El Bulli 2005 Dining

[vmilor]

Perhaps a more interesting question than the issue of reservations related to El Bulli is the guesswork that can go into figuring out what is in store for the diner in terms of Adria's newest compositions. Adria is quite unique in the sense that he does not repeat dishes from one year to the next and his evolution is marked more by discontinuities than continuities.

If his presentation on monday at the gastronomical congress is any guide, I can venture to state that Adria's interest in "texture" has become his overriding concern rather than an element of the larger equation. He is now interested in coming up with a comprehensive classification for all thickeners, emulsifiers and jelling agents known to mankind. He classifies these products in terms of their origin: animal based, plant based, chemical, etc. He is very much interested in textural contrasts of liquid centers and hard edges and I suspect he will push the agenda this year further away from an emphasis on ingredients and taste towards experimentation with textural contrasts. The ingredients he starts with are important to him to the extent that they do not get in the way of textural concerns. In this sense, quoting ltx about the primacy of infusions to Aduriz(Mugarritz)--she says that Aduriz often starts out with concocting an infusion and then tackles the issue of what will go best wiith it--, Adria will start out with textural contrasts and their progression and will concoct a meal around it.

Personally I do not believe that the relative historical merit of this new school--whose proponents came together in the gastronomical congress in Donostia organized by Garcia Santos--will be decided soon. To the converts, it is the most exciting thing going on in the world and if Adria is the king, Adoriz is the crown prince. The amount of applause that accompanied Adria's foray into the stage has been unknown and unheralded in history and brings to mind charismatic leaders and their followers. At the same time it is clear that Adria is a very hard worker and he works his sous chefs literally to death(a friend who interviewed Adoriz reported that, while apprenticing at El Bulli, Adoriz, when he woke could not tell for a moment whether he had finished his daily chores or whether he had just woken up from a dream about them).

It is also ironic that, perhaps unbeknownst to the converts of the new religion(actually Garcia Santos should be called the high priest), we are coming to a full circle since the days of the onset of nouvelle cuisine. That is, as the same friend who interviewed Adoriz neatly summed up, nouvelle cuisine was a reaction against oversaucing and relegating the natural product and the ingredient to the secondary status. Now, with all the textural experiments and the application of science and molecular biology to cooking and the newly acquired status of infusions, one wonders if the quality of the "ingredient" is not taking a back stage once again. But then, given all the environmental problems and the scarcity of natural products, perhaps the new phenomenon is a historical necessity even though it is not perceived by its converts in these terms.

[MiguelCardoso]

As usual, dear vmilor, you are able to transcend immediate dining experience into a larger issue, the same way a clever political analyst will pick on what seems to be a single incident and read it in a way that allows readers to reflect on the wider significance and, more specifically, as a signpost which, if intelligently interpreted, may indicate the general direction of where we're headed. Thanks for that!

In the same spirit - unimpeded by my relative ignorance - I've always thought that Adrià's main concern is transport: in the ways flavours can be carried, as well as the meaning of metaphysical delight the word also has. Like an inventive child, he looks at the grean bean carrying the taste of green bean or gamba brains and tries swopping it about onto other vehicles, to see what happens, as children do with Lego men, plopping them on Marklin trains or racing cars to see what happens.

Our expectations of taste are so ineluctably wedded to particular textures that it's interesting of itself to see and feel them challenged - if only to confirm them, not blindly as is traditional, but with knowledge of one of the possible alternatives. When we examine these preconceptions, though, we find that many great culinary creations are responsible for man-made changes in our expectation of what texture goes with what flavour.

Imitators simply choose one of the vehicles (say, foam) and throw everything onto it, as if all that had happened was an all-round change in method of transport, like airplanes taking over from trains.

By doing so, I don't agree that ingredients become secondary - in fact, they're still the primary players. The texture/flavour association is liquid and often changed by large-scale fashions - there are undoubtedly still a lot of them still to be discovered, as long as great cooks like Adrià continue curiously and diligently looking for them.

An important consequence - to prolong the childish analogy - is that, when trying his transport-switching creations, our surprise inevitably reproduces the half-forgotten moments when, as children, we tried rice or an omelette for the first time. So the wonder - mixed with a little fear and a natural resistence to the unfamiliar - is actually transported to the diner. This is a rare treat for jaded eaters and, I suspect, even children, so much more staid in their tastes nowadays than their grandparents were at the same age.

I hope this doesn't sound too pretentious - it was OK in Portuguese, as it ran through my head.... ;)

[vmilor]

Thanks Miguel for the nice words.

I think your analysis and analogies are deeply felt and thought out. I only have two qualms and none relate to Signor Adria directly.

One is that I do not think that for a passionate gourmet it is ever possible to become a "jaded eater". To use a more prosaic analogy than yours, good eating is not unlike love making: the more fulfilling the process, the more you want of it and become greedy. It is my presumption and pretention that the modern dining scene is full of "jaded eaters" who, though no direct fault of their own, have never developed an understanding and appreciation for certain primary tastes and ingredients or, worse(this is esp. the case in the States), they have a very limited repertoire in terms of what they eat. Adria's experiments in texture/flavor combinations should be interpreted against a baseline of whether or not and to what degree they have brought out the best in ingredients and enhanced their clarity. Otherwise dining at el Bulli may resemble partaking in a quasi religious ceremony of a secret sect: one feels that something very important and meaningful is going on and everybody else around seems to comprehend the hidden meaning of it all, while you risk to become an iconoclast or even ostracized if you dare to apply conventional criteria in a quest to unravel and debunk dishes presented to you.

Second, and this follows from my first qualm, Adria knowingly or unknowingly contributes to this state of affairs by literally overwhelming you with an array of 30 to 40 dishes or pintxos. Even if you try to analyze dishes in the beginning of the meal, soon your Epicurean sense takes over the cerebral component and you let yourself go with the flow...This is not a bad thing. But it also gives an unfair advantage to Adria over more traditional (but in my opinion equally creative chefs such as Ducasse and Pacaud)colleagues in the sense that, it is very very difficult to hold him to close scrutiny. One should perhaps eat there 5 consecutive meals to really appreciate what is going on and which combinations really work and expand our horizons. But clearly this is not possible and all we are left is some fleeting impressions of what was "genial" and what we did not like. Worse still, even if you visit Adria several times in the same calender year, the following year he will have none or literally none of the dishes you thought were clearly candidates to become the next "tournedos rossini" or "pulpo a la Gallega" or "Yorkshire pudding" or, what not. Given the level an intensity of expectations on Adria by his followers, he can not afford to stop for a moment to reconsider what worked and what did not and built a menu around it. He will then be called conservative and the magic will disappear. I can go on about the "dilemmas" and "paradoxes" that Adria built for himself but will stop here as we are about to drive to La Rochelle from Bordeaux to have some oysters, langoustines, homard bleu and perhaps line caught bar.

As usual, dear vmilor, you are able to transcend immediate dining experience into a larger issue, the same way a clever political analyst will pick on what seems to be a single incident and read it in a way that allows readers to reflect on the wider significance and, more specifically, as a signpost which, if intelligently interpreted, may indicate the general direction of where we're headed.  Thanks for that!

In the same spirit - unimpeded by my relative ignorance - I've always thought that Adrià's main concern is transport: in the ways flavours can be carried, as well as the meaning of metaphysical delight the word also has.  Like an inventive child, he looks at the grean bean carrying the taste of green bean or gamba brains and tries swopping it about onto other vehicles, to see what happens, as children do with Lego men, plopping them on Marklin trains or racing cars to see what happens.

Our expectations of taste are so ineluctably wedded to particular textures that it's interesting of itself to see and feel them challenged - if only to confirm them, not blindly as is traditional, but with knowledge of one of the possible alternatives.  When we examine these preconceptions, though, we find that many great culinary creations are responsible for man-made changes in our expectation of what texture goes with what flavour.

Imitators simply choose one of the vehicles (say, foam) and throw everything onto it, as if all that had happened was an all-round change in method of transport, like airplanes taking over from trains.

By doing so, I don't agree that ingredients become secondary - in fact, they're still the primary players.  The texture/flavour association is liquid and often changed by large-scale fashions - there are undoubtedly still a lot of them still to be discovered, as long as great cooks like Adrià continue curiously and diligently looking for them.

An important consequence - to prolong the childish analogy - is that, when trying his transport-switching creations, our surprise inevitably reproduces the half-forgotten moments when, as children, we tried rice or an omelette for the first time.  So the wonder - mixed with a little fear and a natural resistence to the unfamiliar - is actually transported to the diner.  This is a rare treat for jaded eaters and, I suspect, even children, so much more staid in their tastes nowadays than their grandparents were at the same age.

I hope this doesn't sound too pretentious - it was OK in Portuguese, as it ran through my head....  ;)

←

[edsel]

If his presentation on monday at the gastronomical congress is any guide,  I  can venture to state that Adria's interest in "texture" has become his overriding concern rather than an element of the larger equation.  He is now interested in coming up with a comprehensive classification for all thickeners, emulsifiers and jelling agents known to mankind. He classifies these products in terms of their origin: animal based, plant based, chemical, etc.  He is very much interested in textural contrasts of liquid centers and hard edges and I suspect he will push the agenda this year further away from an emphasis on ingredients and taste towards experimentation with textural contrasts.

←

The December 15 issue of Wine Spectator features a lengthy cover story on Adrià and El Bulli. There is a photo of Oriol Castro preparing a "cream" from flavorless cellulose in a series of experiments at the Taller. They were exploring the textural qualities of the cellulose, and planned to add flavor components at a later date. I find it interesting that the texture and flavor of a dish would be treated as completely independent parameters. Dipping a spoon into a meringue-like cream that smells like toasted paper and tastes like nothing doesn't sound too appealing, but the creative environment at the Taller must be fun....

It will be interesting to see if the cellulose "cream" turns up on the menu next year.

[Judith Gebhart]

Perhaps a more interesting question than the issue of reservations related to El Bulli is the guesswork that can go into figuring out what is in store for the diner in terms of Adria's newest compositions.  Adria is quite unique in the sense that he does not repeat dishes from one year to the next and his evolution is marked more by discontinuities than continuities.

If his presentation on monday at the gastronomical congress is any guide,  I  can venture to state that Adria's interest in "texture" has become his overriding concern rather than an element of the larger equation.  He is now interested in coming up with a comprehensive classification for all thickeners, emulsifiers and jelling agents known to mankind. He classifies these products in terms of their origin: animal based, plant based, chemical, etc.  He is very much interested in textural contrasts of liquid centers and hard edges and I suspect he will push the agenda this year further away from an emphasis on ingredients and taste towards experimentation with textural contrasts.  The ingredients he starts with are important to him to the extent that they do not get in the way of textural concerns. In this sense, quoting ltx about the primacy of infusions to Aduriz(Mugarritz)--she says that Aduriz often starts out with concocting an infusion and then tackles the issue of what will go best wiith it--, Adria will start out with textural contrasts and their progression and will concoct a meal around it.

Personally I do not believe that the relative historical  merit of this new school--whose proponents came together in the gastronomical congress in Donostia organized by Garcia Santos--will be decided soon.  To the converts, it is the most exciting thing going on in the world and if Adria is the king, Adoriz is the crown prince.  The amount of applause that accompanied Adria's foray into the stage has been unknown and unheralded in history and brings to mind charismatic leaders and their followers.  At the same time it is clear that Adria is a very hard worker and he works his sous chefs literally to death(a friend who interviewed Adoriz reported that, while apprenticing at El Bulli, Adoriz, when he woke could not tell for a moment whether he had finished his daily chores or whether he had just woken up from a dream about them).

It is also ironic that, perhaps unbeknownst to the converts of the new religion(actually Garcia Santos should be called the high priest), we are coming to a full circle since the days of the onset of nouvelle cuisine.  That is, as the same friend who interviewed Adoriz neatly summed up, nouvelle cuisine was a reaction against oversaucing and relegating the natural product and the ingredient to the secondary status. Now, with all the textural experiments and the application of science and molecular biology to cooking and the newly acquired status of infusions, one wonders if the quality of the "ingredient" is not taking a back stage once again. But then, given all the environmental problems and the scarcity of natural products, perhaps the new phenomenon is a historical necessity even though it is not perceived by its converts in these terms.

←

I must admit I donnot comprehend the source of vmilor's statements about Adria's preferences for textural contrasts as primary focus of his cuisine versus an emphasis on ingredients. I must also question the similar assertion that Aduriz (Mugaritz chef) concocts an infusion, quoting ltx, and THEN tackles the issue of what will go best with it!!!! I would like lxt to defend her assertion. Hopefully it has some validity from the chef, himself. Neither remark of Adria or Aduriz rings true. I truly hope the author will help us with his or her sources about this matter. I think it would be very helpful to better comprehend the direction of both Adria in 2005 no less Aduriz. I am hopeful that this question will be addressed. J Gebhart

[Bux]

I must admit I donnot comprehend the source of vmilor's statements about Adria's preferences for textural contrasts as primary focus of his cuisine versus an emphasis on ingredients. I must also question the similar assertion that Aduriz (Mugaritz chef) concocts an infusion, quoting ltx, and THEN tackles the issue of what will go best with it!!!! I would like lxt to defend her assertion. Hopefully it has some validity from the chef, himself. Neither remark of Adria or Aduriz rings true. I truly hope the author will help us with his or her sources about this matter. I think it would be very helpful to better comprehend the direction of both Adria in 2005 no less Aduriz. I am hopeful that this question will be addressed. J Gebhart

←

I think we need to hear a little more about exactly what Adrià said in "his presentation on monday at the gastronomical congress." Perhaps vmilor or someone will fill us in on the subject.

[lxt]

I generally attempt not to render an opinion on a subject with which I’m familiar only theoretically, which is to say that my first meal at El Bulli will be at the end of May. However, I found this topic to be too compelling to bypass, if only to compare my theoretical assumptions now with practical experience later.

Once a chef sets himself down an unknown path and creates according to his own perception, free as far as possible from predefined rules and breaking through the limitations of stereotypical tastes, however sincere such a chef might consider himself to be, there is always a risk that the result may be extremely personal and subjective, with each individual dish somewhat incomplete, a piece of the larger puzzle of his menu, with less emphasis on the “realism” of ingredients, employing rather a dualistic punning forms (infusions, textures, concentrated tastes detached from their hosts’ bodies, etc.). That is to say that conventional criteria may not be applicable to the “abstractionism” of Adria, whose work seems to be more concerned with how it is carried out as a whole meal than what it is about as an individual dish, contrary to Pacaud, whose classicism still so much revolves around individual ingredients and the aspect of taste in individual dishes. It seems that these two cuisines serve different purposes the same way as comparing Picasso to Velazquez will not yield a meaningful verdict.

What concerns me, however, after reading vmilor’s thoughts, is whether Adria manages to establish some degree of formalism in his cuisine, which is essential for codifying a new trend in any artistic movement (e.g. realistic flesh and blood in the works of Titian or Rubens; the degree of formalism was high in Egyptian paintings with the same superimposition of full and profile views echoed in the duality of Braque and Picasso later in time, or in the conversion of intangible light into solid paint in Impressionism, etc.). The same academic, formal, synthetic and even abstract (deconstructionism) approaches apply to haute cuisine as well. The question is whether Adria puts in enough effort to formalize his cuisine, therefore creating a definitive style perhaps not out of individual dishes, as he did earlier in his career with hot and cold pea soup, tagliatelle a la carbonara etc., but perhaps with entire meals (which seems more characteristic of his current strategy), or flees a subject matter before exploring its potential, creating a brand-new sand-castle every year, washed out with each tide, which, may still be advantageous from the technical perspective for other chefs, but irrelevant for the ultimate judges: his diners. In that case, the next question would be whether Adria’s future lies in the laboratory, not in the dining room. Otherwise, he may be creating a new form in which the entity is not a dish or even a meal, but a sequence of meals.

Thus, as vmilor said, I won’t be able to answer these questions with only one meal, and following this chef’s progression may not be practical, but I’ll keep an open mind.

Edited November 28, 2004 by lxt (log)

[lxt]

I must also question the similar assertion that Aduriz (Mugaritz chef) concocts an infusion, quoting ltx, and THEN tackles the issue of what will go best with it!!!! I would like lxt to defend her assertion. Hopefully it has some validity from the chef, himself. Neither remark of Adria or Aduriz rings true. I truly hope the author will help us with his or her sources about this matter. I think it would be very helpful to better comprehend the direction of both Adria in 2005 no less Aduriz. I am hopeful that this question will be addressed. J Gebhart

←

Judith, to address your question: my information regarding the sequence of development of Aduriz’s dishes was volunteered by a member of his staff during our recent meal, confirming my own speculation. Indeed, the dishes in which the main ingredient played the strongest role tended to be his oldest dishes, such as the roasted foie gras and beef.

[chefseanbrock]

would anyone mind posting the article in wine spectator on el bulli..........i went to the store to buy it today and they already pulled it

thanks

sean

[Bux]

would anyone mind posting the article in wine spectator on el bulli..........i went to the store to buy it today and they already pulled it

←

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[pedro]

Many interesting arguments have appeared in this thread. I doubt that I can address all of them in an organized manner, but here goes my try.

With all the possible caveats, given that I haven't had a meal at Mugaritz yet, I should venture that probably Aduriz's, to some extent, starts from more "radical" theoretical basis than that of Adrià: "I have a very personal vision of contemporary cuisine. To me, ingredients are nothing but tools and I care very little whether to enhance them or not. I make the statement that a preparation can be loaded with inedible elements which are as important as the edible. To me, wild herbs ar not only an ideal representation of nature, but also an icon of values like devotion, attention, contemplation, commitment..." (from Vino + Gastronomía, issue 203). Whether that holds to be true or not, I'll leave it to those who have actually visited Mugaritz.

Adrià and pristine ingredients go hand with hand, I'd say. A different matter is the complex techniques that he applies to them. From my limited experience at elBulli, many of the dishes, rated just paying attention to the taste variable, would get a 10 over 10. In those dishes, I didn't perceive that the ingredients were tortured or deprived of their original characteristics. On the contrary, to me, it's hard to imagine any chef in the world, even some I personally know and who are opposed to Adrià's cuisine, that wouldn't be proud of signing those dishes. To mention a couple of them from the last season, the oysters with Jabugo fat oyster soup and pistachio sauce or the Ajoblanco 2004.

That said, there are other dishes that using the taste criteria say very little to the diner. In the last season, these were mainly located at the very beginning of the meal, which gained weight as it progressed.

To finish, I'd like to address lxt's sand-castle metaphor. Dishes change, but techniques remain. And evolve. I think that Adrià uses dishes to refine techniques. Someone equipped with the two elBulli books published so far and some time (a scarce resource, I know) could do the research to trace the techniques used by Adrià and his team year in, year out.

PS: Coming back to the original title of the thread and its intention to make some educated guess about the upcoming menu for next year, let me say that you all have the unique opportunity to personally ask Adrià himself in a couple of weeks. We expect to have a Q&A with Ferrán Adrià scheduled by mid December. Make sure to enjoy it!

[daemon]

Browsing the web, I've found this menu , of what was served @ el bulli on april 2nd. looks good , but I am a bit "disapointed" as those marked with a "#" were served to me in may last year during my first meal there. I have a reservation for next month, and hope that It will have evolved ( even if these courses were wonderful, especialy the Ostras con panceta ibérica ahumada, sopa montada con su grasa )

One more thing, Ferran Adria talked about " a new avant-garde dining room", and my source says the dining room is quite "old fashionned". does anyone knows more ?

El Bulli; 04-02-05

Marshmallow de parmegiano

Olivas sféricas

Piel de pescado planchada

Palomita de queso

Crunchy de quinoa

#Leche eléctrica

Ninfa de algodòn thai

#Caviar sférico de melòn

Trufa-nitro coulant de pistacho

Ravioli de alga kombu y erizos

Ravioli sférico de guisantes y ensalada de guisantes a la menta

#Pan de queso

#Sopa de aceite de olivia con naranja sanguina, aceituna verde y azahar

Ñoquis sfericos de patata con consomé de piel de patata asada

#Ostras con panceta ibérica ahumada, sopa montada con su grasa

Quinoa helada de foie-gras de pato con consomé

Huevo sférico de espàrragos blancos

Nueces guisadas con salsa noisette y capullos de margarita

Gambas al natural

Panceta iberica confitada con buey de mar a la cantonesa

Ventresca de cabrito al estilo marroqui con aire de leche

Nitro-pâte de fruit de ramarillo

Omelette surprise 2003

Helado thai con marshmallow de lima

Morphings…

[pedro]

. . . . .

One more thing, Ferran Adria talked about " a new avant-garde dining room", and my source says the dining room is quite "old fashionned". does anyone knows more ?

. . . . .

I believe that Ferran's answer is open to misinterpretation. One of the customary questions he has to answer is about the contrast between his cuisine and the dining room. He was surprised that none of our members asked that question during the eG Forums Q&A with Ferran Adrià. Then, he added the comment "Now it's an avant-garde dining room.".

My interpretation of that is not that they have redesigned elbulli's dining room, something that I can positively say that they haven't, but that now, given the condition of dining rooms in gastronomic restaurants all over the world, the odd looking dining room of elbulli could be considered as avant-garde.

[Rogelio]

but I am a bit "disapointed" as those marked with a "#" were served to me in may last year during my first meal there. I have a reservation for next month, and hope that It will have evolved ( even if these courses were wonderful, especialy the Ostras con panceta ibérica ahumada, sopa montada con su grasa  )

←

On the email confirming the reservation Luis García asks when was your last visit in order not to repeat any dish that you have had before. You can notify about the subject in your confirmation email .

[daemon]

Thanx Pedro for this interpretation, you might be right, and it doesn't bother me as long as I love this

idea of mind blowing food served in an old fashionned house in the middle of nowhere

On the email confirming the reservation Luis García asks when was your last visit in order not to repeat any dish that you have had before. You can notify about the subject in your confirmation email .

←

Thanks.

By the way,

the reservation for this year is not under my name, so we haven't been asked.

I'll let him know when confirming.

[FoodMan]

Any idea what this year's menu price is? same as last year's?

Elie

[Chloroplastik]

Hello,

I'm a new member and as I just come back from Spain I just want to let you know about my el Bulli experience.

So, I was there this week. I had a room in the Ramblamar Hotel, a clean 3 stars hotel in Rosas.

With my wife, we went to cala Montjoi during the morning to see theplace. It was a really nice smelling experience with the accacias in flowers and the eucalyptus.

Well, so we knew how to get there for the evening.

We got there at 8 pm and after a small walk in the garden and a visit in the kitcheen, we started to eat.

Here is the menu:

april 7th

-margarita 2005

-olivas sféricas

-marshmallow de parmegiano

-pistachulines de yogur

-arlette iberico

-palomita de queso

-oreo de oliva negra con mantequilla de yogur

-ninfa de algodon thaï

-caramelo de aceite de calabaza

-caviar sférico de melon

-trufa nitro coulant de pistacho

-pan de queso

-ravioli sférico de guisantes y ensalada de guisantes a la menta

-tierra 2005

-ravioli de mantequilla

-ostra con su perla

-esparragos blancos al aceite de oliva

-mollejas de pato con canelon cremoso

-albondigas de habitas y cefalopodos

-cigala unilateral con aire de té matcha

-panceta iberica confitada con buey de mar a la cantonesa

-sesos de cordero con erizo de uva de mar

-naranja sanguina con aceite de oliva extravirgen

-omelette surprise 2003

-migas heladas de praliné

morphings

-yogur nitro con caviar dulce

-algodon de maracudja

-A kind of baileys

Wines:

-Almacenista seca Lustau

-Sauvignon from New Zealand Isabel Estate 2002

-Chardonnay Penedes Augustus 2003

-Solera 1865 Don Juan

It was a great experience for both. We leaved at 2am and we went back directly to the hotel.

If you want some explanation, just ask me. I didn't want to write a too long message.

[pedro]

Thanks for sharing the menu you had at elBulli and welcome to the eG Forums. We don't have any problems at all with long posts. In fact, we prefer them to one liners!

I assume it was your first visit to elBulli, wasn't it? Which dishes did you enjoy the most? I see some of them that were there last year.

[Chloroplastik]

Hello pedro,

Yes it was my first time there. It's difficult with these dishes to have a favorite one.

First, I have to say that I enjoyed everything.

The oysters were very strange for example. It was a reconstruction of an oyster with a sea jelly and a kind of cream of the same colour of the oyster, the real mollusc was in the middle of the jelly and the cream was below it. An iridescent pearl was beside it, in the shell.

We had to start with the pearl which was liquid inside and with a very special savour, then we ate the oyster, discovering the grey cream below it. So it was playing with memory (the oyster looks like an oyster), it was using a fresh oyster, but it was really surprising in mouth and the flavours were very long.

I will take time to describe some of the others dishes...

[docsconz]

I can't compare the menu to last year or any other year, but it all looks so very enticing. I am sure that the final dishes will have no resemblance in structure at all to my preconceptions as the "oyster with its pearl" described above can attest. A few of the dishes I think I can picture such as the "oreo", but others I have absolutely no clue, such as "Tierra 2005". This will be fun.

[Chloroplastik]

Hello docsconz,

Tierra 2005 was an adaptation of an "old" dish of Ferran Adria.

It's a powder of foie gras and mini chips covering a kind of jelly. Really good and tastefull. The ultra melting texture obtained with the pacojet gives a incredible lightness to this dish.

[docsconz]

Thank you Chloroplastik for your information. It is nice to have you on eGullet. It seems that many of Adria's titles are wordplays or evocations rather than literal descriptions. How does "Tierra 2005" fit into that if it does? In other words how does the dish reflect its name? It is not clear to me from your description the way that "Oyster with its Pearl" was.

[Chloroplastik]

Thanks dosconz,

Well the foie gras powder was presenting as a simply ground handle on the plate.

This earthy appearance really contrasted with its extreme melting texture.

I did not shoot any dish as I did not bring my camera. First of all it was a dinner with my wife and we had to have a good time ;)

[nimzo]

I remember a dessert from 2 or 3 years ago being described as Tierra and it looked more like a moonscape with craters of chocolate and cocoa with nuts and caramel in there somewhere. maybe its a savoury version on textures of the earth??.

[Bux]

. . . .

I did not shoot any dish as I did not bring my camera. First of all it was a dinner with my wife and we had to have a good time ;)

←

A toast to all those who stop to smell the roses and not to photograph them. As much as I appreciate the photographs that appear here, I've found that when I've concentrated on taking photographs, I may not have paid enough attention to the food, or appreciated it enough. I'd like to remind all our members that you're free to enjoy your meals.