On 06/09/03 10:24, in article ,
"Mxsmanic" > wrote:

> Jenn writes:
>
>> hard to beat US beef -- the French have made a culture out of disguising
>> the scrawny stuff they serve with delicious sauces
>
> Some varieties of French beef are said to be among the best in the world
> (e.g., Charolais, if I remember correctly). The French aren't very good
> at actually preparing beef, though--most of the time, it tastes like
> tire rubber after they've dealt with it. In all the years I've been in
> France, I've only had one experience of beef that _didn't_ feel and
> taste like vulcanized rubber. I avoid French beef today, unless it's
> ground up or otherwise made easy to chew.


Charolais is good, only it's seldom properly marbled and most of the
charolais I've had didn't have much flavor. The great beefs of France are
the limousin, the salers (whose milk is used to make Cantal cheese) in
Auvergne (the central mountains) and the hard-to-find Bazas beef and blonde
d'Aquitaine : wonderful ribs and steak...

Bull's ribs from the Languedoc are excellent too. They're seldom to be found
outside of the Béziers-Nîmes regions (because of the bullfighting tradition
there).

It's true, though, that we (French) are not great at cooking beef. For one
thing, we never mastered the art of low-temperature roasting that gives such
wonderful results for English beef and American prime rib. Some restaurants
are pretty good at this though (because they can afford large cuts of meat
to be cooked in one piece), but if we mastered this technique on a national
scale we'd pay a better tribute to our delicious bovine meat.

As for Spanish versus French, I couldn't say, the gastronomic traditions of
both countries are so different. I wouldn't trust a restaurant critic,
anyway, to dictate the ultimate truth in food matters; the subject is so
much larger and complex than a journalist could grasp. And "chefs" don't
represent "food", not even "cuisine".

The most creative chef alive today, Ferran Adria (El Bulli), lives in Spain.
But he happens to be Spanish and his path is marked by his individuality,
not by his origins. He could be Swiss, French or Italian, he'd be just as
creative. He's more an artist than a chef. What he does goes far beyond
cuisine. And just because quite a few chefs in Europe try (more or less
successfully) to imitate him doesn't mean that Spain is the leader in
European cuisine today. It only means that Adria is the genius.

On the other hand it is undeniable that French "haute" cuisine suffers from
an excess of conservatism, and that isn't the case of Spain, which allows
the latter to show more vitality and creativity. But "chef" cuisine is a
fairly recent phenomenon in Spain, so it's easier to do without the weight
of tradition. And creativity and vitality are not absent from France either.
They may only be not so visible.

Sophie wrote:

> It's true, though, that we (French) are not great at cooking beef. For one
> thing, we never mastered the art of low-temperature roasting that gives such
> wonderful results for English beef and American prime rib.

Low-temperature roasting (below 275F) is not generally the way British
cooks do theirs in home. Americans don't do it as much as you'd
expect, either. It's primarily a commercial technique. Restaurants and
caterers do it.

The technique is very simple. Season the meat, put it on a rack over a
roasting pan, put it into the oven and test it with a thermometer.
When it reaches the correct temperature, pull it out of the oven and
let rest before carving. Some will start it in a hot oven and turn it
down after a few minutes so they can have a crust on the outside of
the roast.

> Some restaurants
> are pretty good at this though (because they can afford large cuts of meat
> to be cooked in one piece), but if we mastered this technique on a national
> scale we'd pay a better tribute to our delicious bovine meat.

I don't know what you mean by large cuts, but they needn't be very big
to benefit from this approach. I just did a 2-bone rib section last
Friday for me and my wife. Finished the leftovers For breakfast
Saturday. Doesn't everybody nibble beef rib bones for breakfast?

Brushed with heavy cream and coated well with ground white pepper,
garlic powder and seasoned salt. Makes a very thin and very tasty soft
crust. Oven set to 220F. Meat pulled at a center temperature of 125F.
Rested for 10 minutes or so.

> I wouldn't trust a restaurant critic,
> anyway, to dictate the ultimate truth in food matters; the subject is so
> much larger and complex than a journalist could grasp. And "chefs" don't
> represent "food", not even "cuisine".

I don't know that there are "ultimate truths in food matters," only
opinions. Like the two sentences immediately above. "The subject is so
much larger and complex than a journalist could grasp," you say.
Really? I've been to more than a few conferences for food writers.
There are international organizations for the field. As for what chefs
"represent," that sentence isn't clear.

> The most creative chef alive today, Ferran Adria (El Bulli), lives in Spain.

See. An opinion. Hard to credit this whole "best in the world"
business when there are so many truly brilliant minds in the field. It
feels like that "Sexiest Man Alive" thing that the magazines do.
Chacun a son gout.

> But he happens to be Spanish and his path is marked by his individuality,
> not by his origins. He could be Swiss, French or Italian, he'd be just as
> creative.

He can't be separated from his origins, IMO. The materials and
techniques he learned about shaped what he later did and does. But,
yes, he does transcend his roots now. But he didn't just wake up one
day, as though a switch had been thrown, as the innovator he is today.

> He's more an artist than a chef. What he does goes far beyond
> cuisine.

Here we got into that overlofty opinion thing again. He sees himself
as a cook. He cooks every day on the line in his rather small
restaurant. He has indulged his curiosity with "What if?" thinking and
taken the conventional elements of his culture to previously
unexplored areas. But he has also had a lot of very good public
relations both from the culinary and popular presses and a good bit
paid for.

> And just because quite a few chefs in Europe try (more or less
> successfully) to imitate him doesn't mean that Spain is the leader in
> European cuisine today. It only means that Adria is the genius.

But Adria is one of many Spanish chefs playing in the same arena. It's
not so much imitating him as following his methods of questioning.
Thomas Keller of the French Laundry restaurant is every bit the equal
of Adria. He does the same sorts of "What happens if we do this?"
things as Adria. He's American. There are many more from many more
countries and cultures.

> On the other hand it is undeniable that French "haute" cuisine suffers from
> an excess of conservatism, and that isn't the case of Spain, which allows
> the latter to show more vitality and creativity. But "chef" cuisine is a
> fairly recent phenomenon in Spain, so it's easier to do without the weight
> of tradition. And creativity and vitality are not absent from France either.
> They may only be not so visible.

The notion of a professional class of chefs isn't unique to France,
but, outside of some places in Asia, most deeply developed there. The
extraordinary codification and definition of culinary technique is a
debt that everybody who cooks in the west owes to the French. France
has contributed its share of innovations in recent decades with
"Cuisine Minceur" and "Nouvelle Cuisine." Elements of both those
approaches still linger as echoes in more modern ways. Reductions
rather than classic sauces. Reduced portion sizes. Simplification of
old approaches and presentations. Minimal presentations featuring
edible decorations. Food stacked on food (one of my least favorite
innovations).

As fashionable as it is to discuss what happens culinarily in the US
with a sneer of disdain and an effete sweep of the hand, the fact is
that in this third most populous nation on earth with the greatest
number of immigrants, there are as many good and great restaurants as
anywhere else, and more than most. There are also more crappy fast
food shops and formula-chains, to be sure. There are enormous numbers
(but, sadly, declining) of country-style operations, mama-papa shops
that don't pretend to elegance or exclusivity, that serve good, homely
food. Lots of restaurants with bits and pieces from other places and
times. Some of those falling-down BBQ shacks all through the south
turn out world-class food. Urban pizza operations, likewise. More and
more artisanal restaurants with strong concentrations on quality as
interpreted by the operators.

But the enormous numbers of people from other cultures means that
there's also a constant ferment of combination of elements from
disparate cultures. The full-blown notion of "fusion cuisine" is
American and has been exported to the rest of the world. It's so
deeply accepted now that it doesn't even merit mention. Wander through
any supermarket nowadays and, if you're old enough, recall what they
looked like 30 years ago. That tells you how far it's come in that time.

Look at restaurant menus for the same idea. I have restaurant menus
from as far back as the 30s, 40s and 50s. From big and little places,
from snooty and plain. The people who wrote them wouldn't recognize
where we've come in the intervening years.

Pastorio

Here is the reply of Le monde's critic Jean-Claude Ribaut :

translation at : http://www.reverso.net/textonly/default.asp
http://www.reverso.net

La garde montante
ARTICLE PARU DANS L'EDITION DU 07.09.03
Ringarde, la cuisine française ? On le dit de New York à Annecy. Mais
le jeune Yannick Alléno démontre au contraire la vitalité de la relève

LES FEUX de l'été ne se sont guère éteints dans les cuisines,
alimentés par un copieux brûlot paru dans le New York Times du 10 août
consacré au déclin de l'innovation culinaire dans notre pays, comparé
à la créativité de certains chefs espagnols et par les déclarations de
Marc Veyrat, le plus turbulent de nos cuisiniers : « Des créateurs, il
y en a vingt ou trente en Espagne. Ici, un seul, et c'est moi. » Et
d'ajouter : « La cuisine française est has been. »

Conséquence des tiraillements entre Paris et Washington - l'article de
notre confrère new-yorkais y fait d'emblée référence - ou bien effet
secondaire de la canicule, l'explication des propos du chef de
L'Eridan ne relève peut-être, après tout, que de la fascination
exercée près de Cadaquès (Espagne) par Feran Adria, le diabolique
inventeur du foie gras en grumeaux, sur la génération des orphelins de
la nouvelle cuisine. Voici donc le retour de la controverse, jeu
compulsif et ostentatoire comparable à la lutte des nains pour la
conquête des tabourets que menaient à Versailles ducs et pairs au
temps de Saint-Simon, qui embrase à nouveau le monde des casseroles.

« Peut-être vivons-nous l'époque de l'art culinaire par excellence !
», rétorque Pierre Gagnaire, via l'AFP, qui justifie avec clairvoyance
l'éclectisme actuel : « Moderne, dynamique et ouverte au monde, la
cuisine française garde en mémoire sa tradition, garante de son
authenticité, de sa créativité et de sa longévité. »

Vue de France doulce-terre, l'Espagne fut longtemps le littoral
bétonné de Cadaquès à Marbella, agrémenté çà et là par quelque plaza
de toros. La table se réduisait aux mirages de la paella, que l'on
trouve, chez nous, en packs surgelés sur les gondoles des grandes
surfaces. Le cocido, pot-au-feu national aux pois chiches, est
carrément ignoré de ce côté-ci de la Bidassoa.

Il ne manque cependant pas de Don Quichotte de la nouvelle cuisine
espagnole pour aller par le monde enseigner « les vertus de l'ail de
la Saint-Martin, du gave-bourrique et du gazpacho local », plaisante
Manuel Vasquez Montalban. Alors qu'après la bataille de Lépante (1571)
l'Espagne est à l'apogée de son rêve chimérique de domination
universelle avec la Conquista, ses moeurs de table restent rudes,
comme nous l'apprend le roman picaresque du quart-monde et des
crève-la-faim La Vie de Lazarillo de Tormès (Editions Slatkine, 1997).
Cependant, « bien manger ou mal manger, c'est une question de culture.
Manger ou ne pas manger, c'est une question d'argent », rappelle
opportunément Montalban.

DES PLATS RÉGIONAUX EXQUIS

Si l'ordinaire de Don Quichotte n'est plus aujourd'hui un modèle de
frugalité ibérique, la cuisine espagnole moderne n'a cependant guère
de mal à s'affranchir de traditions qui, déjà, laissaient perplexe
Mérimée, déclarant en 1830 à propos de la paella : « Nous mangeons à
la gamelle, chacun armé d'une petite cuiller de bois fort courte. »

S'il faut saluer dans la cuisine espagnole une grande variété de plats
régionaux exquis, l'absence de patrimoine culinaire national et de
cuisine de cour laisse toute liberté à l'avant-garde conduite par
Feran Adria de s'affranchir des derniers tabous culinaires et
culturels.

Comparer les deux cuisines, au- delà et en deçà des Pyrénées, est
hasardeux si l'on fait abstraction de l'histoire dans sa durée, comme
l'ont démontré Alberto Capatti et Massimo Montanari ( La Cuisine
italienne : histoire d'une culture, Seuil, 2002). En Espagne comme en
France, la cuisine vit de ses modèles sociaux, et non l'inverse. Le
cuisinier suit la mode et l'air du temps, que la clientèle légitime ou
non, même lorsque sa cuisine revêt un caractère expérimental. Jamais
il n'impose sa loi, ni son éthique.

Teintée d'abstraction lyrique, minimaliste, la cuisine de Feran Adria
à El Bulli n'exprime qu'exceptionnellement la gourmandise ou la
sensualité, dans une Catalogne en quête de modernité. On songe au
roman de Charles Ferdinand Ramuz Le Gamin savoyard, épris d'absolu,
dont la révélation s'accomplit avec l'apparition d'une acrobate de
cirque. C'est à la garde montante que revient le mérite de clore,
provisoirement, cette controverse. A l'Hôtel Meurice, qui fut au coeur
des grands drames du XXe siècle, la relève vient de son- ner avec
l'arrivée du jeune Yannick Alléno (35 ans), jusque-là chef du
restaurant Les Muses à l'Hôtel Scribe. C'est au Cyrano, un bistrot de
Rueil tenu par ses parents au début des années 1980, que le jeune
Yannick rencontre son bon génie, le chef basque Gabriel Biscay, qui le
fera entrer chez Manuel Martinez, puis à l'école hôtelière de
Saint-Cloud.

Biscay le place ensuite au Lutétia, au Royal Monceau, où il gravit un
à un les échelons. Le voici au côté de Roland Durand au Sofitel
Sèvres, et déjà au Meurice en qualité de chef saucier avec Maurice
Marchand, auquel il succède aujourd'hui. Mais c'est auprès de Louis
Grondard, chez Drouant, que Yannick Alléno apprendra pendant cinq
années l'essentiel de son métier : « L'après-midi, à la pause, il
prenait son tablier bleu et nous livrait son savoir-faire. »

C'est à ses côtés qu'il acquiert, d'expérience, « la maîtrise des
cuissons et la religion du produit », autrement dit les bases de la
cuisine, accusées aujourd'hui de stériliser la création. Sa première
carte est un enchantement : pince de tourteau parfumée aux agrumes,
homard bleu au vin de Chteau Chalon, filet de rouget à la crème de
sardine, et aussi la prodigieuse poularde de Bresse farcie au foie
gras ou l'épaule de cochon de lait confite aux épices. Le ptissier,
écossais, règle les desserts. Loin des excès de la scène culinaire,
les délices du goût et du palais reprennent le dessus.

Jean-Claude Ribaut

posted by didier Meurgues

Bob Pastorio > wrote in message >...
> Sophie wrote:
>
> > It's true, though, that we (French) are not great at cooking beef. For one
> > thing, we never mastered the art of low-temperature roasting that gives such
> > wonderful results for English beef and American prime rib.
>
> Low-temperature roasting (below 275F) is not generally the way British
> cooks do theirs in home. Americans don't do it as much as you'd
> expect, either. It's primarily a commercial technique. Restaurants and
> caterers do it.
>
> The technique is very simple. Season the meat, put it on a rack over a
> roasting pan, put it into the oven and test it with a thermometer.
> When it reaches the correct temperature, pull it out of the oven and
> let rest before carving. Some will start it in a hot oven and turn it
> down after a few minutes so they can have a crust on the outside of
> the roast.
>
> > Some restaurants
> > are pretty good at this though (because they can afford large cuts of meat
> > to be cooked in one piece), but if we mastered this technique on a national
> > scale we'd pay a better tribute to our delicious bovine meat.
>
> I don't know what you mean by large cuts, but they needn't be very big
> to benefit from this approach. I just did a 2-bone rib section last
> Friday for me and my wife. Finished the leftovers For breakfast
> Saturday. Doesn't everybody nibble beef rib bones for breakfast?
>
> Brushed with heavy cream and coated well with ground white pepper,
> garlic powder and seasoned salt. Makes a very thin and very tasty soft
> crust. Oven set to 220F. Meat pulled at a center temperature of 125F.
> Rested for 10 minutes or so.
>
> > I wouldn't trust a restaurant critic,
> > anyway, to dictate the ultimate truth in food matters; the subject is so
> > much larger and complex than a journalist could grasp. And "chefs" don't
> > represent "food", not even "cuisine".
>
> I don't know that there are "ultimate truths in food matters," only
> opinions. Like the two sentences immediately above. "The subject is so
> much larger and complex than a journalist could grasp," you say.
> Really? I've been to more than a few conferences for food writers.
> There are international organizations for the field. As for what chefs
> "represent," that sentence isn't clear.
>
> > The most creative chef alive today, Ferran Adria (El Bulli), lives in Spain.
>
> See. An opinion. Hard to credit this whole "best in the world"
> business when there are so many truly brilliant minds in the field. It
> feels like that "Sexiest Man Alive" thing that the magazines do.
> Chacun a son gout.
>
> > But he happens to be Spanish and his path is marked by his individuality,
> > not by his origins. He could be Swiss, French or Italian, he'd be just as
> > creative.
>
> He can't be separated from his origins, IMO. The materials and
> techniques he learned about shaped what he later did and does. But,
> yes, he does transcend his roots now. But he didn't just wake up one
> day, as though a switch had been thrown, as the innovator he is today.
>
> > He's more an artist than a chef. What he does goes far beyond
> > cuisine.
>
> Here we got into that overlofty opinion thing again. He sees himself
> as a cook. He cooks every day on the line in his rather small
> restaurant. He has indulged his curiosity with "What if?" thinking and
> taken the conventional elements of his culture to previously
> unexplored areas. But he has also had a lot of very good public
> relations both from the culinary and popular presses and a good bit
> paid for.
>
> > And just because quite a few chefs in Europe try (more or less
> > successfully) to imitate him doesn't mean that Spain is the leader in
> > European cuisine today. It only means that Adria is the genius.
>
> But Adria is one of many Spanish chefs playing in the same arena. It's
> not so much imitating him as following his methods of questioning.
> Thomas Keller of the French Laundry restaurant is every bit the equal
> of Adria. He does the same sorts of "What happens if we do this?"
> things as Adria. He's American. There are many more from many more
> countries and cultures.
>
> > On the other hand it is undeniable that French "haute" cuisine suffers from
> > an excess of conservatism, and that isn't the case of Spain, which allows
> > the latter to show more vitality and creativity. But "chef" cuisine is a
> > fairly recent phenomenon in Spain, so it's easier to do without the weight
> > of tradition. And creativity and vitality are not absent from France either.
> > They may only be not so visible.
>
> The notion of a professional class of chefs isn't unique to France,
> but, outside of some places in Asia, most deeply developed there. The
> extraordinary codification and definition of culinary technique is a
> debt that everybody who cooks in the west owes to the French. France
> has contributed its share of innovations in recent decades with
> "Cuisine Minceur" and "Nouvelle Cuisine." Elements of both those
> approaches still linger as echoes in more modern ways. Reductions
> rather than classic sauces. Reduced portion sizes. Simplification of
> old approaches and presentations. Minimal presentations featuring
> edible decorations. Food stacked on food (one of my least favorite
> innovations).
>
> As fashionable as it is to discuss what happens culinarily in the US
> with a sneer of disdain and an effete sweep of the hand, the fact is
> that in this third most populous nation on earth with the greatest
> number of immigrants, there are as many good and great restaurants as
> anywhere else, and more than most. There are also more crappy fast
> food shops and formula-chains, to be sure. There are enormous numbers
> (but, sadly, declining) of country-style operations, mama-papa shops
> that don't pretend to elegance or exclusivity, that serve good, homely
> food. Lots of restaurants with bits and pieces from other places and
> times. Some of those falling-down BBQ shacks all through the south
> turn out world-class food. Urban pizza operations, likewise. More and
> more artisanal restaurants with strong concentrations on quality as
> interpreted by the operators.
>
> But the enormous numbers of people from other cultures means that
> there's also a constant ferment of combination of elements from
> disparate cultures. The full-blown notion of "fusion cuisine" is
> American and has been exported to the rest of the world. It's so
> deeply accepted now that it doesn't even merit mention. Wander through
> any supermarket nowadays and, if you're old enough, recall what they
> looked like 30 years ago. That tells you how far it's come in that time.
>
> Look at restaurant menus for the same idea. I have restaurant menus
> from as far back as the 30s, 40s and 50s. From big and little places,
> from snooty and plain. The people who wrote them wouldn't recognize
> where we've come in the intervening years.
>
> Pastorio

On 14/10/03 20:26, in article
, "meurgues"
> wrote:

> LES FEUX de l'été ne se sont guère éteints dans les cuisines,
> alimentés par un copieux brûlot paru dans le New York Times du 10 août
> consacré au déclin de l'innovation culinaire dans notre pays, comparé
> à la créativité de certains chefs espagnols et par les déclarations de
> Marc Veyrat, le plus turbulent de nos cuisiniers : « Des créateurs, il
> y en a vingt ou trente en Espagne. Ici, un seul, et c'est moi. » Et
> d'ajouter : « La cuisine française est has been. »

This is not the first time Veyrat says "n'importe quoi" to the press. He is
this chef from Savoie who constantly wears this large black hat that makes
him impossible to miss. It's easy for him to brag just because he was
awarded a 20/20 by the Gault and Millau guide, actually the results of
private deals and agreements between restaurant critics/food journalists
(who are, in France, a powerful clique), all things that very probably
contributed to Bernard Loiseau's suicide. Just wait till Veyrat gets a 19/20
and watch him scream in anger. There is alarming evidence that he is out of
inspiration, for all he does now is copy other chefs. For now, his
"inspiration" is Ferran Adria (the author of the article is quite right to
suspect this), up to and including the syringes, test tubes, and niblets
served on slate rectangles. Actually Veyrat sounds like a big joke to many
great French chefs ; one of them told me that Veyrat booked at his
restaurant last Summer under a false name but kept his hat on all through
the meal :-)


>
> Conséquence des tiraillements entre Paris et Washington - l'article de
> notre confrère new-yorkais y fait d'emblée référence - ou bien effet
> secondaire de la canicule, l'explication des propos du chef de
> L'Eridan ne relève peut-être, après tout, que de la fascination
> exercée près de Cadaquès (Espagne) par Feran Adria, le diabolique
> inventeur du foie gras en grumeaux, sur la génération des orphelins de
> la nouvelle cuisine.

Bingo!


> Teintée d'abstraction lyrique, minimaliste, la cuisine de Feran Adria
> à El Bulli n'exprime qu'exceptionnellement la gourmandise ou la
> sensualité,

Very, very true. Which is exactly why I wrote that his cuisine goes "beyond
cuisine", for it transcends the experience of the senses. It is, really,
cuisine for the mind, though it is based on a lot of instinct. It is born
from sensuality, but escapes from it.

Sophie > wrote in message >...
> On 14/10/03 20:26, in article
> , "meurgues"
> > wrote:
>
> > LES FEUX de l'été ne se sont guère éteints dans les cuisines,
> > alimentés par un copieux brûlot paru dans le New York Times du 10 août
> > consacré au déclin de l'innovation culinaire dans notre pays, comparé
> > à la créativité de certains chefs espagnols et par les déclarations de
> > Marc Veyrat, le plus turbulent de nos cuisiniers : « Des créateurs, il
> > y en a vingt ou trente en Espagne. Ici, un seul, et c'est moi. » Et
> > d'ajouter : « La cuisine française est has been. »
>
> This is not the first time Veyrat says "n'importe quoi" to the press. He is
> this chef from Savoie who constantly wears this large black hat that makes
> him impossible to miss. It's easy for him to brag just because he was
> awarded a 20/20 by the Gault and Millau guide, actually the results of
> private deals and agreements between restaurant critics/food journalists
> (who are, in France, a powerful clique), all things that very probably
> contributed to Bernard Loiseau's suicide.

I don't know ANYTHING about cuisine and never eat in 3 stars
restaurants. But I have been personnaly extremely shocked by Bernard
Loiseau's suicide because I appreciated so much on TV his exceptional
enthusiasm and talent to explain cuisine. I had never seen a chef with
such a talent of communication before. It's a great loss IMO. But he
wasn't despairingly waiting for "la marée" (the fish) like Vatel at
the dinner given to the king by the Grand Condé in Compiegne ! I don't
understand why he comitted suicide for so few ?

didier Meurgues


Just wait till Veyrat gets a 19/20
> and watch him scream in anger. There is alarming evidence that he is out of
> inspiration, for all he does now is copy other chefs. For now, his
> "inspiration" is Ferran Adria (the author of the article is quite right to
> suspect this), up to and including the syringes, test tubes, and niblets
> served on slate rectangles. Actually Veyrat sounds like a big joke to many
> great French chefs ; one of them told me that Veyrat booked at his
> restaurant last Summer under a false name but kept his hat on all through
> the meal :-)
>
>
> >
> > Conséquence des tiraillements entre Paris et Washington - l'article de
> > notre confrère new-yorkais y fait d'emblée référence - ou bien effet
> > secondaire de la canicule, l'explication des propos du chef de
> > L'Eridan ne relève peut-être, après tout, que de la fascination
> > exercée près de Cadaquès (Espagne) par Feran Adria, le diabolique
> > inventeur du foie gras en grumeaux, sur la génération des orphelins de
> > la nouvelle cuisine.
>
> Bingo!
>
>
> > Teintée d'abstraction lyrique, minimaliste, la cuisine de Feran Adria
> > à El Bulli n'exprime qu'exceptionnellement la gourmandise ou la
> > sensualité,
>
> Very, very true. Which is exactly why I wrote that his cuisine goes "beyond
> cuisine", for it transcends the experience of the senses. It is, really,
> cuisine for the mind, though it is based on a lot of instinct. It is born
> from sensuality, but escapes from it.