El Bulli Cooking in Progress Is One Amazing Film

Well, the Oscars have been awarded in Hollywood and congratulations to all. But there is one film the members of the Hospitality Industry are all waiting to see in wider release and that's El Bulli - Cooking in Progress.

If you have not had a chance to read any of the film's glowing reviews, just check out the movie's trailer and you'll run, not walk, to the showing nearest you or purchase the DVD for your permanent collection. 

Truly an inspiring film about the nature and value of creativity!

POST NOTE, February 25, 2013: It’s finally confirmed! THERE WILL BE A SECOND FERRAN MOVIE!

Vendome Pictures has just announced they are moving ahead to turn Lisa Abend’s book, The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adria's elBulli, into a new film.

The movie will focus on the drama of the young apprentice chefs going through the restaurant's famous training program. Besides Adria, the main characters will be his Chefs de Cuisine--Eduard Xatruch, Mateu Casanas, and Oriol Castro

There will also be a stunning range of stagiares: Katie Button, an American former biomedical researcher turned chef; Luke Jang, a Korean who paid his way to El Bulli by working in a slaughterhouse; Andrea Correa, a Colombian chef who gets to be Oriol's personal assistant; Roger Alcaraz, a son of Catalan goat farmers; and Gael Vuilloud, a young French chef who can't quite pick up Spanish.

But the big question is: Who will play Ferran? Abend has always thought of Johnny Depp in the central role.

And while no one can doubt his talent, for this role, he might have to gain some pounds.

But what better way to gain weight then while studying (and savoring) the cuisine for this world famous Chef and his amazingly talent staff.

 Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013

Who Will Lead Spanish Cuisine After Ferran’s El Bulli Closes?

After the final dinner is served at El Bulli on July 30^th, the famed Spanish restaurant will close. So sad, sad, sad.

But where one door shuts, another is sure to open.

That new door, what with Ferran’s ‘retirement’ from his legendary kitchen to his new research center, will need to be wide, very wide to accommodate the host of other talented chefs that also call Spain their home.

Just consider:

QUIQUE DACOSTA, Chef at El Poblet (near Valencia)

Known for his edible culinary landscapes, Chef Dacosta is among the chefs favoring the techniques of “la cocina de vanguardia”, the phrase now replacing the much-disliked by all term “molecular gastronomy”. Implementing the skills initially created by Ferran, Chef Dacosta’s dishes include a recreation of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao a la an edible oyster coated with consumable (and oh so beautiful) titanium-silver colored surface.  Even Frank Gehry would be impressed by its stunning appearance.

CARME RUSCALLEDA I SERRA, Chef at Sant Pau (outside of Barcelona), Moments (Barcelona) and Sant Pau de Toquio (Tokyo). 

The holder of a total of six, yes six, Michelin stars, this esteemed chef is surprisingly little known outside of Spain, except in Tokyo where she is greatly admired.  Her creations are delicate, seasonally driven with an appreciation of the fresh and local while never forgetting the impact of presentation. With such an understanding of aesthetics, is it any wonder that her cuisine is honored by the preceptive diner in both Tokyo and Barcelona?     

JOSEAN MARTíNEZ ALIJA, Chef at Nerua (Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao)

Among the most fluent speakers of the adopted ‘art-words’ that enables the ‘vanguardia chefs’ to describe their innovative efforts, it should surprise no one that Chef Alija‘s kitchen is located at the remarkable Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

There, like a traditional artist in his/her studio, he combines and creates the new while capturing the essence of the expression (just like Picasso).

NANDU JUBANY, Chef at Can Jubany (Catalonia)

A “regresar a las raíces” or “return to the roots” believer, Chef Jubany is an advocate of the farm-to-plate model, believing the value of identifiable terroir. Every ingredient in his kitchen has a known source, all free from commercialization and industrialized production. The resulting cuisine is clear, crisp and full of rediscovered delights, often making regional favorites bright and amazingly new again.  

VICTOR ARGUINZONIZ, Chef at Asador Etxebarri (east of Bilbao)

Another “regresar a las raíces” deep roots devotee, Chef Arguinzoniz starts his devotion from the ground up, using not only fresh local ingredients, but also crafting his own flavorful charcoal. Impressive, no?

As a former forest ranger, and though a self-taught chef, no one can question his hallmark grilling expertise. From appetizers to dessert (yes, even his goat milk ice cream brings a smoky flavor to the table), the fiery traditions of the Basque country is always present in his memorable cuisine.

MARI CARMEN VELEZ, Chef at La Sirena (Alicante)

Famous for her focus on seafood, she transforms traditional Spanish dishes honoring both regional recipes and contemporary trends. In a restaurant where only the best is good enough, she is assisted by both her husband as sommelier and her sister, who studied with Paco Torreblanca, as director of pastry.

PACO MORALES, Chef at Hotel Ferrero (between Valencia and Alicante)

Relocating from his famed restaurant in Madrid, The Senzone, Chef Morales is one of Spain’s young chefs who successfully blends traditional techniques and innovative changes within his cuisine.

Clarity matters as much as wonder. Flavors should, according to Chef Morales, never be a mystery but equally magic should never leave the dining experience.

Assisting him in the complete creation of the evening is his wife (and sommelier) Rut Cotroneo, who trained at Heston Blumenthal’s highly honored Fat Duck Restaurant in Great Britain.

XAVIER PELLICER, Chef at Can Fabes (Sant Celoni, Catalonia)

With a father who is Catalan and a mother who is French, is it any wonder that by age 13 Chef Pellicer found the crafting of cakes far more interesting than the solving of calculus equations in the classroom.

An international array of apprenticeships soon followed and enabled him to master both traditional and avant-garde techniques.

As a result, his skills have simultaneously impressed both the strongly anti-Ferran Chef Santi Santamaría as well as the most adventurous of diners.  Not bad Chef!

Working to insure the blending and growth of all these culinary traditions, old and new, is La Real Academia de Gastronomia or The Royal Academy of Gastronomy founded in August of 2010.

Its stated goal is to disseminate and promote the exciting world of Spanish food and wine, while always honoring both history and innovation in Iberia and beyond. 

With the help of such culinary talents as those offered by these amazing new chefs, Spain is sure to continue to delight and amaze us all with flair and flavor!

 Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Chef Ferran Adria’s Film El Bulli Cooking in Progress Is Off and Running at SxSW

It may seem unfair, but it’s the film buffs at a primiere at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and then at the South by Southwest Film and Multimedia Conference (or SxSW) in Austin, Texas, who got the first in-depth look at an inspiring new film about Ferran Adria and his amazing culinary creations. Entitled El Bulli: Cooking in Progress, the movie delighted viewers so much it was the first film to be snatched up for American distribution at the Festival.  Fantastic!

Purchased by Kino Lorber for his new company Alive Mind Cinema, this captivating movie about culinary creativity will be the first film shown by the new firm at New York’s Film Forum on July 27, 2011.  The rest of us will be able to see the film during a later 2011 fall distribution.

Filmed by the noted German documentary film visionary Gereon Wetzel, the movie follows the creativity of famed Spanish chef Ferran Adria as he and his staff design through intent and discovery a unique and daring menu for the next seasonal offerings at El Bulli.

Working at his Barcelona “laboratory”, Ferran and his staff are shown creating many of the 30 plus dishes they will later share with the famed restaurant’s long-waiting guests. Every “experiment” involves structure, sound, color, texture and, of course, taste. Ferran is shown always as on hand – tasting, adjusting, directing, true to the tradition of a master chef.

Yet discovery is always part of the creative experience. When one young chef drops an ice cube into a nearby plate of gravy, the thought occurs to everyone why not create a new entrée from ice cubes?

Suddenly, the thought is moving creatively among this talented gathering of chefs. Why not go further? Why not mix oil with water and create a cocktail that leaves an elegant smooth coating on the lips?

Every discovery (both positive AND negative) is carefully written in notebooks that line the walls or on a wall board for further research and expansion. Photographed in high definition and without the burden of a non-culinary narrative to clutter the viewing experience for the insightful professional, this is an amazing film that explores, not merely food, but the entire creative experience, free and far reaching.  

Truly a “must-see” film.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Ferran Adria: The Best Is Yet To Come

Colman Andrews has written an insightful biography, that only he could have written, about the meteoritic career of Ferran Adria in Ferran: The Inside Story of El Bulli and the Man Who Reinvented Food. 

If you’ve had your ear tuned to the culinary network, you’re sure to have heard of foam and deconstruction as terms for all that’s new in the world of cuisine.

And though few would deny the creativity of this legendary chef, Andrews goes deeper in a tour de force that traces the little known stories in Ferran’s life that have led to his greatest achievements and frustrations.

Unlike a James Beard, Ferran did not discover meaningful cuisine in his mother’s kitchen or like a Julia Child in a great culinary school. Instead, he began in an entrance level job that his father arranged for him through a family friend when he dropped out of school.  Ferran learned enough at that kitchen job and others to be able to work as a cook in the home of a Spanish admiral when drafted.

Once discharged from the military, Ferran went looking for another kitchen job – hopefully one that didn’t require too much work so that, like any young man, he could party and drink (ideally with friends and a lovely lady or two).

Then fate intervened.  A friend mentioned a small restaurant located above a beach called El Bulli (named for the original German owners’ bulldogs).  If the story were a Hollywood script, the next chapters would be all about fame and fortune – how Ferran became tagged with the title “the world’s great chef”.

But Andrews, who spent months interviewing Ferran, listening in his kitchen and observing in his working culinary studio - El Tallers, goes further.  He documents how Ferran first discovered new techniques re-thinking traditional kitchen tools and then adopting stabilizers and thickeners long known to pastry chefs into stunning new applications within main courses.

Colman charts the raising awareness of Ferran’s innovative creations among culinary professionals – both positively and negatively.  He examines the price of fame even when it isn’t wanted.

The book ends with a question – what will Ferran do next?  Ferran has announced that in 2011 he will take a two year hiatus from his now world famous restaurant.  Will he travel, teach, discover more that is new?  Return to tradition?

One can only hope that whatever path Ferran chooses to follow, Andrews will be there to write volume number two about this amazing chef’s creativity and courage in kitchen.  Bravo and well done!  

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2010