Ferran Adrià: A Day at elBulli
An in-depth look at the planning, scientific experiments and recipes from one of the world’s most renowned chefs
How does one become known as the most wildly inventive chef at what is often regarded as the best restaurant in the world? As the new book “A Day at elBulli” from Phaidon reveals, raw talent only takes you so far. The rest is planning, planning and more planning. No one understands that better perhaps than Ferran Adri, whose attitude is that “ambition without patience is a dangerous thing.”
With what seems to be more methods and secrets than the CIA, chef Ferran Adri is renowned for holing up in his hidden workshop for six months of research into new techniques and concepts he’ll showcase the latter half of the year for the lucky 8,000 people who receive a reservation out of the two million requests to dine at elBulli in Spain’s Costa Brava region. For those who never hit the gastronomic lottery, “A Day at elBulli” gives you an in-depth look at what you’re missing with a play-by-play analysis of the chef and restaurant’s daily activities. The routine includes everything from scientific experiments, like cooking with liquid nitrogen, to the more mundane, such as raking the gravel.
Much like the organizational systems in place at elBulli, the book itself is a meticulous and beautiful undertaking full of explanatory inserts, glossy pictures and best of allrecipes. You might want to invest in a Bunsen burner and some syringes before you attempt to recreate some of the dishes, as cooking elBulli-style often requires one part creativity and two parts chemistry.
The book is available from Amazon.
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