Ferran Adrià and elBulli. ‘Risk, Freedom and Creativity’ exhibition

They say patience is a virtue but when it came to this exhibition I was never going to be able to stay away long. Three days in I was through the doors and caught up in the inevitable crowds. After taking a cursory glance over what was on offer I decided to return when the novelty and throng had worn off.

This is a comprehensive retrospective and semi archive of the history and work created at elBulli and for anyone with an avid interest it is worth investing time in the exhibition. Luckily it runs until February 2013 so there’s plenty time for repeat visits if you live in Barcelona and it all proves too much to take in first time round.

As we enter we start with some brief information of the location on the Costa Brava and are greeted by the iconic bulldog represented in the restaurant’s logo. 

From there we start with the background history to the restaurant, from the German & Czech couple that originally bought it in the late 50s (and whose French bulldogs gave the restaurant it’s name and logo), through to how brothers Ferran and Albert Adrià along with manager Juli Soler started working in the catering trade to their eventual takeover of elBulli from the previous owners.

From here we then look at the evolution of the food from its classical nouvelle cuisine beginnings to the more experimental work as the years progressed, demonstrated through short films and photographs.

No element of their research and development seems to have gone unrecorded and several of the stained notebooks and diaries are available for us to peruse.
One of my favourite elements was an evening’s service at elBulli condensed into a 5 minute short film, different clips of which were shown on three separate screens. An assembly line of chefs working with calm precision which got me thinking of the level of coordination needed for it to work smoothly night after night. Whilst this is hardly cooking in its purest sense this appeals to my love of well thought out organisation.

From the restaurant a more research based focus developed and some of the most senior chefs started to work from a taller or workshop in C/Portaferrissa in central Barcelona. The restaurant was closed for several months of the year so they could focus on new techniques, flavour cataloguing and development of new equipment for their creations. Here we see some of the output from that research.

As if to further emphasise the sensory overload we arrive at a full wall of photos from each year’s service at the restaurant. Some beautiful plates of art which are simply just too many for the eyes to consume.

From his humble beginnings in working class Barcelona neighbourhood L’Hospitalet de Llobregat Ferran is now a world known celebrity who has even made an appearance in the Simpsons. His illustrated image greets you as we come to the final section which shows heartwarming video of the last service at elBulli, a list of all those who’ve worked and done a stage their during its life and the sharing of the knowledge gleaned from their research via courses run at Harvard University and through the Fundació Alícia.

To send us on our way we are shown a tantalisingly unobtainable box of Willy Wonkaesque chocolates and treats that would’ve ended the meal for those lucky enough to have eaten there. A terribly cruel gesture to exhibition goers in my opinion.

And, if  you haven’t quite had your El Bulli fix by the end of this spectacle then fans can get a further hit with the ‘Cooking in Progress’ film which is out in cinemas now.

Ferran Adrià and elBulli. ‘Risk, Freedom and Creativity’ exhibition – until 3rd February 2013. Free entry.

Palau Robert, Passeig de Gràcia, 107

Read Full Post »

2012 Palau Robert exhibition dedicated to Ferran Adrià and ‘El Bulli’

Whilst the doors of his El Bulli restaurant may have closed for good, I continue to be fascinated by chef Ferran Adrià and his creations. So, it was with excitement that I read in El Periodico last month of an exhibition dedicated to his work.

Ferran Adrià

Having clearly not fully understood or having hastily read the Spanish article I jumped on my Bicing and headed up to the Palau Robert, only to be informed that I would have to wait until the end of the year before I could enjoy this homage.

It now appears that it’ll be early 2012 before I get to enjoy this exhibition which celebrates everything the genius and his hard working team of unpaid chefs have achieved in the bay of Roses. I also wish I was a student or catering trainee in Catalonia during the period of the show as they will also benefit from additional tours and lectures. Exact dates don’t appear to have been published yet, but more information about the exhibition can be found here and I will post dates as I become aware of them.As an aside, the Palau Robert offers some excellent exhibitions so check them out if you happen to be passing or visiting another of their offerings and don’t miss a few minutes sit down and contemplation in the courtyard behind the main building.

‘Ferran Adrià and elBulli’, Palau Robert on Passeig de Gràcia, 10 (Eixample) – Early 2012

Details have now been published, here, although only in Catalan, but runs from 2nd February 2012 – 3rd February 2013.

Read Full Post »

Micro-Nutrient Couture

A chance encounter with Vera Ciria not only provided me with a great friendship and an interesting and articulate eating-out companion but also someone who’s given me unwaiving support and advice with this blog. Vera writes her own blog Sticky Fingers BCN that unravels all the weird and wonderful things happening in Barcelona and also focusses heavily on her love of fashion. Here in a guest post for Moonraker Morsels she forges her love of fashion with my love of cooking:

It is not very often that fashion and food find a way to blend and merge. Fashion folk, more concerned about fitting into next season’s size 0s, seem to flee from calories like “something going out of style”. So what exactly happens when couture and cuisine settle into a happy marriage? That would be Micro-Nutrient Couture, of course.

Emily Crane, a very young fashion designer from London, is pushing the boundaries of design, engaging in a scientific process to grow, cultivate and form new hybrid materials for fashion. Relying on many of Ferran Adrià’s molecular cooking techniques, Emily has her thoughts firmly set on the future.

Using her kitchen and garage as her lab, this young scientist cum couturier is growing and freezing bubbles, creating bio-lace that can be shaped and moulded into garments and accessories, having the added benefit of being edible. Micro-Nutrient Couture is a unique and modern concept that slots in perfectly with the transient nature of fast-fashion, without the negative side-effects. After wearing one of Emily Crane’s creations, the garments can then be consumed. Taking into account the current state of the planet, these pieces are not only beautiful, but nutritious too.

Experimenting with different natural elements such as gelatins and carrageenan, agar-agar sea vegetable , water, natural flavour extracts, glycerine, food colouring and lusters. Each item reacts in a different manner, producing a variety of textures and colours.

A fresh alternative to the compulsive shopper obsessed with fast fashion, high-street consumption and throw-away items at ridiculously low prices, Micro-Nutrient Couture offers the wearer that elusive trophy of never arriving dressed just like someone else. Each garment is unique, no two pieces could ever be the same.

Is Micro-Nutrient Couture a solution for the future? Are the garments and accessories sticky? Do they smell? I love the idea, but can’t help wondering if I’d be really hungry all the time and be sneaking off to take bites out of my dress. Especially if there were some sort of chocolate flavour going on. Would you wear an edible dress?

Read Full Post »

Japanese Tea Ceremony at Casa Asia

The ‘Casa Asia’, an Asian cultural centre on Diagonal surprised me in many ways when I visited at the weekend. Firstly because I was not expecting to be viewing photos of Afghanistan in such a magnificent building and secondly because I stumbled across the opportunity to watch a Japanese tea ceremony.

The building, a former palace created for the Baron of Quadras at the turn of the last century is an example of architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch‘s Modernisme work, which like Gaüdi’s, is littered around Barcelona.  This masterpiece of Gothic architecture is worth a visit regardless of the many art, photographic, film and other cultural activities that take place to celebrate the countries of the East. The amount of detail to take in is dizzying at times, no corner has been left untouched by tiling, sculpture or iron work.

The tea ceremony brought us Eastern culture in a room so firmly steeped in Catalan heritage. The short fifteen minute demonstration was being given to raise money for those suffering the consequences of the recent devastating tsunami in Japan. The 15 minute ceremony was conducted entirely in silence, save for several selfish, amateur photographers who disrupted the calm with a constant clicking and beeping from their cameras and jostling to take pictures amongst those watching. Chado, as the ceremony is known in Japanese, is delicate and meticulous and begins by a guest seated next to the matting being given a portion of a sweet which looked very similar to turkish delight. The tea preparer who was wearing a stunning kimono then uses a square cloth to clean all the utensils to be used. She carefully folded and unfolded it in a prescribed manner and used the gentlest of touches for each one; the bowl, the ‘ladle’ and the thin scoop for the green tea.Once the tea and hot water have been combined they are whisked together using a utensil that looked not too disimilar to my late grandad’s shaving brush. The tea is then served in a separate bowl, which is rotated a couple of times in the preparer’s hand before being passed to the guest who gives thanks for the tea and again rotates it before drinking.

The information produced by ChaDo-Raku, the group at Casa Asia who regularly participate in tea ceremonies states:

“…the tea ceremony is a ritual developed to staisfy the intimate need of man; to acquire internal peace. It’s a simple and economic ritual in which everyone can find ‘peace in a cup of tea.’ “

It seems the Japanese, also a large population crammed onto small islands, may have more in common with us than we first thought, although this ritual is more elaborate than our British style of ‘stick the kettle on’.

Casa Asia, Diagonal 373

Read Full Post »

L’Art del Menjar (The Art of Eating) at La Pedrera

It’s said that you should never go food shopping on an empty stomach. The same should be applied to also going to see food/art exhibitions when your tummy’s rumbling and you’re getting pretty ravenous.

This was the situation I found myself in this Saturday when I went to check out ‘L’Art de Menjar’ exhibition inside ‘La Pedrera’, the impressive Gaüdi house high on Passeig de Gràcia. The exhibition, a somewhat disjointed affair, brings together various art forms such as Baroque still lifes, modern art and video pieces under what appears to be the loose theme of ‘must include food’.

The exhibition starts and ends well. The still lifes like this 1640 Paul de Vos piece highlight forgotten foods that were once common on tables (at least amongst the aristocracy) and are no longer eaten now, peacocks and tiny birds such as blue tits to name a couple. Another still life featured ‘haws’, the fruit of the hawthorn tree which I’ve never come across other than on food history programmes.The exhibition then moves through other works by artists and photographers such as Joseph Bueys, Cildo Meireles, Hans Gissinger and Pere and Josep Santiliari.

One of my particular favourites was the plate of slowly decaying apples, pears, nectarines and grapes by Sam Taylor-Wood. The gleaming, succulent looking fruit begins to take a faint bluey/green tinge and brown bruises appear before it succumbs to the furring of mould and finally collapses.

I smiled when I saw the ‘Rock Novelty’  in the British food section by Martin Parr and wondered what the Catalan attendees made of the bland looking dishes and our seaside penchant for boiled sugar confectionary.As mentioned before the exhibition lacks a certain cohesiveness, definitely worth a look if you’re nearby or at a loose end. To book end the history we meet at the beginning of the show, the closing displays are of course the food of Catalonia’s most revered chef, Snr Adrià. The selection of photos, taken by Francesc Guillamet, are from the various catalogues produced by El Bulli recording the dishes they’ve created over the years. The photo below is not one shown at the exhibition but you get an idea of the plates of beauty they were creating there. As I neared the end my already empty belly was now crying out for something to fill it so learn from me and eat before you go or suffer the hunger pains as the images torture you whilst you absorb the art.

L’Art de Menjar at La Pedrera, Passeig de Gràcia 92, runs until 26th June 2011. Free entry.

Read Full Post »

Materia Condensada ‘El Taller’ (Condensed Matter ‘The Workshop’)

Decifering Catalan, science, hangovers and young children. Not four things I’d usually choose to drag myself out of bed for on a Sunday morning but this was a chance to see some of the processes and food manipulation from the ‘Materia Condensada’ exhibition in action. With the eagerness of a youth I sat down alongside the kids and some very earnest parents and tried to tune into chemistry in a foreign tongue.

We started with the sodium benzoate and PCT (phenylthiocarbamide) paper test from the main exhibition. After the foul taste it left in my mouth last time I opted out of this and instead chose to revel in amusement at some of the strange faces and reactions from the rest of the audience.

The first demonstration was regarding emulsions. Harking back to school science we filled test tubes with a 50/50 mixture of oil and water which obviously didn’t mix, although the kids gave it a good effort of shaking to try. We then added the xantana (xanthan gum) which brought the two ingredients together and demonstrated it’s use as an emulsifier and thickener, a process that was explained further with some lego bricks. A later demonstration of jellies was accompanied by another model.

 

Model of the chemical structure of jelly

 

This kind of science I like, toys and practical demonstrations rather than equations.

The bottle of thickened cava passed around sparked the adults interest for a few minutes whilst the splattered tables were wiped for the next experiment.

In emulsions such as ailoli or mayonnaise, the garlic or egg proteins and some agitation act in the same way as the xanthan gum and forge the ingredients together. This was demonstrated by blending milk (milk proteins) with olive oil, creating a creamy, mayonnaise consistency. It was passed round for tasting, not offensive but imagine mayo without the eggs or the acid of the lemon. Euw.

 

Jelly making with agar agar

 

Next it was the creation of a jelly. Sheets of animal based gelatine fascinated the young ones with their texture of plastic and the seaweed source of agar agar was shown in its natural and processed powdered form. The keen, possible chefs of the future made and heated a mixture of pineapple & grape juice with the powdered agar agar (100ml juice to 2g agar agar in this instance but a softer sonsistency can be made with 1g of agar agar, it doesn’t work well with acidic liquids so don’t try this with orange juice.) This was then poured into plastic cups to set. Now all they had to do was wait.

The process of spherification I have found the most interesting and novel for food presentation. Each table was given a shot glass of pea purée which had been mixed with alginat, another seaweed derivative, at a concentration of 6.5g alginat per litre of liquid ingredient. Alongside this was a bowl of water containing calcic, a form of calcium, this time at a preparation of 5g calcic to 1ltr of water.

 

Pea purée with alginat and dish of water containing calcic

 

The alginat, calcic and use of agar agar have all been developed or their use expanded by the Adrià brothers at their Barcelona workshop and are now sold as a line of products named ‘Texturas’. For anyone living in Barcelona who fancies attempting any of this, they can be purchased from a small shop called ‘Solé Graells’ located on a tiny back street just behind Plaça d’Espanya, if you are further afield they can be bought online, there is a list of distributors on the ‘Texturas’ website.

So how does the spherification work? Once the two solutions have been prepared, the rest is quiet simple. A syringe is filled with the pea purée and then droplets are dripped into the calcic and water solution. On contact with each other they react and the liquid purée becomes a solid. This requires a steady hand and even droplets, the children made some excellent attempts as well as some rather heavy handed squirts.

 

Attempts at spherification

 

The great thing about this is that the alginat and calcic do not alter the flavour of the purée, hence the capsule that bursts and spreads around your mouth tastes of purely pea.

If the liquid you want to solidify has a high calcium content already, such as yogurt at this workshop, then the process is inverted. The calcic is added to the yogurt and the ‘bath’ is mixed with the alginat, the concentrations for each remain the same as previously. Here are the results of the yogurt ‘ravioli’:

 

Attempts at yogurt 'ravioli'

 

Once the ‘spherification’ has happened, the droplets are strained from the liquid and will hold their shape indefinitely so can be stored for as long as you would normally store the base ingredient, meaning that this could easily be prepared beforehand and kept in the fridge for a dinner or a meal to impress someone special.

To end the session the final demonstration exampled changes in colour depending on the PH of different liquids.The glass on the left contains lemon juice with an acidic PH of around 2.5, in the centre a glass of water with a neutral PH of 7 and on the right an egg yolk with an alkaline PH of 8.9.  A few droplets of water from boiled red cabbage were then added to each glass, the deep purple of the cabbage water changed depending on which solution it was added to, the colour with the egg yolk changing again when the alkalinity was neutralised with a drop of the lemon juice.

Thanks must be given to the Fundació Alícia for putting on this exhibition. The foundation, near Manresa about an hour and a half out of Barcelona, aims to continue culinary and scientific research and investigations into health and dietary habits. After the two enjoyable mornings I spent at Arts Santa Monica I eagerly look forward to taking up one of their workshops and guided tours.

There are two further ‘Materia Condensada’ workshops on Sundays 17th and 24th October and the main exhibition runs until 5th December 2010

‘Materia Condensada’, Arts Santa Monica, Rambla 7 (Drassanes)

Read Full Post »

Materia Condensada. Cuinar Ciència. (Condensed Matter. Cooking Science)

I can clearly remember the first time I encountered the name and work of Ferran Adrià at El Bulli, a 2006 documentary hosted by American chef Anthony Bourdain called ‘Decoding Ferran Adrià’, who was sceptical about the praise and attention this Catalan man and restaurant were receiving. I, like Bourdain in the programme, was captivated by what I watched; apple caviar, foams that left no trace in the mouth, raw tuna masquerading as iberico ham, and have been almost evangelical about it ever since, passing it on to anyone who’ll listen to me talk and take it away to watch.

One lucky friend and fellow food blog writer Milly had the good fortune to be eating at Cala Montjoi this week and I am unashamedly, insanely jealous but nonetheless looking forward to reading all about it.

Luckily for me there was a slight antidote to this envy in the form of the ‘Materia Condensada’ exhibition at the Arts Santa Monica, which explores how our perception of food is affected by our senses and genes and which excitingly and unexpectedly demonstrated some of the techniques and experiences I’d seen in that epiphanic documentary.

You are drawn into the food world as you approach up the stairs, a mural from a previous artist’s exhibition leads you to the setting for this one.

SPOILER ALERT: If you are interested in seeing this exhibition then you might not want to read ahead so you can fully enjoy the whole experience.

I was rescued after the first 5 minutes of trying to comprehend an English language video on incredibly low volume subtitled in Catalan by one of the gallery’s guides who obviously detected my enthusiasm from my notebook scribbling and was fantastically attentive with me the whole morning.  The video was explaining our genetic predisposition to detecting certain tastes. My friendly guide gave me three small strips of paper each containing a flavour which she asked me to define. The first, just tasted of paper. Correct answer. This was to clean my palette. The second for me was bitter followed by sweet. She then revealed this was sodium benzoate (which you may have seen listed on the ingredients of fizzy drinks) which depending on your genetic make up can taste sweet, bitter, savoury or sour, or to some, of nothing at all. It is used as a preservative or occurs naturally in fruits such as apples, plums, raspberries and spices such as clove and cinnamon.

The third strip of paper was INCREDIBLY bitter, so much so that I immediately spat it out and she almost dashed to get me a glass of water. This is PTC (phenylthiocarbamide) and this was my first experience like Bourdain in the aforementioned documentary. I remembered this, they stood in the El Bulli taller on C/Portaferrisa and each tasted this substance, for some it is undetectable (around 30% of the population), for others mildly bitter, or for some, such as myself, incredibly bitter. How it tastes to you is dependent on a gene (TAS2R38 if you’re interested) and other genetic and environmental factors. This chemical does not occur naturally but similar compounds can be found in vegetables such as brussel sprouts, which may explain why to some they are the devil’s work.

We then moved on to test our perception of smell. The object of this exercise was to stand in the centre of this room and to try and ascertain what kind of dish you could smell and what the individual components were.

This section was a little weak, the room smelt strongly of fruit and once you have made your decision about what you can smell you can check by smelling each fruit and spice individually in the counter-top black boxes, but as I was given a list of the aromas it diminished the element of discovery and truly concentrating on what you could pick out.

Moving on from the sensory stimulation, I turned the corner to encounter a timeline of over 300 years of books published on the subject of culinary science. After slavishly copying the titles for a few minutes I was advised the full bibliography is available here.

This lineage of fascinating and brain stretching material then led into the main hall, where I found a display and explanation of gadgets and contraptions that are now being regularly used in some of the best restaurants and food industry.

For me this was a chance to see and learn more about processes and equipment I’ve regularly read about or seen used on TV programmes, for those not aware or familiar with these items it was a great introduction. Below are the exhibits, I’ve included links to the exhibitions website for more detailed description of the equipment and their usage.

The inclusion of the mortar and rudimentary prehistoric flint knives was an excellent example of how humans have been manipulating food for millenia. It was such a good invention that we are still using it to this day.

Mortar

The omnipresent water bath, used in professional kitchens these days for cooking foods at an evenly maintained temperature, I read this article recently about trying to recreate the same conditions in a domestic kitchen.

Water bath

Next was another vicarious El Bulli experience, this time ‘spherification‘. I’ve seen this process before whereby a liquid is made into a sphere of itself so it has the appearance and structure of caviar, globules of the purée, sauce or oil for example that burst in your mouth but contain nothing apart from the main ingredient.

Spherification

I expected the spheres of olive oil to disintegrate into liquid as soon as they hit my mouth, but bizarrely they have a ‘skin’ which bursts when you chew.

Spheres of olive oil

Something I hadn’t seen before was the use of xantana or xanthan gum, which can be added to gaseous products to make them hold their gas and thus be denser. Xanthan gum is also a common food additive.

Xanthan gum

In nearby Sant Sadurni d’Anoia some cava producers are adding this to their product so it can be used for desserts and other recipes where a thick, almost gloopy texture is desired but that the cava still holds it fizz. A good Christmas present idea sprung to mind.

Do you regularly use granulated coffee? Have you ever had a ‘powder’ on a restaurant dish? Then the lyophilizer will probably have played a part. I’ll leave you to read the link which can explain the science way better than I could even attempt.

Lyophilizer

Jellies and sweets such as Haribo are something we’ve all come across at some point in our lives, here were different examples of gels made from seaweeds such as agar agar and meat derivatives. Interestingly the gels textures and strength differed depending on the agent used. Those made from agar agar (the darker of those under the glass dome) were very firm, more difficult to squeeze and wouldn’t melt in your hand.

Different examples of jellies

The Rotaval distiller is another one I’m going to let the exhibition website explain to you. I was able to taste the honey wine concentrate produced by this machine, it truly did have all the taste of wine without the alcohol punch. The evaporated water from the material or liquid being distilled will also have the taste of that material, thus you could have coffee, chocolate, wine flavoured water. Magic…….well chemistry.

Rotaval distiller

Moving on from equipment to more earthly matters of fruits and vegetables and how their climatic and soil conditions change their flavour.

The plants featured were from areas around Catalonia;  Ebro Valley Clementines, artichokes from El Prat de Llobregat (the area around Barcelona airport), El Maresme strawberries, white pears from Lleida, Mura tomatoes, Santa Pau Fesolet beans, Gósol potatoes and of course that Catalan emblem the calçot which I finally learnt is the humble white onion earthed up and manipulated to grow into this long, leek like vegetable. I’m looking forward to that season coming round again.

The exhibition is also running Sunday workshops and despite being in Catalan, me being dry-mouthed and a little headachy from the previous evening and the session predominantly aimed at children this exhibition had fired my interest so I went along to learn more. I’ll share what I learnt later in the week.

‘Materia Condensada’, Arts Santa Monica, Rambla 7 (Drassanes) – Exhibition runs until 5th December

Read Full Post »

Havana Cultura fridge artists at Estació de França

What do you do when your fridge has given up the ghost and will no longer chill those beers, that wine, those cheeses and salad? Well, probably not what a group of Cuban artists have done to 53 old fridges being displayed over the past weekend in the vestibule at Estació de França.

Before I mention the exhibition I have to comment on the beautiful train station hosting it. I have a real fondness for Estació de França, not only because this is where I first arrived in Barcelona when I moved here, but also because it is a glorious looking building, from the façade which evokes thoughts of Paris

and inside the details, the ironwork and marble hark back to a different era of travel. The station was built in 1929 at the same time lots of other buildings were being constructed in the city for the exhibition of that year, such as what is now the MNAC and the Mies Van de Rohe Pavillion around Plaça d’Espanya. I can picture this place full of people with their coats slung over their arms and carrying their leather suitcases, a much more charming picture than people these days at airports with shoes and belts in plastic trays and being patted down by disgruntled looking security staff.

I adore the ticket desks, a world away from the gaudy and miserable red and grey Virgin trains desks I’m accustomed to back home, and from here you can take a train to France, Switzerland and Northern Italy. I’m such a travel romantic, sigh.

Unlike the other stations in Barcelona there are no underground platforms here so as you approach the station on the train you get to take in the city. The iron roof is stunning although I can imagine this scene was very different when the station was filled with soot and smoke before the trains were electrified.

So, back to the art. The artists, known as ‘Los Frios’ (The Cold Ones) have transformed the fridges into individual pieces for a show which has already been shown in Havana, Milan and Paris. The show was being hosted in Barcelona by Havana 7 Cultura, a interesting venture to promote Cuban culture by Havana Club Rum, which I’m sure won’t do their product sales any harm either.

The exhibition literature claims to be ‘a homage to the refrigerator which is vital in Cuban life’ and that ‘it is more than just a simple electrical item but rather an icon around which all family life revolves, it occupies pride of place in the home and is passed from generation to generation’.

The work is inspired by the Revolución Energética, a programme introduced by Castro’s government in Cuba to replace old, high energy consuming electrical goods, such as these refrigerators.

The ideas were original, amusing, creative and sometimes simple but extremely inventive. Here is a selection of the 53 pieces:

Here is the first of my two favourites, so simple

and finally, the last stop at the end of the line for all of us.

Read Full Post »