Zagat Survey Discussions

By Karen Hudes, ZAGAT Survey Senior Editor

A New Orleans chef turns on, tunes in and goes molecular

Given the mystique that surrounds chef Ferran Adrià, whose restaurant el Bulli in Roses, Spain, is the mecca of molecular gastronomy, most wouldn’t expect him to share his techniques with the world at large. But he’s actually an open-source kind of cook.

Offering the first seminar of its kind, last December Adrià invited a group of U.S. chefs to learn some of his techniques. Chef Xavier Laurentino, owner of Laurentino’s in New Orleans, was among the lucky 10 – including Top Chef runner-up Marcel Vigneron and Scott Boswell (chef-owner of New Orleans’ Stella!) – to attend the three-day demonstration in Barcelona taught by one of el Bulli’s head chefs, Andrés Conde. The Catalan-born Laurentino spoke to the Buzz about those three wild days in the kitchen, giving us a glimpse of a culinary future that goes far beyond foam.

ZB: What was the concept of the course?

XL: Every season at el Bulli [which is open to the public only from April to September], they create 15–20 new techniques. After the season, they’re intending to get chefs from around the world, show them the products they’ve created – all natural products – and the techniques. It’s like what Pavarotti did with classical music, opened it up for the masses. It goes against what other chefs do. The French would invent something and keep it safe, and only show it to the sous-chef. But this is the policy of the open-door kitchen.

ZB: Describe some of the techniques you learned.

XL: The first day we did spherification. Right now I’m working on a kalamata sphere. I get the best kalamatas, the best oil and a little brine, and blend them to death. Then you pass it through a Superbag, a plastic bag with extremely tiny holes. You press very hard to get all the black liquid – the essence of the olive. You add Algin [a product extracted from brown algae] to it and put it into a bath of water with Calcic [a calcium salt]. Then it gels on the outside and becomes a ball with a very thin membrane. It looks like a kalamata olive, but put it in your mouth and as soon as you press it, it explodes with an intensity of flavor that’s 10 times that of a regular kalamata. Baby, you don’t have to chew anything, it hits you like a ton of bricks.

We did spherication of yogurt and raspberries, creating a ball within a ball. The flavor of the yogurt was out of this world. We did spherification of a mussel – a transparent ball with a mussel in it. It’s a totally different experience, feels like the sea.

They showed us how to create incredible airs [aka foams]: oil airs, kirsch airs, milk air, chocolate air, brandy air. You use Lecite, which enhances the strength of the molecular consistency, so the foam can last three to four minutes. We put airs into the dehydrator and made a Parmesan air like a cookie – unbelievable.

We also made spaghetti Parmesan, where you take liquid essence of Parmesan, add a gelling agent and put it inside a plastic tube with small holes at the end, then put that into a bath of water and ice. You blow on one end of the tube with compressed air and perfect spaghetti comes out. It’s all Parmesan, but looks like spaghetti.

ZB: How much science was involved?

XL: At el Bulli, they look at the chemistry of cooking. You have a [thermostat-regulated machine] that runs water through the system to cook sous vide, so there are no hot spots, no cold spots. You cook lamb chops on it, medium, then take them out, sear really quickly, and you don’t lose the liquid. They lose liquid after 67 degrees – the collagen breaks down. I never heard of that. It’s a new way of looking at cooking.

ZB: Did you meet Ferran Adrià?

XL: No, next time. He has so many people knocking on his door. I’ve heard he keeps his distance, very cheflike. A chef from el Bulli told me, “I worked there six months before he said hello to me, but he knew my whole story.”

ZB: How was dining out in Barcelona? Did you notice any trends?

XL: Barcelona is in the middle of a culinary revolution. Over the three days, we went to some of the most incredible restaurants. Inòpia is run by Ferran Adrià’s younger brother, Albert. It’s kick-ass food – new techniques with a traditional flair to it. And El Racó de Can Fabes is doing Catalan cuisine using the most modern techniques. So you can have a degustation menu of 15 different modern creations, or you can have a traditional leg of lamb aromatized with pine needles and cooked on its own juices inside a clay bag that is broken tableside.

Because of el Bulli, there’s a new type of restaurant we’ll see emerging in the U.S. They serve most of the dishes bite-size in spoons. A lot of places are doing this – spoon restaurants.

ZB: Tell me about the other chefs in the class. What was Marcel Vigneron like? He gained a reputation for being arrogant on Top Chef.

XL: I can see how he developed that reputation, he has an air about him that might be misunderstood as arrogance. However, my personal experience with him was really positive. I liked his interest in the class, he cooperated with the chef-teacher at all times. He talks, dreams, breathes, thinks and lives food.

At the end of the course, I went to San Sebastian with Marcel and Gary [LaMorte, sous-chef at Bouchon in Las Vegas]. We rented a car and went to Navarra, to the village where I grew up. At one restaurant they made a Spanish mountain dish of lamb chops over clippings of grape vines, and a rabbit stew with onions, green peppers, potatoes, olive oil, water and salt and that’s it. The final flavor was incredible. We went from the most advanced to super-traditional. I introduced them to the real deal – it was the experience of a lifetime.

ZB: Did you already know Scott Boswell from New Orleans?

XL: I’d never met him before. The first day when we were getting to know each other, he said, “After the hurricane…” I said, “You kidding me?” It was love at first sight. We had a great time in Barcelona and now we create things and pass them on to each other. Once a month we go out to a restaurant we don’t know.

He started working on a truffle ice cream. Everybody is experimenting. We are all enthralled. We get together and bounce ideas off each other.

ZB: What kinds of dishes are you working on now?

XL: I’m working with mozzarella and tomato, saving the flavor in a sphere. I’m like a little kid with a chemistry kit. It opens your mind and you start thinking about cooking.

I’m working on spaghetti made with Manchego cheese. And I created an incredible tempura with kalamata and Cabrales cheese with Trisol, which keeps it crunchy. I’m in New Orleans, so I’m looking at an oyster on the half shell, very clean with an air of lemon and a little zest.

ZB: Do you think this approach to food will catch on in New Orleans?

XL: I’m opening a new restaurant Uptown where people want to try new things. In Metairie they’re used to Italian and Creole. They don’t want to know anything about airs. People Uptown, they do.

At the new place, which I hope to open by September, I’ll be doing a line of classic Spanish tapas with a subsection of avant-garde dishes for people who want to be on the cutting edge. But it’s hard to market – New Orleans is kind of a traditional place. If you want a paella that blows your lid away, that’s what I’ll keep doing at Laurentino’s. You go “out there” and then back to the basics. I put my food where my mouth is.