Silly Disciple

Out of curiosity, what would happen if you browned the meat before sealing it in the sous vide bag and cooking it? SD

Back to Quinoa. I recently found quinoa flour sold at my local bio shop. I tried prepairing a light pseudo-tempura batter, and made some "goat cheese stuffed zucchini flower tempura"... or something to that effect. The end result wasn't bad at all, but I'd like to know if this dish goes against Montignac (other than frying as a cooking method). Since quinoa can be eaten with lipids (cheese), I don't see why quinoa flour should be otherwise. And same for meat, could I make quinoa-breaded chicken, for instance? SD

I'd like to add my two cents on a few places I've visited recently. While not being destination places in themselves, I think its good to have them at hand, as the kind of place you would visit if you were in the area and didn't have other plans. Some have been mentioned in the forum before, others I've found through friends' references. Cata 1.81 - Valencia, 181. This one has been commented on. Located in the same street as el Xampany and Taktika Berri, in the Left Eixample. Inventive tapas, fashionable setting. Nothing to write home about. We had the degustation menu + 2 bottles of cava for about 30 euros a head if I'm not mistaken. El Vaso de Oro - Balboa 6. In Barceloneta. Old bar, now frequented by tourists, has a decent selection of traditional tapas: Chocos, pimientos del piquillo, patatas bravas, foie gras on a toast, etc. Not the cheapest of places, but a good option if you find yourself hungry and walking back from the Barceloneta beach. Vinissim - Carrer de Sant Domènec del Call , 17 In the old quarter, sort of behind Plaza Sant Jaume. Nice setting and ambience, farily cheap, has both some interesting tapas as well as a good selection of not expensive wines. Lonja de Tapas - Pla de Palau, 7. In the Born area. For what it should be mostly a tourist destination, this tapas bar a block away from Cal Pep was surprisingly good. We had a good selection of fairly creative tapas and a bottle of cava. SD

Not to mention in a better position to make acquaintance with chefs in Catalunya and all over Spain. ← And on this note I'm happy to say I will be staging at Restaurant Mas Pau during the month of August. So if any of you fellow eGulleters are in the area, please do stop by! Also, tonight I had dinner at Hofmann. I had always discounted it as being a traditional place for posh catalonian clients. I was pleasantly proved otherwise, the food and the service were excellent. Unfortunately, as Bux would say, there are too many more interesting restaurants to visit if you are on a tight schedule... SD

Becca, my brother is doing their 3-year restaurant management program, so if you have any questions about the school let me know, I'll pass them on to him. Glad you had a good time. SD

Judith, what a fantastic report! I'm glad we agree on both Hisop and Cinc Sentits as great value destinations which offer outstanding food. I would have loved to read your thoughts on Alkimia. How come you didn't visit it, being a favorite of yours? Was it just "too many restaurants, not enough time"? The other significant conclusion I get from your report is that I clearly must plan a trip to Euskadi. Thanks much for the wealth of detail you've provided us. SD

I thought salt doesn't dissolve in fat, thus by straining it you shouldn't have any salt in it, right? SD

It's not. Almonds is a refinement that you won't usuallly find. Also, Argentines don't do cilantro; it's Italian parsley. ← As I've said, cilantro is practically unknown in traditional Argie food. Chimichurri recipes usually call for oregano instead of parsley. and you're correct, the almonds is not a traditional thing, but do try it and let me know , it makes a killer chimichurri! SD

Pim, would you mind elaborating a bit more on your experience at Alkimia? I think I posted about it elsewhere in the forum, but we went there with a bunch of people from the cooking school and found it unanimously dissapointing in its food, the service and the overall quality/price ratio. SD

In Argentina you have them both baked and fried. The most common fillings are: - knife-cut meat (as opposed to grounded), and several variations of it (with or without olives, raisins, potato, etc). - ham and cheese. - cheese and onions. - a corn and bechamel mixture. and then you have the less popular varieties, such as canned tuna, chicken, cheese tomato and basil, and a few others. SD edited to add: In NY you can have Argentinian empadanas in most argie restaurants, such as Noveccento, Mamma Linda, etc in Manhattan or other places throughout Queens. There's a fairly decent uruguayan place in (I think) Grand and West Broadway that has good empanadas as well.

I haven't been to Abac, so leaving that one aside I would strongly recommend both Hisop and Cinc Sentits over Alkimia. I'm not a big fan of Can Majo, both since I didn't find the food great when I ate there, and because a friend of mine used to work in their kitchen and I've heard some horror stories. Then again, at the time I didn't know their specialty is arroces caldosos (more "soupy" rices rather than the "drier" paella). If seafood is what you're looking for, there are I think other options available. I recently ate at Colibri, which I think we have overlooked a bit as it can be put in the same group, and it's definitely worth visiting. SD

Or rent a car in Barcelona, it's a nice drive to Roses. The main issue you have is the "coming back" part. Are you planning on staying in Roses or other nearby places? Remember you will be done with dinner around 1am, having eaten 25 or so dishes and presumably having consumed a good bit of alcohol as well. There is no public transportation that late, so your options are driving back to Barcelona (about 150km), staying in the area (the safest choice) or taking a taxi back (don't know the price, but I would assume 200 EUR or more, if 45 gets you to Figueres). SD

Sorry, I did not take pictures during the demo. SD

I've stayed a few time in Roses at hotel la cala. its a one star, so don't expect great things, but its clean, very cheap (20/30 euros low season for a double if i remember correctly), and best of all it stands almost above SnackMar/Las Golondrinas, and is right accross from Rafa's. Hotel La Cala 972-256171 C.Sant Sebastia (can't find the number... Rafa's is 56 so this should be in the odd 50's). SD edited to add full address: Sant Sebastià, 61 - Roses - 17480 Tel: +34-972256171 - Fax: +34-972256171

I completely agree with Judith. Given my limited experience in the abovementioned restaurants (I've been once to Alkimia, once to Comerç 24, once to Hisop, and several to CS), I would not hesitate to point both Hisop and CincSentits as the best value right now if you're looking for young BCN chefs (yes, I said young. you can thank me later, Jordi ) offering "dynamic menus" as Judith calls them, culinary creativity and excellent service at a very fair price. Again, in my experience both Alkimia and C24 fail in one or more of these aspects (as does Cal Pep, but that's a different story altoghether). I am not counting Abac, Drolma, Gaig, Colibri and maybe one or two more places, as either I think they don't fall into this category or I just haven't been to them yet. SD

Let's see who else shares the opinion that Iberico is superior to Parma: from The Most Delicious Ham in the World, by Arthur Lubow: article here. I'm sure more can be found on this subject. I just found this article after a quick google search. SD

On the contrary blake, you've taken the work of posting the review off my back , plus you're much more eloquent than I am! SD

Ok, given the posts from Bux and blakej, which are far more descriptive than I could ever be, it seems we might be hitting diminishing returns, duplicating images and descriptions but adding little content. I’ll post these two which I had already written, and then I’ll try to concentrate on the ones in our menu that haven’t been described yet, or the ones I really liked. marshmallow de parmigiano Just what the name implies. A very subtle dish, in my opinion, as you would expect stronger flavors from the use of parmigiano. I liked the extremely light texture, but while good, this wasn’t one of my favorite ones. palomita de queso popcorn with a cheese coat, or popcorn within a cheese “vessel”. The cheese (can’t remember what it was… pecorino maybe?) flavor was fairly overpowering. Note the change in presentation from blakej picture.

Lucy, I'm intrigued by quinoa. I have discovered it only recently, and I don't remember any particular details of Montignac's book (and haven't gone back to it yet). So I'll continue being lazy and let you tell me all there is to know about it sd

I would make a reservation at places like Alkimia or Cinc Sentits, just to be safe. Quimet i Quimet or Taktika Berri, on the other hand, are indeed bars, so you don't really need a reservation. Also you mention "next month". Is this July? remember that pretty much everything closes down in Barcelona in August.

Hofmann is a good cooking school, and the course I'm taking is oriented to either working professionals who want to learn/perfect technique or hard-core amateurs (my case). The course is really good, albeit a bit ... thin, i.e. we see many techniques only once, and maybe this is fine for people already working, but in my case I have to try and use them at home as soon as possible (sometimes this is not possible, as for instance I don't own a huge industrial oven :) ). That being said, there's a professional, much more compprehensive, 28-month course, which resembles I think the american schools curriculum. I know it has some age restrictions though (maybe 19 to 27 only, not sure). In terms of what you learn, there are other schools here which have a stronger curriculum for the kind of money you spend at Hofmann (i.e. Escola Superior d'Hosteleria de Barcelona), but what you are really paying is the name and network Hofmann has. It is very prestigious, and I would think pretty much every gastronomic kitchen in Spain has at least one graduate from the school, which is key to get stages and/or work as you finish your degree. Hope it helps, SD

Margarita 2005 a deconstruction of a frozen margarita, you are presented with a hollowed block of ice which contained frozen, solid chips of margarita. the foam on top is "salt air", replacing the typical salt rind of a cocktail glass. It had a refreshing taste, and it was a good way to prepare our palates for what was coming. Olivas Sfericas (spheric olives) As Ellie explained earlier, these look like regular olive oils, served from olive oil jars, and put in a spoon for you to taste. The surprise comes when you put it in your mouth and the olive explodes in your mouth, filling it with the liquid taste of an olive. Unfortunately for me I had attended a demo by Albert Adria the previous week, so I was already aware of the "punchline". This was the first of several dishes using the spheriphication technique, which has been taken forward by the elBulli Taller team, and they now use not only alginate but other gellatins as well. muelle de aceite de oliva virgen (virgin olive oil spring) This was a brittle candy spring flavored with olive oil. I found the olive oil to be very subtle, overtaken by the candy flavor. It was a neat idea, but it didn't have the powerful olive oil taste I was expecting (as the olives did, for instance). In the demo I mentioned, Albert explained that two interesting techniques are used for this dish. The first one is to solidify fat (the olive oil needs to be disolved into the isomalt/glucose mix), and the second one is to work with the candy with a Black & Decker (this is what he said, literally) in order to create a very thin thread which could be molded around a tube to create the spring.

Saturday two weeks ago I finally had the good luck (thanks to some very nice people in this forum) of eating at elBulli. The whole experience was fascinating, as on top of the food we had the chance to seat at the kitchen table, which was a whole experience in itself. We also had the chance for a nice little chat with Mr.Adria after the service was over. I will follow with a detailed report of all dishes and pictures of them. Please bear with me, as it was a long dinner. I will break it in posts of 3/4 dishes for readability. SD

The good thing about gazpacho is that you can make a big batch and it keeps fairly well for a week or so in the fridge. We do this at home, making about 3-4 liters of gazpacho, and keep it in the fridge. I can swear it even tastes better after 1 or 2 days. SD

Espai Sucre also has a pastry school, which offers demos from prominent chefs such as Albert Adria, Oriol Balaguer, etc, as well as long courses (I believe they have a eleven months one, and a few other courses). I attended one recently, by Albert Adria, which was very interesting. more info on their website. SD