Thursday, June 6, 2013

Ferran Adria

All Data Listed Below from Wikipedia

Career[edit]

A liquid olive, one of Adrià's appetizers
Ferran Adrià began his culinary career in 1980 during his stint as a dishwasher at the Hotel Playafels, in the town of Castelldefels. The chef de cuisine at this hotel taught him traditional Spanish cuisine. At 19 he was drafted into military service where he worked as a cook. In 1984, at the age of 22, Adrià joined the kitchen staff of El Bulli as a line cook. Eighteen months later he became the head chef.
In 1994, Ferran Adrià and Juli Soler (his partner) sold 20% of their business to Miquel Horta (a Catalan millionaire and philanthropist and son of the founder of Nenuco) for 120 million Pesetas. This event became a turning point for el Bulli: the money was used to finance an expansion of the kitchen and the relationship with Horta opened the door to new clients, businessmen, and politicians who helped spread the word about the creative experimentation happening at the time in Cala Montjoi.[2]
Along with British chef Heston Blumenthal, Adrià is often associated with "molecular gastronomy," although like Blumenthal the Catalan chef does not consider his cuisine to be of this category.[3] Instead, he has referred to his cooking as deconstructivist.[4] He defines the term as 'Taking a dish that is well known and transforming all its ingredients, or part of them; then modifying the dish's texture, form and/or its temperature. Deconstructed, such a dish will preserve its essence... but its appearance will be radically different from the original's.'[5] His stated goal is to "provide unexpected contrasts of flavour, temperature and texture. Nothing is what it seems. The idea is to provoke, surprise and delight the diner."[6] As he likes to say, "the ideal customer doesn't come to elBulli to eat but to have an experience."
ElBulli was only open for about six months of the year, from mid-June to mid-December. Adrià spent the remaining six months of the year perfecting recipes in the workshop "elBulliTaller" in Barcelona. The restaurant closed on July 30, 2011.[7] It will reopen as a creativity center in 2014.[8]
ElBulli had 3 Michelin stars and was one of the best restaurants in the world. It received first place in the Restaurant Top 50 in 2002. Then in 2005, it ranked second. It was again awarded the first place in 2006, and retained this title in 2007, 2008 and 2009, making a record 5 times in the top spot. In 2010, after elBulli announced it would close for good the next season, the title was awarded to Noma of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Adrià is well known for creating "culinary foam." Adrià explored foams created without the addition of cream or egg white; foams are made of a flavoured liquid and an additive (such as lecithin), then aerated through a variety of methods, including whipping with animmersion blender or extrusion from a siphon bottle equipped with N2O cartridges. Further culinary processes (such as freeze-drying or freezing with liquid nitrogen) may be applied to foams as well. Using a single flavoured liquid allows the flavour of the final product to be less diluted and thus more intense.
Adrià is the author of several cookbooks including A Day at El Bulli, El Bulli 2003–2004 and Cocinar en Casa (Cooking at Home). With his young assistant Daniel Picard, Adrià has made almonds into cheese and asparagus into bread with the help of natural ingredients.[9]
Adrià has been a featured chef on Great Chefs television.[10]
In the fall of 2010, Adrià and José Andrés will teach a culinary physics course "Science and Cooking" at Harvard University.[11]
In October 2010, Adrià announces an alliance with Telefónica.[12]
In March 2012 he announced the new project he's working on: LaBullipedia.[13] In a later interview he described as "A Western haute cuisine Wikipedia at the service of information but also creativity".[14]

Controversy[edit]

Adrià denounced his fellow 3-star Michelin cook Santi Santamaria who described his approach to cuisine as "pretentious". TraditionalistSanti Santamaria attacked Adrià's dishes in El Bulli as unhealthy, alleging that "Adrià's dishes are designed to impress rather than satisfy and used chemicals that actually put diners' health at risk". Top chefs, however, accused Santamaria, who runs the 3-star Can Fabes also in Catalonia, of envy and "endangering the reputations of Spanish kitchens".[21] The criticism has split top Spanish chefs into pro- and anti-Adrià camps.[22] Unusual dishes that have been criticized include frozen whisky sour candy, white garlic and almond sorbet, tobacco-flavoured blackberry crushed ice and Kellogg's paella (Rice Krispies, shrimp heads and vanilla-flavoured mashed potatoes).
German food writer, Jörg Zipprick, accused Adrià of more or less poisoning his customers with the additives he uses in his cuisine and said that Adrià's menu should carry health warnings: "These colorants, gelling agents, emulsifiers, acidifiers and taste enhancers that Adrià has introduced massively into his dishes to obtain extraordinary textures, tastes and sensations do not have a neutral impact on health".[23]

Works[edit]

el Bulli 2003–2004 Cookbook
In October 2008, Ferran Adrià published A Day At El Bulli along with Juli Soler, and Albert Adrià. The book describes 24-hours at the El Bulli restaurant, with images, commentary, photographs and 30 recipes. Most of the recipes included are complex and require many out-of-the ordinary kitchen appliances, such as a Pacojet, freeze-dryer, liquid nitrogen tank, candyfloss machine and Perspex molds.
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