Molecular Musings pt. 1

I purchased the most recent El Bulli cookbook over a month ago and had the intention of writing a book report for the forumites to enjoy. Over a month later, I am still at a loss for words as how to do this both concisely and comprehensively. To be honest, every page informs, yet begs innumerable questions. So, I have decided to break it up into the smallest components possible and let everyone comment. This should be fun for all, and might coax some of my restaurant brethren out of the lurking closet (YES YOU!)

I guess the first topic should be the creative process by which they adhere. This fascinates me most, because they go to great lengths to explain it, and I am most interested in the fishing pole and not the fish. They close their doors for half the year to focus on creation and they seem to feel that it is one of the keys of their success. They even call their pullout 'evolutionary analysis.' I have adapted, as best I can, this model to our cocktail development project, and have found it very useful. The word 'evolutionary' seems quite appropriate, because I keep thinking of ways to improve the method by which the project is organized, like they do.

There is no pecking order. No ego. Only a sense of almost childlike curiosity. Ferran is the face of a group of equals, and every idea is explored, no matter how unusual. This is tantamount to their innovation.

They study the work of other chef's in every culinary tradition. It seems an expansive base knowledge and openness to alien cuisines leads to a very wide palette from which they can paint.

They think about the dining process. For example, what if a BLT sandwich was eaten, say, like bouillabaisse. You could be given a small slice of artisanal bread (which you eat in it's purity,) then you would be given the freshest, rarest tomato, Then hand cured serrano... Or, what if you had to eat mousse with a spoon wrapped in burlap?

I could keep going, but I beg of the forumites this question: Do you have any creative techniques that work for you? Is there an example of creativity that you have seen that begs the question, 'where did they think of that?' Perhaps you work where a creative process is used that you would like to share?

Personally, I love to take a good recipe that really works and stretches my abilities, deconstruct it and try to figure out what is the key flavor combination that makes it work, then I try to reconstruct it with different ingredients or with curious substitutions to see how far I can take it before it becomes a disgusting mess. I do this with salad dressings all the time and have lucked into some really nice flavor combinations I wouldn't have otherwise considered.

I am very interested in essences, what makes a tiramisu a tiramisu and how can I execute that in some new way and still maintain the essence of the dessert.

I like to do the same thing. I take a recipe that I like, break it down to its' essence, then recreate it in a different process, using slightly different ingredients. One additional thing to play with is the cooking style and origin. I like to take something classically French in preparation and prepare using Asian techniques with some Asian influence in the recipe. It isn't like fusion cooking but more like morphing cooking. For example, taking American chili, breaking down the ingredients, then making chili using meat, Korean chili flakes, sugar snap peas, Siracha sauce, salt, beef base,garlic and onion. I add a corn starch slurry to thicken,cook it in a Wok, and add Chinese noodles. Is it Chili, probably not, but it is the essence of chili reconstructed and cooked in a different way. That is what makes the science of food so fun. And nowhere in time has there been such an ability to try these creations than now.