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Thank you. If anyone couldn't tell, I am a great admirer of Ferran Adria as well, LOL. He is an amazing person with an incredible intensity and aura about him. His creativity speaks for itself. One last note. Adria used the microwave for more than one dish in his presentation. While he was not the first great chef to utilize this device in his cooking (apparently Paul Bocuse used it in the 60's), but what he has done with it is particularly unique and creative.

More photos from Ferran Adria's Presentation:

A view from the audience

Ferran Adria went on to describe how various dishes from the 2007 season were made. Peanut Snack Soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside with flavors containing the essence of the peanut. Unfortunately, as with a few of these, I was unable to catch the techniques used. Blackberry Risotto The technique for this dish involved plunging the berries into liquid nitrogen to separate the individual clusters. Parmesan Soufflé The secret technique as with others presented was use of the microwave. This was the year that Adria and elBulli utilized the culinary armamentarium of the home cook, albeit in ways the home cook never imagined before now. Empty Beetroot meeringues I had this dish last spring at elBulli. The flavor was deep and perfect with a wonderful airy texture.

I would love to see the Coyote cafe return to its former glory. I hope that your report is an indication of that, Rob.

One person to consider asking is Ariane Daguin of D'Artagnon. She is level-headed, well-spoken and a staunch defender of foie gras, who happens to be extremely knowledgeable with first hand experience of the subject.

Between Juli and Quique there's Xavier Agulló, food writer based in Catalonia which has covered with great detail and passion the progress of hypermodern cuisine in Spain. He writes weekly in Metrópoli, El Mundo's leisure supplement. ← Thank you Pedro. Clearly, the greatest number of culinary journalists present were from Spain with essentially all the heavy hitters from that country's culinary journalist pool represented at least at some point during the conference if not the entire conference. Journalists were there from around the world, although the US contingent appeared to be relatively small. While quantity from the US may have been lacking, the quality was great including such lights as Jeffrey Steingarten, Gerry Dawes and Anya von Bremzen. It was a thrill getting to know Steingarten and von Bremzen better but I owe a great debt of gratitude to Gerry Dawes who really opened many doors to me and introduced me to a lot of people as well as just having been great company.

The audience listened raptly while Adria received the attention of the media and photographers including myself. The room contained energy pent-up as people listened to Adria's remarks either directly or through the headphones with the near-simultaneous translations.

There is a lot to be said for "boring" food that is perfectly executed. I had the sense that money might be the issue as it becomes a question of value. I agree with flinflon28 that I would sooner drop big coin on a restaurant that excites me conceptually and executes that well than a restaurant that that simply provides reliable deliciousness without the extra intellectual or emotional component. That is not to say that every now and again I don't enjoy re-experiencing classical perfection. I hope to try Adour for myself sometime.

Ferran was supposed to speak on the topic "Symbiosis of the sweet world, salty world," but he changed the principle topic to one of discussing recent dishes and advances from elBulli's 2007 season. Before that, however, he had a few words to say of a philosophical nature. The 2007 Conference was punctuated by fireworks from Santi Santamaria railing on modern chefs and their techniques, which seemed to be aimed directly at Adria and those who follow him for inspiration. Coming on the final day of that conference, it created quite a stir. Adria did not answer Santamaria directly nor did he refer to him. Instead, quite diplomatically, with the crowd listening intently to his every word, he issued a clarion call for freedom and liberty, saying that chefs should be able to pursue whatever style and kind of cooking they wish without criticism from other chefs. He basically said that there is room for many different styles of cooking and that each chef should be allowed to pursue the style of his choice. While I was not present for Santamaria's talk last year and could not personally gauge the response that he received, the response to Adria's comments were enthusiastic and warm. The themes Adria addressed were echoed later in the conference by both Juan Marie Arzak and Pedro Subijana to equal warmth.

The front row at the beginning of the presentation. From the middle of the photo moving to the viewer;s right I can identify Fulvio Pierangelini, Heston Blumenthal and Gerry Dawes. From L to R covering every other person, I can identify Juan Marie Arzak, Juli Soler and Quique Dacosta. Some of the members of the front row changed during the presentation being replaced by political dignitaries such as the Mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz Gallardón. While I did not have a seat in the front row, I was asked towards the end of the presentation if I would give up my seat to the US Ambassador to Spain, Eduardo Aguirre, who was there to accept an award on behalf of Emeril Lagasse after Adria's presentation. I did.

I was not the only one taking photos!

The auditorium soon filled to overflowing, while the front row was reserved for VIP's from both the culinary and political worlds. Why? The speaker to come was arguably the most important and most influential chef in the world right now. That would be the case whether one loves his food, hates it or has never even heard about it. Of course, that would be Ferran Adria of elBulli. The room was abuzz with anticipation. Note: Because I have a lot of photos from this presentation, I will break up my post about it into a number of smaller ones so as to slow down downloads as little as possible.

What makes you say that you don't think you would return for dinner? The descripton of your meal (minus the tenderloin) sounds enthralling.

I agree with you, the only difference being the regional specificity of the Catalan cuisine. Clearly the movement is occurring across Spain.

The Scandinavian invasion was a major theme to this conference and the next presenter, Magnus Ek of Oaxen Skärgardskrog on a small island near Stockholm, Sweden, was the first that we would meet. Like his Scandinavian colleagues presenting at the conference, Ek creates a cuisine inspired by natural ingredients from the land and sea around him using a variety of techniques both classic and modern. Magnus Ek Ek explained that Scandinavians love acidulated food, but have to find other sources for the acid than Mediterranean countries might use as Scandinavia produces neither citrus nor grapes, the two staples of Mediterranean acidification. One way that he acidifies his food is with smoke. Ek created a device to infuse specific ingredients with smoke. Ek added smoke to permeate lobster tails Smoked Lobster with Melon This dish incorporates watermelon, wild arugula and sour bread crisps to provide a little bit of crunch, something that Ek considers as sort of a signature in his dishes. Blue Pike with Scandinavian berries For this dish, Ek barely cooked the fish, instead using acid from the berries which have more ascorbic acid than oranges. These berries were used to make a sauce. The crunchy element was provided by pig's ears. Cockles with orange sauce Though not native to Scandinavia, Ek will not totally avoid citrus. In this dish, he macerated orange in salt and put it with the cockles that were cooked "al vapor". The crunch is provided by a squid ink flavored wafer. Ek showed that the Scandinavians are indeed intriguing, a sense that would expand as the conference progressed.

Excellent! There's something about a good home-based dinner party that simply can't be reproduced in a restaurant. What did you have to drink with dinner?

The second set of presentation of the morning was entitled "Acidified Cuisine: The new frontier in taste." The first presenter was Michel Troisgros of Maison Troisgros in Roanne, France.. Michel Troisgros Troisgros discussed his zest for acid and its origins. From the program, Troisgros describes what he loves about acid in food, He feels that his interest in and love for acidified food comes from his Italian mother. As the son of one of the bases of nouvelle cuisine and the nephew of another, Troisgros is well grounded in that idiom, however, he prefers a market based cuisine with cosmopolitan overtones. One ingredient that he has embraced is the Asian citrus, yuzu. Curd and Yuzu For this dish he curdled cream and made a curd cheese after having infused the milk with yuzu skin for 10 hours. He used calf rennet for both preparations. The cream was poured out onto a silpat covered tray and allowed to cool for 24 hours. He placed a square of the curd cheese on a plate, added some truffles (given the morning's presentations - they are not in the recipe in the program), placed a sheet of the cream on top, opened a slice into the top of the cream sheet and poured a line of liquid truffle and yuzu juice. Troisgros answering questions from the audience.

Sergio Azagra The black truffle or tuber melanosporum was the principle focus of the demonstration from Sergio Azagra, a talented and flamboyant, Arzak-trained chef from Aragon. Though currently without a restaurant, Azagra is the author of two books, one on mushrooms called, Setas, Guía y Recetas and one on truffles that is called Trufas y Recetas. Azagra gave a general treatise on truffles white and black. There are four principle varieties of black truffle for cooking, though Azagra identified only one variety of white. He described their anatomy as well as practical elements of identifying and handling truffles. The truffle should be brushed, washed with cold water and dried with paper towels. Depending on the bulbousness of the truffle, there may be a lot of grit that needs to be cleaned. Ideally that should have been done before the truffle was purchased so that the weight of the dirt did not add to the cost of the truffle. Truffles should be kept in airtight containers and can be frozen at -18ºC for up to a year. The latter approach is how he and other chefs are able to use truffles to good effect year round. He recommended against storing truffles in rice as the truffles impart their essence to the rice and dry out. Instead he suggested making a good risotto and shaving the fresh truffle onto it to provide better flavor, aroma and texture. In addition, Azagra discussed a variety of uses for truffles and specific aroma characteristics of tuber melanosporum such as earthiness, smokiness, cacao, coffee, cockles in vinegar, ammonia, sulfur, saltwater mollusks, black olives, benzene, cherry and olive mill. Azagra prepared several dishes using various aspects of truffles. Potato truffle Truffled mashed potatoes are formd into balls and wrapped with truffle wafers. These are placed on top of a Tronchón cheese infusion and garnishd with celery leaves and crushed, toasted cocoa beans. For his demonstration he used "oyster" leaves, which supposedly have the flavor of oyster and go well with truffles. The recipe in the book calls for celery leaves. Peas, Shrimp and Truffle This dish utilized snow peas wrapped and steamed in a microwave and layered on the bottom of a serving plate. This was topped with a frozen carpaccio of shrimp that in turn was covered by a layer of truffle slices. Atop everything a tropical fruit vinaigrette with passionfruit and mango was sprinkled. At the conclusion of Azagra's demonstration an award was given out -Revelation Chef- with finalists from around Spain. The winner was David Muñoz from DiverXo in Madrid.

Day Two: Tuesday January 22, 2008 Getting up in time to have breakfast, hop on the metro and get to the 9:30AM start of day two was not easy, especially since like the previous night, I couldn't fall asleep very easily the night before. Somehow, however, I managed it, perhaps because I was very much looking forward to this entire day. Carlos Cidón The initial topic of the morning was entitled Nature's larder: the rheology of mushrooms, the new doctrine of black truffles. The first part of the topic was covered by Carlos Cidón, chef of the restaurant Vivaldi in León. Cidón would tackle the area of mushrooms emphasizing different ways to use a particular boletus type mushroom from his home area of Castilla-León. These ways included changing the form of the mushroom, using various parts of it and using it in different preparations. Using the various parts was particularly interesting as he would peel the head of the mushroom, utilize the spores and the interior and exterior of the stems. The skin of the mushroom he found to be particularly useful in making liquids and gels with which to cover or infuse mushroom flavors into other ingredients. Cidón with a photo of the mushrooms that he used in the background. As an example of how he transferred mushroom flavors into other components, Cidón used a gastrovac to infuse an apple with mushroom flavor then "reconstructed his mushroom with the apple as the stem and the cap of the mushroom as itself. A recipe provided with the MF program uses a lemon-thyme infusion for the apple rather than mushroom. The mushroom cap is baked. The underpart of the mushroom cap, which Cidón called the "spores" is utilized by him after a long, slow cooking to provide a mushroom essence to other dishes. Cidón used a leavening taken from the peel of the stems from which he made mushroom "flour" and mushroom bread. The mushroom bread is made in the shape of mushrooms. He also made paper from mushrooms, though I did not catch the technique. The paper was used to enfold ingredients much like a Japanese nori handroll. Mushroom "handroll" in pistachio cookie crumbs Edible papers, on which edible inks such as squid ink can be used to write. All in all this was a fascinating discussion and creative presentation on a subject that I thought I new something about.

I had heard those stories from years past. Fortunately, that did not appear to be the case this year at least within my experience. Perhaps like most good organizations, they learn from experience. Thanks for the kind comments. With great food, fascinating ideas and wonderful people in an energetic and beautiful city, how could one not enjoy oneself?

Iliana de la Vega, formerly of Oaxaca's El Naranjo is now a chef-instructor at the new Culinary Institute of America San Antonio. She will be teaching courses on Regional Mexican Cuisine: Puebla and Oaxaca and Mexico's Corn Kitchen.

The food didn't stop in Galicia. I had been invited to a Press dinner at the restaurant Europa Decó in the Hotel Urban. Unfortunately, I arrived late so I missed most of the cocktail hour. Even so, it was fun to chat with Susur Lee and meet Heston Blumenthal amongst others. Susur Lee chatting with Heston Blumenthal. The food was prepared by a medley of Spanish chefs including the host chef, Joaquin Felipe, Juanjo Lopez from La Tasquita de Enfrente and Alberto Chicote from Pan de Lujo all in Madrid. Ensaladilla Rusa with sea urchin by Juanjo Lopez This was a lovely potato salad, though the presence of the sea urchin was subtle. Trout caviar dim sum with a celery, olive oil and tuber melanosporum soup by Alberto Chicote Though difficult to eat as a dim sum, this dish was creative, pretty and decadent. Pure Iberian pork stew by Joaquin Felipe This dish was rich and flavorful, proving that Iberian pork is suitable for much more than being cured. Chocolate, bread, olive oil and banana by Joaquin Felipe This was a stylish presentation of a classic combination - very nice. Conversation throughout the course of the meal was delightful as at my table I met interesting people from India, Japan, Romania and the United States amongst them Yukio Hattori from the original Iron Chef. The dinner was sponsored by Bodegas Julián Chivite of Navarra DO, the oldest winery in Spain and featured their wines as accompaniments to the food. The wines served were all from their top of the line Collección 125. Each wine was a delicious accompaniment throughout the meal starting with the 2004 Rosado, followed by the 2004 Blanco, the 2002 Reserva Tinto from magnum and finally the 2005 Vendimia Tardía Moscatel. Chefs Joaquin Felipe, Juanjo Lopez and Alberto Chicote The dinner was a fine end to a wonderful day. I went back to my hotel to try to sleep, albeit with limited success.

DiverXo seemed to be the restaurant to dine at during Madrid Fusión as getting a table was impossible without a longstanding reservation. It was the place where all the visiting chefs either went to or tried to dine at. Alas, I will have to wait for my next visit to Madrid.

There was simply too much going on for any one person to get to everything and absorb it all. As I said earlier, I hadn't any lunch and was starving, which is a good but dangerous state to be in when attending the trade fair portion of a conference like Madrid Fusión. This was especially true when the first displays one encounters when stepping off the escalator are alcoholic beverages like pisco sours, brandies, wines and beers! Though it wasn't easy, I did manage to keep myself from going overboard too quickly as I started making my rounds. Making Peruvian Pisco Sours The first display I encountered when getting off the escalator was that from Peru, where the pisco sour was the drink of the hour. I developed a fondness for this drink a year ago whilst traveling in its native land. This was a pretty decent rendition! Huerta de Albala There was a wide variety of Spanish wines and brandies available for tasting. Slices from this jamon iberico de bellota from Dehesa de Extremadura were much welcomed by me. Torta del Casar This cheese was prominent throughout the conference. I didn't mind one bit. Canned clams and cockles from Ramon Peña These delicious Galician canned seafood products from Ramon Peña are each hand-packed one morsel at a time. The quality is astounding. Jamónes de Joselito Perhaps the most famous brand of ham in the world and arguably one of the very best, this stall was a popular pit-stop. I must say that I enjoyed it! They served both jamón and lomo. Throughout this, I ran into some old friends and made new ones. I met up with Rogelio. Along with a few friends we migrated over to a special party in a neighboring hotel featuring fresh Galician seafood. Unfortunately, I missed the percebes, but I managed a few wonderful navajas or razor clams and got to chat and exchange business cards with some of the navaja, percebes and algae fisherman. Serving navajas