French Chefs Doff Hats to Spain's Adria
Catalan chef Ferran Adria, who is closing his legendary Spanish eatery elBulli on Saturday, has won acclaim over two decades there from perhaps the sternest of culinary judges -- the French.
Adria's avant-garde cooking grabbed the attention of fellow cooks across the border, who hail him as a genius and an artist, while bemoaning the poor imitations his groundbreaking cuisine has spawned.
"He has shaken up people's beliefs, the global dogma on what was possible in cooking... taking a different look at ingredients," said Thierry Marx, chef at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Paris.
Adria's so-called "molecular" cooking -- a term he himself rejects -- is unconstrained by traditional chefs' reverence for the integrity of locally-grown ingredients, Marx said.
At elBulli he deconstructed and reconstructed ingredients with playful results, such as imitation caviar made of sesame seeds, foie gras noodles and potato foam.
Adria was traditionally trained but developed into "an alchemist, an inventor of new sensations and harmonies of taste," said Michel Guerard, the French chef considered the father of Nouvelle Cuisine.
"But he also knew how to preserve the poetry of cooking," Guerard added.
"He has shaken up a lot of people's imaginations," says Michelin-starred chef Michel Bras. "What annoys me is the cut-and-paste craze by chefs who do not have his background."
"He is the only one who can master his dishes, with his crafty way of working the ingredients," says Marseille chef Gerald Passedat. "Not just anyone can be Ferran Adria."
A typical meal at elBulli would involve dozens of mini-dishes, intense in flavour and capable of lifting the spirits.
"The first time I went I asked myself, 'When does the real meal start?'" jokes the French pastry chef Pierre Herme. "But you have to let yourself be led, keep an open mind to discover things and be swallowed up by emotion."
Adria drew his share of criticism which his French defenders blame on jealousy.
"French people learned that there are other types of cooking out there," and some people didn't like that, says Marx.
Some of Adria's admirers on the other hand went so far as to brand French traditional cooking a relic in light of his innovations.
"Ridiculous," says Guerard.
Adria is closing the Michelin three-star elBulli on July 30 and plans to reopen it in 2014 as a non-profit culinary think tank that will investigate new cooking techniques and develop new flavors.
"There is no need to start being nostalgic," says Herme. "He is sure to invent something new to surprise us."
Source: Agence France Presse
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