Silly Disciple

60C is what Roca suggests for SV liver. As I've said, I haven't personally tried it (yet), so I can't really comment on texture. As for roasting, TK suggests sauteing for 4 minutes, then oven for another 4-5 minutes at 475C.

This method comes from a Spanish chef's kitchen, but I won't say which since I haven't been able to confirm it yet. 1. cook the whole foie gras sous vide, 60C for 25-30 minutes depending on thickness. The center of the product should reach this temperature (per Roca's book). you will have to devein it beforehand, of course. It would be a good time to season it too. 2. freeze it. 3. at service time, put the whole liver in a deep frier (yes, you've heard that right) at high temperature until you get a golden exterior. This will vary depending on the temperature of the frozen liver and the oil. YMMV, I guess, and I haven't personally tried it. for what I've been told, the logic behind it is the same TK poses in his book re: beurre monte, e.g. the loss from the foie should be minimum when the medium is of same or higher density.

Hispania for sea product. Coure for consistency and excellent technique. Els Casals for traditional cuisine with a modern touch, using fresh products from their own farm. Quimet i Quimet if you want to try canned products of the highest quality. Also, you're going both to Lasarte and Moo, which one could say are "branches" of other big name restaurants. Why not try to go to Can Roca instead of Moo, for instance? I'm not a big fan of Sant Pau. Excellent execution, great product, but IMHO nothing to write home about.

What other places are you planning on visiting?

The rest of this year's changes are as follows: As Victor pointed out, Quique Dacosta of El Poblet in Denia gets his second star. Lasarte (Martin Berasategui, Barcelona), Evo (Santi Santamaria, L'Hospitalet), Saüc (Xavier Franco, Barcelona), Miramar (Llanća), El Rebost d´en Pere (Banyoles), Koldo Miranda (Avilés), La Finca (Elx), Gallery Art and Food (Gijón), Los Avellanos (Torrelavega), Zaranda (Madrid) and Mesana (Marbella) all get their first star. Río Asón (Ramales de la Victoria, Cantabria) and Tubal (Tafalla, Navarra) loose their stars.

As a matter of fact, I think I would recommend visitors to avoid Las Lilas regardless of price, ie even if it was cheaper than other options already mentioned in this thread. Quality-wise is not up to par, and sadly it has become not much more than a tourist trap.

Alex, risotto is not the only way rice is cooked in Europe. Give the man (and his tradition) some credit, his book is quite possibly one of the most comprehensive modern studies on the Spanish rice tradition.

I have to agree with Chef Andres, I recently visited El Campero, and it's been one of the best meals I've had in quite a while. We had 7 or 8 tuna dishes, all different parts of the fish, I definitely recommend it.

If I'm not mistaken, adding sweet potato (bonyato) or even potato is just a trick to make the dough cheaper (since the expensive ingredient is the almond). However, the traditional version of panellets is made just with almond, egg, sugar and pinenuts (piñones).

I've seen a chef at a restaurant in Madrid just rub the meat (lamb in this case) with garlic before vacpacking it, instead of adding the garlic to the bag. It works well if you're looking to get a subtle garlic flavor/aroma.

my experience with ziploc bags has been that they do not withstand the warm water very well for long periods of time, somehow they end up leaking.

Yes, I understood the poetic license allright, but I'm not sure I fully agree with you. While it might be true that it's not on tourist guides (frankly, many awful restaurants make it into those guides) it is well known locally, and I would think you will find the same trouble booking a table as you would with Sauc, Coure, Colibri, Comerc 24, etc. Moreover, I think it is inexpensive and great value if you go for the tasting menu, however if you order a la carte you will find that it is as expensive and if not more expensive than other restaurants in the same "tier".

why secret?

it can go from 200 euros (cheap vac pac and used water bath on ebay) to about 3500 euro (profesional vac pac and brand new water bath).

Can Jubany with, I believe one Michelin star, is the place I was thinking of. Any experience or thoughts? Their specialty is local ingredients prepared in a contemporary catalan fashion. Nando jubany is the chef. I don't think Vic is all that far from Gerona. ← about 70km. Can Jubany is particularly well know for his game dishes. Which is a good thing if you're planning to visit in October.

infuse oil with vanilla, then emulsify it, for instance with vanilla-infused vinegar/broth/etc?

Any idea where I can get a copy of the article? not much info on the magazine's website.

I cook fish sous vide at home, not as low as 40C though. I finish it by searing it on a very hot pan for a few seconds. If what you want is a show of hands, then count my family as success stories, they seem to like it. I also use it for meat, sauces, squid, octopuss, flavoring oil, and a few other things.

This is not very accurate. Haake, Lauda and Julabo are all German brands, with products manufactured in Germany as far as I know. Most commercial vacuum pack machines use Busch pumps, which are manufactured in Germany as well. As for non commercial vacu packs, you can find several which are built in Europe and use 220v current.

For vacuum packing I use a cheap Krups Vacupack which I picked up on eBay for 10 eur. I'm going through the second one, since I killed a similar one. It works fine for sous vide cooking if you're careful. I bought two circulators off of eBay as well, for 150 eur each. One is a Lauda MS, the other is a german brand called labuniverse.com or something to that effect, which doesn't seem to exist anymore. Both work great, with a .1 C precision.

The machines have been there for quite a while. what Roner produces is nothing more than a circulating water bath, much like what Lauda, Julabo, Haake and other firms have been selling for about 20 years for laboratory applications. There's nothing in particular that makes Roners better or worse than these other circulators.

If I'm not mistaken, I think Jose Andres uses the Porsche ones by Chroma.

Maybe because daemon was "looking for something simplier than starred restaurant, something more rafa's like"? At around 30/40 km from Girona, another favorite of mine in the field of real traditional cooking from the Empordà is Bonay, at Peratallada. But then you should think also about the possibility of driving 15 min. further, to La Xicra, in Palafrugell. ← And to further add options to the confusion, recently I was recommended Els Casals, in Sagàs, about 100km from Girona.

Jesus, what went wrong at Mas Pau? was it the food, the service or both?

Mas Pau is maybe a 25 minutes drive from Roses. So if you want to go back and try SnackMar it is not that far. OTOH I've heard SnackMar's chef is leaving.