June 30, 2014, to take advantage of this offer, complete with free shipping.

For questions about this offer, please contact the Phaidon team at webinfo@phaidon.com.

50 Courses in 60 Seconds: A Toast to Ferran Adrià

Posted on June 13, 2014 at 10:47 am.

Written by Caren

On March 7^th the Modernist Cuisine team had the distinct pleasure of welcoming Ferran Adrià to The Cooking Lab. Over the course of five hours, our culinary team constructed and served nine sequencess, 50 courses in all, to honor Adrià and his newest book elBulli 2005-2011. Each sequence was thoughtfully designed to ignite the imagination and speak to the incredible diversity of Modernist cuisine. Unexpected flavors and textures transported guests across the globe and back again, often playing on comforting, familiar dishes.

Here are all 50 courses, in just 60 seconds, from the first cocktail to the final pour of absinthe and every bite in between.

The New Face of Modernistcuisine.com

Posted on May 16, 2014 at 11:58 am.

Written by Caren

If you’ve logged on to modernistcuisine.com recently, you probably noticed some changes, which include our new bread project and a few personnel additions to the Modernist Cuisine team. We’ve been working hard to improve our website in order to satisfy our main goal: to make it more user-friendly, while providing an experience that truly reflects everything we love about Modernist Cuisine: gorgeous photography, solid design features, and useful information. You’ll also find new content—tour the volumes of Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, explore the anatomy of a Modernist Cuisine at Home recipe, or strike up a conversation with Nathan about Modernist cooking.

What is yet to come?

We’re still in the first phase of construction, but you can expect even more content in the coming months. Many of you have expressed concern about our full-text search: we know this is a valuable resource, especially when it comes to working through Modernist Cuisine. We are working to create a more user-friendly experience so that it is easier to find information and navigate through the volumes. You can expect an updated, comprehensive gear guide, as well as recipes developed exclusively for the site.

What about the forum?

When we sat down to begin mapping out the new site, one of our biggest questions was, “What do we do with our forum?” As many of our readers noted, our forum had become plagued with spam, making it difficult to use and for the Modernist Cuisine team to respond. We want to provide our forum members with a space that will foster learning and conversations about Modernist recipes, techniques, and ingredients, so, after putting considerable thought into it, we determined there is no better home for these discussions than our good friend, eGullet. Their site is a tremendous resource for both professional chefs and home cooks who have an interest in Modernist cooking. In fact, the origins of Modernist Cuisine can be traced to the infamous eGullet thread about cooking sous vide that was started by Nathan. That discussion was the inspiration for Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking.

Here’s what you need to know about the transition:

All content from the modernistcuisine.com forums has been directly integrated into the eGullet forums. You’ll be able to search eGullet for any topics posted on our site; all imported content has been tagged as “Modernist Cuisine Forums,” so it’s easy to find. Our team will now be weighing in on topics and answering questions through eGullet.

Your privacy is important to us, which is why we anonymized every post imported to eGullet. No personally identifiable information was transferred, and no IP addresses or related information were retained. Read eGullet’s privacy statement here.

It will be easy to continue your discussions in the forum’s new home, but that choice is entirely yours. To facilitate the transition, eGullet created easily activated dummy accounts for each member of the Modernist Cuisine forum. If you decide to create an eGullet account, every post you make on the modernistcuisine.com forum will appear with your new username.

To activate your account on eGullet, send an e-mail to feedback@egullet.org using the account you registered with Modernist Cuisine. Please include the username you wish to use, or, if you are already an eGullet member and would like your accounts merged, let us know in the e-mail.

We hope you take some time to explore and enjoy the new modernistcuisine.com.

The Art and Science of Bread

Posted on May 14, 2014 at 7:26 am.

Written by Caren

We are frequently asked what our next big project will be, and for almost a year we’ve alluded to “having something in the works.” In actuality, our culinary team has been working overtime baking and learning about bread. From crust to crumb, we are excited to finally reveal that our next book will be entirely devoted to the art and science of bread.

Why bread? Because it’s so ubiquitous that we now have vast, daunting selections of breads to choose from at most grocery chains. Many of us have started taking the bread course for granted when dining out. But bread shouldn’t be an afterthought on the table or simply a building block for sandwiches—breaking open a good loaf of bread, fresh from the oven, is an experience that can evoke nostalgia for years to follow. For many of us, however, baking bread at home is intimidating and shrouded in mystery. Unlike cooking, most breads are made by varying the amounts of four simple ingredients: flour, water, salt, and, of course, yeast. Yet the simplicity of these ingredients is complicated by the intricate science of the bread-baking process and by the fact that bakers must contend with an ingredient that is alive and sensitive to its environment.

With thousands of years of wisdom that inform techniques still used today, the art of baking bread is steeped in tradition. As such, we are researching bread’s rich past and studying the science therein. We have been fortunate to meet a number of talented bakers and chefs who are sharing their expertise and knowledge with us, and we remain on the lookout for new experts and resources.

This project comes with another exciting announcement as we welcome to our team Francisco Migoya as head chef and Peter Reinhart as assignments editor. We are incredibly lucky to have recruited two individuals whose contributions to pastry and baking have already set the bar high.

Under the leadership of head chef Migoya, our bread program has blossomed in a relatively short time. His passion has led him to push the boundaries of pastry arts in savory, pastry, viennoiserie, and bread. Chef Migoya pairs sublime flavors with Modernist techniques to create exquisite, avant-garde pastries and chocolates that are almost too stunning to eat. Having worked as executive pastry chef at The French Laundry, and most recently as a professor at The Culinary Institute of America, his work has earned him recognition as one of the top pastry chefs in the country by both the Huffington Post and Dessert Professional, and he has been imparted Medal of Master Artisan Pastry Chef by Gremi de Pastisseria de Barcelona. Chef Migoya has authored three pastry books, winning a 2014 award for The Elements of Dessert from International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP).

One of the leading authorities on bread, Peter Reinhart will lend his extensive expertise to this project. As a full-time chef on assignment at Johnson & Wales University, Peter teaches courses on baking and the juncture of food and culture. A best-selling author of nine books, his approachable methodologies and techniques have been embraced by home bakers and earned him numerous awards, including Book of the Year (2002) for The Bread Baker’s Apprentice from both IACP and the James Beard Foundation. Additionally, he won James Beard Foundation awards for Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads (2008) and Crust and Crumb (1997), with a nomination for Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day. His newest book, Bread Revolution, will be released in the fall of 2014.

Our hope for this project is that, by revealing the history, science, and techniques of baking bread, we will create an in-depth multivolume set of books that will be useful and accessible to amateur home bakers, passionate bread enthusiasts, restaurants, and small-scale bakeries alike. But because we are in the beginning stages of this book, we do not know how many volumes it will be or when it will go on sale. There is a lot for us to decide, but we will stay true to the approaches used for Modernist Cuisine, so readers can expect the same level of rigor and detail in our writing, illustrations, and photography as we attempt to showcase bread in a new light.

If you have a burning question about this project, or would like to contribute your expertise, we would love to hear from you. Please contact breadcontributions@modernistcuisine.com.

Celebrating Steven Shaw

Posted on April 10, 2014 at 11:21 am.

Written by Caren

The best meals are shared, creating a sense of community. These experiences bring people together to exchange ideas, pose questions, debate passionately, laugh loudly, create memories, and relish in eating good food. Steven Shaw did all of these things as well—his work embodied the spirit of his subject matter.

The culinary world lost an innovative voice on Tuesday. I’m shocked and deeply saddened to lose Steven, who has been a great friend to me and to the entire culinary world.

Steven genuinely enjoyed good food, whether it was a pizza, a particularly delicious deli sandwich, or a provocative Modernist creation at a high-end restaurant. His voracious appetite for both food and writing drove him to leave a successful legal career to become a food blogger, long before that title existed and certainly before anyone was actually getting paid for it. He was an evocative, intelligent author and critic who had a gift for inspiring people to explore, debate, and eat. His early, enthusiastic newsletters transformed into his blog, which evolved into eGullet; the community he created is a true reflection of his passion. His decisions in how to shape and moderate the disparate voices into a managed conversation made eGullet into a forum where chefs, home cooks, and just about anybody else openly shared their knowledge. He was a trailblazer, centralizing our conversations and democratizing our discourse by moving it to an online agora.

In many ways, the inspiration for Modernist Cuisine was born on those forums. In 2004, I started exploring and explaining sous vide cuisine on eGullet. Almost immediately, I was contacted by FatGuy, and, in addition to the public posts, we started to e-mail each other directly. As a result of the experience, I was determined to write a book on sous vide. Steven was a tremendously positive influence on the development of both Modernist Cuisine and Modernist Cuisine at Home. He was a sounding-board throughout the writing process, providing thoughtful feedback on early manuscripts. I and the rest of the Modernist Cuisine team owe a great deal to him for all of his help and guidance.

I was also incredibly fortunate to be able to call him a friend. He was smart, doggedly rational, and had a famously acerbic sense of humor—he was a genuinely good guy and a truly amazing person to share a meal with. I have many wonderful memories that were made while sitting across the table from him. I was privileged to dine with Steven in the last weeks at elBulli. Our group comprised chefs and hard-core eaters, but six hours and fifty-two courses after the beginning of the night, we reached our limits. Yet, when the last plate finally arrived, Steven turned to me and said in an incredulous voice, “Is that it?” It was all the rest of us could do to contain our laughter.

Steven has left a lasting legacy. He taught thousands of people how to really love food and his work will live on in the community he built. eGullet is a gift that he created for everyone—especially for me. He will be sincerely missed and lovingly remembered as a legend. He gave so much, but it ended far too soon. If I could say one last thing to him, I would say, “Hey Steve, is that it?”

The Science Behind Non-Newtonian Noodles

Posted on March 27, 2014 at 12:02 pm.

Written by Caren

Modernist cooking isn’t just reserved for state-of-the-art kitchens and labs, for culinary ingenuity is found in many surprising places. Street vendors in particular are among the most innovative and resourceful cooks out there. They often combine humble ingredients with science to create extraordinary dishes, often paired with entertaining finesse to stop hungry locals and travelers in their tracks.

For instance, the vendor in this video is preparing fei chang fen, a tasty specialty of Chengdu, in Sichuan province, China. He uses a marvelously simple, yet clever way of making noodles by grabbing handfuls of batter from a large pot and dropping it into a colander, allowing the batter to drain through the holes. The batter at the bottom of the colander flows freely, but the mixture at the top appears much thicker—thick enough, in fact, for the vendor to forcefully slap the surface without submerging his hand. The process repeats as he casually looks around, until the vendor shears off the batter into individual strands of noodles, which he then drops into boiling broth to cook.

Traditionally, elastic fei chang fen noodles are made of sweet-potato starch reserved in a steaming-hot broth with pig intestines. The resulting noodle soup is then garnished with bean sprouts, scallions, peanuts, chili oil, and vinegar.

It is the unique preparation, however, by which the street vendor creates his noodles that caught our attention. By combining starch and liquid, he creates a non-Newtonian fluid: a liquid that does not flow with constant viscosity but with a viscosity that changes in response to shear forces, which are forces that push in opposite directions along two distinct parallel lines. Simply put, non-Newtonian fluids can behave as both a liquid and solid. When you apply shear forces to non-Newtonian fluids, you’re met with resistance—try punching such mixtures, and you might come away with a bruise or two. In contrast, Newtonian fluids (like water) have a relatively constant viscosity, despite shear forces and flow rates, which allow them to flow in predictable ways.

We encounter non-Newtonian fluids every day, a classic example of which is Ketchup, which stubbornly stays in the bottle and acts solid, even if the bottle is inverted. If you shake the bottle, the flow starts and then picks up speed as shear forces reduce the viscosity. Often the result is that too much ketchup dumps on the plate.

There’s no need to shake a bottle of water when you want to fill a cup. When you pour water, you can easily anticipate the trajectory and flow of the fluid; splashes are just a function of the pourer’s clumsiness.

Despite the ubiquity of non-Newtonian fluids, scientists have only recently begun to understand the mechanisms of how they flow.

Researchers at the University of Chicago have uncovered just how the molecules of non‑Newtonian fluids behave. By using high-speed videography and force sensors on mixtures of cornstarch and water (commonly known as Oobleck with an etymology tracing to the pen of Dr. Seuss), the research team observed the so-called “snowplow” effect: when a mixture is compressed, the molecules pack together to create a solid surface.

The snowplow effect partly explains how the noodles in the video can be picked up like a block one second and then flow freely the next. When the vendor smacks the batter in the video (likely done to distribute the batter or for a bit of dramatic flair), the molecules directly under his hand compress into a hard mass that is unable to exit the colander, momentarily exhibiting properties of a solid, just like the packed snow that builds up in front of a snowplow.

But when the vendor lets the batter rest in the colander, the molecules relax, and the mixture flows again. The vendor then shears off the dough into individual strands of noodles, which fall into the boiling broth below and cook. Although scientists now understand how molecules become “jammed” into a solid, they are still trying to understand how molecules relax to take on characteristics of a liquid.

To observe these unique (and often entertaining) properties of non-Newtonian fluids, try creating your own Oobleck by mixing one cup of cornstarch with one-half cup of water. And the next time you find yourself wandering through a market, take a second look at the cooking techniques of street vendors because you might be witnessing a complex scientific process!

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The Delicious Science of Guinness

Posted on March 17, 2014 at 8:59 am.

Written by Caren

Guinness isn’t just tasty — the company has a long history of technical and scientific innovation.

Guinness draft beer is famous for both its taste and its velvety, foamy head. The creamy foam of dry stouts is notably different from the bitter, more carbonated foam of other beers because of the addition of nitrogen. In fact, kegs that dispense stouts are pressurized with nitrogen, which has a low solubility in liquids and works to displace carbon dioxide (CO₂), imparting a unique head with a pleasant mouthfeel.

The bubbles of other beers, as in lagers, form as dissolved CO₂ comes out of solution slowly. But this doesn’t translate well to canned beers. So, in the late 1980s, Guinness developed an answer: a special can pressurized not just with ₂ but also nitrogen. Cans — and, more recently, bottles — of Guinness contain a floating plastic container called a widget, which releases additional nitrogen when the container is opened. This sophisticated combination has been very successful in mimicking draft Guinness.

In 2006, Guinness introduced another option: the Surger, an ultrasonic device that sits under a pint glass and sends out a pulse of ultrasound to create cavitation, which drives bubbles out of solution.

We cut open a Guinness Bottle to examine how the widget works its magic.

– Adapted from Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking