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  #1  
Old 04-29-2003, 11:11 AM
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Default 30 courses at El Bulli, the world-famous Spanish restaurant

A long, evocative description in an eGullet article.

http://egullet.com/?pg=ARTICLE-dayonelbulli

Dishes included:

Tuber-chips envueltas
Root vegetable crisps wrapped in an artichoke sheet which resembled a long "tuile" and similar to Pierre Gagnaire's beet chips that Robert and Susan remember from the late 1980s, or even Terra Chips.

Mango caramelizado con pistachios y yuzu
Caramelized mango with pistachios and yuzu. Inside a tiny "eggroll" was an intensely-flavored powder that turned into delicious mango juice when the dish was eaten.

Cangrejo frito
Fried soft-shell crabs, salty and crunchy. A small touch of Thailand. Adria used this and the following "tapas" to appeal to all the palate "taste groups."

Obleas de frambuesa
Raspberry "communion wafers" (obleas means capsules), with ginger in the center of each. Each wafer, a beautiful raspberry color, dissolved in the mouth and filled it with an intense taste of raspberries. This and the next three dishes were served together on a small tray.

Crujiente de pollo asado
Crispy roast chicken skin

Avellana en texturas
Hazelnuts in various forms (chopped, wrapped around a creamy center)with a hint of citrus from yuzu.

Mandarina en texturas
Mandarine-flavored gelatin "tile," in a wrapper

Ravioli de guisantes
Each person received two spoons placed on a small black stone. One held a round, transparent pasta filed with the liquid essence of peas; the other was filled with lightly cooked spring peas, tiny and impeccably fresh. This was a highlight.

Manzana especiada con piel de limon en tempura
Spiced apple with tempura lemon peel

Caviar de ceps
"Caviar" of cepes (described above)

"Aleta de Tiburon" a la oriental
"Shark's fin" with Japanese flavors: tuna foam, wasabi, ponzu, gomasaio

Crepes de yuba de leche con gelatina de trufa negra
Crêpes with black truffle jelly. Skepticism at encountering a milk-made dish after some of the preceding tastes turned into astonishment at the soothing quality of this one. Long, sheer crepes made from the "skin" of milk, encasing two tiles of a black truffle gelee.

Aire de zanahoria con coco amargo
Carrot-coconut foam

Pasta brioche
Deconstructed brioche

"Pure" de alcachofa con esencia de mandarina
Artichokes with coffee essence and mandarin sauce; the artichokes had been treated so that they were as soft as a purée yet held their original form.

Zamburiñas a las especies
Scallops with spices. Each diner received several perfect scallops and an equal number of small piles of powdered macadamia nuts, each flavored with a different spice; the scallops were to be dipped into the powder before eating.

Espardeñas con pure de limon
Sea cucumbers, cut in noodle-like strips, served with a startling combination of puree of potato and lemon rind and a lemon marmalade on the side. A "dish of the night."

Cigala unilateral al te verde
"Cigales" with green tea sauce and a basil foam (described above)

Ostras con almendras tiernas
Perfectly fresh, raw oysters were broken down into minuscule pieces and reassembled with fresh, raw almonds, adding texture to the oysters. The delicious muscle was carefully removed from the shells and included in the dish.

Ventresca de salmon con amarenas
Salmon belly with bitter cherries; the perfect salmon belly seared in pork fat, served with a strand of salmon eggs encased in a translucent skin, a fish reduction and a bitter cherry.

Menudillos de conejo a la gelee de garbanzos (described above)
Rabbit brains with garbanzo jelly

Espaguetis al parmesano
"Spaghetti" with parmesan (described above)

Huevos de codorniz con toffee
Caramelised quails' eggs. A variant on Adria's famous "Golden Egg", but without the gold foil; sweetened with toffee.

Nieve
"Snow", chilled meringue, rosewater, fraises des bois; the rosewater-flavored "snow" was formed into a snowball, which when broken open revealed wild strawberries.

Fruta de la passion con cafe y menta
Passion fruit with coffee and mint flavors; the passion fruit shell was scooped out and the coffee inside (cold) flavored with the fruit and with a bit of mint.

Crema de cacahuetes
Each diner was presented with a plate of round peanut toasts and a travel-size tube of toothpaste labeled "El Bulli Snacks". Inside was the creamiest, most delicious peanut butter to be squeezed onto the toast to the diner's liking. For those who preferred crunch in their peanut butter, there was a small pile of crushed peanuts.

Timbal de chocolate con naranja y nibs
Chocolate-orange timbale. Served in a silver cup, the end of each thin timbale was dipped in orange-flavored chocolate.

Bizcocho al vapor con helado de cardamomo y menta
Steamed "biscuit" with cardamom ice cream. The biscuit had a lovely soft texture, and the ice cream was deeply flavored.

Chocolata con miel caramelizada
Chocolate with caramelised honey (described above)
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Old 04-30-2003, 12:20 AM
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This guy does some really outrageous stuff. I have read about him and wondered if eating at El Bulli would be like going to dinner, or participating in a science expirement. I heard that one time he spent a significant portion of his of time pumping or blowing (or combination) up tomatoes, convinced that this methond of flavor extraction would produce something different. Also his resume is really short, he apprenticed under some top chefs, but thats about it before El Bulli.

Chefs like Ferran Adria, are great to watch and learn from. Although I would not try to make his form of cuisine, the things his menus make me think about helps my creativity alot.
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