Sneak peek at the 2005 menu

[FoodMan]

Thanks again for taking the time to join us Chef.

If possible, can we get a preview of what we can expect when we dine at El Bulli in 2005. what flavors/textures/influences/ingredients will be represented?

Elie

[Ferran Adrià]

elBulli 2005 will be a follow-up of elBulli 2004, developing synergies. elBulli is always shaped around three factors: the previous year, a bit around all our know-how and finally around the new creations. New techniques and new concepts. That’s how dishes are formed.

We have to avoid turning techniques into Kleenex, use and throw away. The journey of a technique is unbelievable. Take foams: we’ve made a sponge cake in a siphon and the microwave oven. It’s amazing. Next year, we’ll do two or three things with siphon. Not foams, but using the siphon.

We almost have the menu of 2005 ready. We’re very happy with it. But at the end, to anticipate how brilliant the season is going to be is quite difficult. A lot of people told us that 2004 was a better season, or at least more important, than 2003. Honestly, I don’t think so. Why? Because in 2004 we’ve introduced fewer strange tastes. In 2003, there were no memory dishes. Almost nothing: I said I didn’t want adaptation and deconstruction. You could see that in the CDs of El Bulli, there’s almost nothing done using adaptation and deconstruction. However, in 2004 there were many dishes done using adaptation. Again, very few using deconstruction, but many using adaptation. What happens? The pistachio truffle is magic, but it is pistachio. Nobody would find it strange. If I would do the same with a truffle from Guatemala , people would be surprised, they would find it strange. Whether we want it or not, we’re still too subjectivized by our own memory. The statement “I’m very open” is very questionable, as soon as your coordinates are changed you don’t know how you’re going to react.

One of the success factors of elBulli has been precisely that. No matter how good the reviews were, we didn’t go crazy with unnatural combinations, we’ve always looked for a harmony in the menu. When you change shapes, philosophies, textures, colors, if you also change harmonies, your brain can barely support it