Gabe Q

I am positive the closing days for 2008 will be Mondays and Tuesdays, as this are the days they used to close the first 3 months of the last few seasons. So I guess it will go wed-sun. I didnt know they would prolong the season like Pedro said, so that's good. I imagine they will probably either start in early march or finish in late october. Yeah, Raurich's place will definitely have elbulli's support. In fact almost everyday you see him in the kitchen experimenting and developing menu ideas. And then when staff meal comes at 6pm, he serves all the new stuff to Ferran and Albert and all the top guys there, at the center table, to try and get feedback. Some more news for all of you regarding the next volume of books. It appears as though the next one's will be a trilogy. So that means that 2006, 2007 and 2008 will go together. And Ferran said today that the book will come out until October 2009. So it is still a long time away!

Well it's been a while since the last post on this topic. So I thought I'd throw in some random inside information. This will be the last season for Chef de Cuisine Albert Raurich. He's been head of the kitchen for 6 years now I think. And after they close the season in October he is going to move on an open his own place in Barcelona which will be a Japanese/Asian inspired tapas place. Should be interesting.

It is sort of a pain to clean, especially if you use highly staining things like beets, but generally what they do here is rinse them well with soap and water, then they keep them submerged in some water with a little bleach for a while and then take them out and rinse them very well again and leave them to air dry.

Oh, and mojoman, just remembered something. Since you mentioned tomato water. The way they do it here at elbulli is they put cherry tomatoes through the juicer, then out it in empty plastic water bottles with the tops cut off. Then they leave them undisturbed for a day in the fridge and the tomato water naturally separates and then we just pinch the bottom of the bottle and get the clear tomato water and that is passed through paper or superbags.

Superbags are awesome. I'm working at elBulli right now and they use them here to pass all their stuff. For example they puree asparagus and pass them through to make asparagus "water" that they then use for making airs. Or they pass olives by the thermomix and then we pass them through superbags and they use the olive water to make the famous olive spherifications, etc. It is basically like the best most precise filtering system you can use. Everything will come out absolutely clean and liquid.

PACOJET!!!!!!

Hello everyone. I've been going over the entire diiscussion and I am also undecided as to which way to go. I definitely want a built in freezer unit. I was thinking of the Kitchenaid pro line dessert maker because I saw it reconditioned on amazon going for under $500, but now I went back and there is only one reseller and it;s gone up to $700. That is somewhat high for me. My dream machine would be with a built in freezer, and a horizontal freezer unit so that the ice cream can be pushed out automatically. I am willing to pay around $500 for it. Does anyone know any good machines that fit that description and budget??

Hello. I'm trying to help out a friend here in Spain with some information. She's working pastry right now at a restaurant and will finish in October, after which she wants to go do some more stages at other places in Europe. She already knows about most of the big time pastry chefs here in Spain like Torreblanca, Balaguer, Rovira, etc. But most of them specialize in chocolate or other pastry aspects and not entirely in sugar work. She is very interested in working with someone specializing in just sugar work. So can anyone give me any names of chefs you may know of, so that we can research more on them. Thanks.

Damn. That's a long delay from originally saying February to possibly September. But I'm sure it will be worth the wait though. I also do find it weird at the lack of information there is about the opening. On the latest installment of "The Launch", which I don't know if anyone else noticed, but they used to update those every Thursday and now it is about a new one every 3 weeks or so, Sam Mason said they did a bunch of interviews and press for all the magazines july/september issues, so maybe in the next month there will be some press coming out.

Hey Silly Congratulations on the opening of your stall. I'm not sure exactly when I will be back at the Boqueria, most likely some Tuesday or Thursday when they send me again with the driver from elBulli to do the weekly shopping there. I'll let you know a few days before. If not then in early October when I leave Spain I will go by Barcelona for a few days so I will definitely go by then. Good luck.

It's weird how those closing rumors are always around, but I've even asked some of the staff here and they say every year there is a rumor that it will be their last. So I wouldn't pay attention to any closing rumors. Like I said before, they have confirmed that next season they will open from Wednesday through Sunday every week of the 6 months. So there definitely will be a 2008 season. As far as other activities, one big factor to take into account is that very soon the ALICIA ("Alimentacion y Ciencia" or "Science and Nutrition" in English) Foundation is opening. You can read about it more at their website. Ferran talked about it the first day of the season and he seems very excited, and from what I've heard they will move a lot of the activities of elTaller over to the ALICIA headquarters when they open and the season is over. So maybe Ferran will be spending a lot more time there doing research and everything. Also he has a lot of advisor's and people that work with him that used to be old elBulli employees, who handle all his business and things like NH Hotels and other consultancies. That is what elBulli Carmen is dedicated to. So I'm sure they can keep taking care of all the business aspects even if he decides to step back from the business side. So we just have to wait and see what the future holds. They have been busy taking pictures of all the dishes this season, so it is very likely that by early next year the 2006-2007 volume book will come out.

There is a new elBulli book that just hit the market about a month ago called "Un dia en elbulli". I think right now it is only out in Spanish though. I just had a chance to shuffle through it for like a minute but it definitely looks good. It is not a cookbook though. It is mostly images, thousands of them, compiled to give an idea of what goes on a whole day at the restaurant, plus outside of it as they go with the drivers to the Barcelona markets and everything. Right now it is priced at 40 euros here in Spain. Not sure if it is even avilable in the USA though. But I definitely will buy a copy before I leave back in October. Just wondering if anyone owns it yet and what are your opinions?

hey Tan Actually 2 of my roomates here in Roses ate at Espai Sucre last week. But I have forgotten to ask them for a detailed account. I'll see if they have any pictures also.

I'm glad something is happening soon. For some time it got pretty quiet, but now it looks like things will move fast. I'm really looking forward to reading the menu at their website.

Just some random information. As you may all know chefs from all over go to dine at elBulli every year. So far in the first 2 months the following world known chefs have come that I can remember: - Pierre Herme - Michel Troisgros - Jose Andres (opening day) - Grant Achatz - Neil Perry

Hello, thanks for your replies Yeah, I personally asked Albert Adria if they had the book to be sold anywhere here in Spain, but he said that it is out of print and they don't sell it anymore. I'll keep researching and checking the places you've mentioned.

Just wondering if anyone knows of a website were I could order this book from. I know it is from around 1998, and it says it's not in stock or print, at the official elbulli online store. I searched for it and don;t find anything. Any clues would be great, thanks.

Just to give all of you some inside news from the elBulli kitchen...today Ferran said in his morning speech that for next season they are planning on opening Wednesday through Sunday all season long. As you all know they open Wed-Sun from April-June and then everyday from July- Sept. But apparently this is the last year they will do that. Starting 2008 they will close 2 days a week every week. So that means that the already very limited 8000 seats available per season is gonna go down in the future years.

Hey, I lived and worked in orlando for the past 2 years and the restaurant scene is awful. Like most of you have said it is all about the Disney scene. And Emeril's??!! I mean come on. That is just pathetic manufactured hotel food trying to come out like fine dining. Pathetic.

Hello oesophaghus. I can give you some more info on "the sea" plate since I helped plate it a few times. The seaweeds used varied a little, but basically like you said it is about 9 types of seaweeds. Some of them are raw and some have a certain degree of cooking. I honestly don;t remember all the names, one that is light green and very light is called 'sea lettuce', and another light yellow one was 'kombu'. But the others basically came packaged with the scientific names on them. The dish is supposed to go in a specific order from the lightest flavor all the way to the strongest flavors at the end of the circle. All the seaweeds are placed ahead of time for time reasons since it is a very detailed dish. Then when they call to fire it you put: - the sea lettuce and kombu since those 2 dehydrate very fast so they need to be put just before sending it out. - Then it had a cube of watermelon in the center (some tables got it with no watermelon because they had already had a previous dish with watermelon on it), - A little juice released from the cooking of one of the red seaweeds over the watermelon - Then 2 flowers and leaves from a plant called "borraja" - another sea product called 'uva del mar' (this translates to 'sea grape'. They get them packed freah in a bag with liquid. It looks like a little green string with little balls all over it. You through it in cold water and after like 30 seconds they hydrate and the balls fill up and expand and it has a very intense salt water taste) - Inka Ichi oil over all the seaweeds - Last two mounds of seawater foam on both sides of the watermelon.

Click on the following link for a documentary in spanish done by RTVE on elBulli after they received their award for best restaurant in the world. Scroll down to the end of the page and click on the blue video icon where it says elbulli: elBulli Spanish TV report Towards the end of the video you can see docsconz's meal at the chef's table! Looking good Doc.

Hey Baggy The 2005 book cd comes with mini videos but they are just little explanations for recipes. Like 1 minute videos just showing a certain important step in a recipe with no audio. So it;'s just one of the cooks in front of the camera demonstrating. Right now I am working the 2007 season at elBulli so I am lucky to get to see the action everyday. But before coming here like yourself I was looking everywhere on the internet for videos of the kitchen just to know what to expect. Unfortunately the best thing I found was also the Anthony Bourdain dvd. I think they do a lot of things here in Europe because they have cameras in the kitchen several times a week. But in America they don;t seem to put up anything. Good luck though.

I've been getting very interested in pastry lately, even considering making a transition from savory cooking onto pastry for my future job. I've been a very big fan of all the modern pastry chefs like Albert Adria, Jordi Roca, Oriol Balaguer, and in the US guys like Sam Mason and Alex Stupak. I am mostly familiar with the NYC guys, worth mentioning also are Will from R4D and Jordan Kahn ex-Varietal. So anyways you know what type of pastry I am talking about. I am sure there is a whole group of really talented pastry chefs all over the US though, that you hardly hear about doing some very innovative things. So I want to know is who else, not included in my lists, is worth mentioning as a future leader in the US modern pastry scene?????

I have the 1998-2002, 2003-2004, and 2005 in spanish. And from all of them I would say my favorites are 2003-2004. Because they have great design, thery also have all the new spherification techniques, and a lot of their recipes have step by step color pictures which explain things very well. The 98-02 lacks the picture explanations and only has the recipes on the cd. And the 2005 they started putting in small videos to explain the techniques, but I find it better to have pictures to folllow in a book rather than have to go to your computer and put in the cd and play the videos and still they are not as clear. That's just my thoughts. 2003-2004 definitely.

I forgot to mention I know english and spanish to the book language doesn't matter either.