Anarchy

Anarquía
El Celler de Can Roca
Cocinero: Jordi Roca
País: España
Localidad: 17007 Girona (Barcelona)
Dirección: Ctra. Taiala, 40
(+34) 972222157

Jordi Roca is, alongside Martín Berasategui, the finest pâtissier in Spain. By a large margin. They are simply on another level entirely. They are the only ones who, year after year, confirm their excellence, even capable of surpassing themselves in the process. We all know of the line that he began with the perfumes, starting a trend that still continues today. We all know of the numerous consecrated dishes, among which we must mention one: the Havana cigar. We all know what runs in his veins. The foie gras turrón with soy, a daring creation, even provocative, is a perfect testimony to the symbiosis between sweet and savory. Brilliance has a name with this next dish: Anarchy. It constitutes the final perfection of an anterior version. In both cases, Jordi has audaciously demonstrated his own chaos theory, a chaos theory converted into a trend, like the perfumes, in his desserts, with which he demystifies the first rule of beauty: sapid immaculateness. Both the foie gras turrón with soy as well as the new version of anarchy liven up the orgiastic feast. They share flavor, utterly flavorful, irreverently and brilliantly combining the flavors, countless flavors, countless perfumes and textures and colors. “Anything goes if it heightens the pleasure”, seems to be the mantra here. In this case the orgy is more than justified.



La Receta



Ingredients

Creams

  • Pepper, cinnamon, aniseed, juniper, cocoa, ginger, vanilla, Tonka bean.

Jellies

  • Orange blossom, Campari, passion fruit, coffee.

Sauce

  • Yoghurt, licorice, mint, basil, tarragon, fennel, saffron, eucalyptus, green tea.

Ice creams

  • Lychee, watermelon, melon.

Crisps

  • Raspberry, pistachio, caramel, white chocolate, strawberry.

Pastries

  • Puff pastry, sablé, macaroon, meringue, spice bread, pistachio financier.

Fresh

  • Apple, cherry tomato, carrot.


Melon with ham

Melón con Jamón
El Celler de Can Roca
Cocinero: Joan Roca
País: España
Localidad: 17007 Girona (Barcelona)
Dirección: Ctra. Taiala, 40
(+34) 972222157

The creative capacity of the Roca brothers together, Joan, Jordi and Josep, is something inarguable. As a testimony to this, it suffices to mention the sheer number of Best Artistic Dishes of the Year awarded to them in the last few years by this publication. Counting the two this year, they have already amassed ten, a number only surpassed by Martín Berasategui and, of course, Ferran Adrià at El Bulli.
The Melon with ham is really more of a dish of ham and pork with melon than the other way around. With regard to the pork ingredients, they are wisely expressed, each one boasting an unsurpassable conceptual and technical preparation. The jamón is served in slices, the Iberian consommé takes on the role of sauce and the pancetta is cooked at low temperature, browned on the grill just before serving and cut into crispy cubes that melt in your mouth. And if the central character of the pork is vital to the dish, the role of the melon is equally important. To such a degree that we aren’t sure if this should be ‘Ham with melon’ or ‘Melon with ham’. Perhaps the title “Melon and ham” is the most representative. The melon is artistically denaturalized in the scene, taking on a consistency with a fresh ice-blended element, though not cold, in the shape of a slice. A round slice of fruit that calls one’s attention, both visually and in terms of flavor, especially considering that the denaturalization does not affect the palate in any way: pure melon.



La Receta



Ingredients

  • Jamón de Jabugo (Iberian cured ham from Jabugo)
  • Melon
  • Rind
  • 100 g tarragon water
  • 100 g melon pulp
  • 20 g sugar
  • 2 g agar-agar
  • 2.5 gelatin sheets

Combine all the ingredients in a metal pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the previously soaked gelatin sheets. Move to another container and leave to cool until it solidifies. Blend to obtain a very fine puree.



Mussels with carrot juice and pimiento choricero powder

Mejillones con jugo de zanahoria y polvo de choriceros
Etxebarri
Cocinero: Víctor Arguinzóniz
País: España
Localidad: 48291 Atxondo. (Vizcaya)
Dirección: Plaza San Juan, 1
(+34) 946583042

Vittor Arginzoniz is a unique and unrepeatable character. A true genius that has revolutionized char-grilled cuisine. A contemporary artist of the embers. A visionary that has technocratically transformed the most primary of tools, restructuring the mediums themselves to achieve his goals. Inventing much of his own equipment, following his own path. In this case, he has created a large pot with a conical crater in the center where the flames of pine erupt though, perfuming the mussels through steam, mussels that only just open at which point they are removed and taken out of their shells. The small amount of juice that remains after the pinewood steaming process is mixed with a base of carrots, which is obtained by reducing the heat substantially for about a half hour, more or less, to give the liquefied juice its intensity. The iodide flavors of the shellfish intermingle with the sweetness of the carrot. The sapid complexity is an extension of the mussels, preserving all their character and oceanic qualities. The iodide and sweetness of the mussels are seasoned with an astringent touch: powdered pimiento choriceros (small red peppers from the region). An ingredient that goes to the greatest depths of Basque gastronomy, making this pepper a local standard. Essential, supernatural magic with a great deal of literary backing.



La Receta





Rock

Roca
Quique Dacosta Restaurante
Cocinero: Quique Dacosta
País: España
Localidad: 03700 Dénia (Alicante)
Dirección: Las Marinas, km. 3
(+34) 965784179

How many cooked dishes are capable of surpassing the natural magnificence of caviar in its pure form? After having eaten hundreds and hundreds, maybe over a thousand, I only remember one, fifteen years ago, at Alain Passard’s “Arpège”. It was the main ingredient in that particular dish. I also remember a brilliant dish of marrow with caviar, the latter only taking 50% of the stardom in the best of all possible cases for sturgeon eggs.
The same question can be asked about another universal delicacy: barnacles; probably the shellfish most preferred by the Spanish. The answer is similar. Martín Berasategui’s version of barnacles with peas comes to mind, or the sautéed barnacles of Josean Martínez Alija (Guggenheim), though this latter must be categorized as a much more profound homage to the percebeiros (the people who collect the barnacles). Infinitely oceanic, packing all the punch of the sea, with a natural purity and flavor… Barnacles in haute cuisine. Artistic barnacles that respect their intrinsic qualities 100%. Many years will pass before anything comes along to surpass this work of art, dedicated to barnacles and the Bay of Biscay by a Mediterranean born in Extremadura: Quique Dacosta. Paradoxes of life…
Let’s move on to the dish description: beautiful barnacles, seaweed (codium, cochayuyo and oysterleaf), barnacle air and jelly all under a frozen dome of shellfish adorned with tosaka seaweed and chondracanthus acicularis.



La Receta



Ingredients

Method
For the barnacles:

With fresh barnacles, choose them by size, if there is a large difference among the selection.
For each kilo of barnacles add 5 liters of seawater to a wide pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the barnacles and leave for a minute without allowing them to boil. Remove quickly and pass to a bath of ice and seawater.



Pipirrana-stuffed heirloom tomato, liquified beans and green tomatoes with raw shrimp

Pipirrana-stuffed heirloom tomato, liquified beans and green tomatoes with raw s
Calima
Cocinero: Dani García
País: España
Localidad: Marbella (Málaga)
Dirección: Gran Hotel Meliá Don Pepe. José Meliá, s/n.
952764252

Dani Garcia finds himself at the height of his professional career. 2008 was perhaps the year in which he created best and most, producing dishes with the highest intellectual and material level. Nearly twenty notable formulas sustained by two principles that have defined the work and path of this young chef: to take inspiration from traditional Andalusian recipes, reinventing them according to the canons of haute cuisine, applying the most recent avant-garde techniques, in this case liquid nitrogen, that he tirelessly studies in search of new applications. We stand before an eminent testimony to Andalusian technocracy in which the cultural roots and flavors are perfectly balanced and consummated with technological methods. It is, at the same time, characteristic of Dani’s work to magnify the mise en scène, the impact of the spectacular quality of his cuisine. There could be no more beautiful or colorful staging of his creations.
In a few words, the dish begins in the center with a cold liquified mixture of green tomatoes and green beans (these latter are blanched), perfumed with basil and ginger. Also in the center, the false tomato: a puree of pipirrana (tomato, onion and pepper salad) that appears coated with tomato jelly, taking on the shape of the fruit in question. Surrounding this is a scattering of raw Motril bay shrimp and pieces of raw beans.



La Receta



Pipirrana-stuffed heirloom tomato, liquified beans and green tomatoes with raw shrimp
Ingredients

Pipirrana:

  • Vine tomatoes 1.6 kg
  • Green pepper 150 g
  • Onion 75 g
  • Olive oil 150 dl
  • Sherry vinegar 20 dl
  • Salt

For the savory pipirrana meringue:

  • Powdered albumin 30 g
  • Gelatin 6 sheets
  • Liquified pipirrana: 1 liter

Tomato jelly:

  • Tomato water: 1/2 liter


Liquid escarole salad, buffalo cheese consommé, bread and anchovy shavings

Liquid escarole salad, buffalo cheese consommé, bread and anchovy shavings
Villa Crespi
Cocinero: Antonino Cannavacciuolo
País: Italia
Localidad: Orta San Giulio (No)
Dirección: Via G. Fava 18
(+39) 0322911902

A worthy preparation that captures all the spirit and history of chef Antonino Cannavacciuolo. The liquid escarole emulsion is poured over a bed of delicate, buttery buffalo cream cheese (burrata). The dish is then completed by a strip of breadcrumbs, pieces of anchovy and aromatic herbs: so simple yet with so much impact! It has everything to do with the ingredients, the perfumes and flavors wrought from the chef’s native region (Campagna), contrasted with reminiscences of the Mediterranean, represented by the Eugenio Pol bread (baker from Fobello, in the high valley of Sesia, at the foot of Monte Rosa in the Piedmont region). In short, it is a voyage from north to south made in a blink of the eyes… and mouth. Everything is a game based on balance: the creamy, unctuous qualities of the burrata, the acidity and freshness of the escarole, the intensity of the anchovies, the perfumes of the herbs and the mountain bread, with its crispiness and fragrance, evoking the rustic aromas and hearth fires of a mountain inn. Ingredients of a humble cuisine ennobled by the hands of the chef.



La Receta



Liquid escarole salad, buffalo cheese consommé, bread and anchovy shavings
Ingredients

For the liquid salad:

  • 1 head escarole lettuce
  • 1 dl extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt
  • Cooling water
  • Ascorbic acid (vitamin C)

For the buffalo cheese consommé (stracciatella):

  • 1 package buttery buffalo cheese (burrata)
  • 0.5 dl cream

For the bread shavings:

  • Fobello bread crumbs

For the anchovies:

  • 15 g desalted anchovies

For the aromatic herbs:

  • 1 sprig lemon thyme
  • 1 sprig savory
  • 1 sprig marjoram

Appliances needed:

Hand-held blender with hood

 

Method

For the liquid salad:

Cut and wash the lettuce. Boil for a couple of minutes in an abundant amount of water with salt and ascorbic acid (to keep the lettuce from oxidizing). Cool in ice water, strain and set the water used for cooling aside.

Blend the escarole with the cooling water, emulsifying it with an abundant amount of extra virgin olive oil and adjust the salt.

For the buffalo cheese consommé:

Remove the thin layer that surrounds the buffalo burrata cheese, only using the center.
Mix with the cream.

For the bread shavings:

Cut the Fobello bread and save the crumbs that come off in the process.

For the anchovies:

Remove the anchovies, rinse the salt off well and place in extra virgin olive oil.

For the aromatic herbs:

Remove the leaves from the sprigs, only using the smallest leaves.

Assembly:

With a spoon, spread the cheese consommé over a deep dish. Cover with the liquid salad, add the breadcrumbs, anchovies and aromatic herbs.



“Polenta concia” with mushrooms and Toma cheese fondue

Polenta concia con setas y fondue de queso Toma
Dolce Stil Novo
Cocinero: Alfredo Russo
País: Italia
Localidad: Turín
Dirección: Piazza della Repubblica, 4
(+39) 011 499 2343

An elegant and refined version of a classic Italian dish in the alpine Piedmont tradition. Alfredo Russo gives form, order and style to this preparation, rustic in origin and aspect: a mushroom cream topped with crispy pieces of truffle and mushroom, covered with a delicate fondue foam made from Toma di Lanzo cheese. A thin disc of polenta crowns the ensemble. The dish is served just warm to better appreciate not just its lightness but also the pure, precise flavor and aroma of the mushrooms as well as the textures, which are balanced with the polenta and the creaminess of the fondue. It is an accomplished example of revised tradition without betraying the principles or flavors of the original. One might even say it has been improved thanks to the excellent selection of ingredients, the quality of the preparations and the proportions used therein.



La Receta



“Polenta concia” with mushrooms and Toma cheese fondue
Ingredients

Ingredients for 4 servings:



Cabbage sushi with ginger foam and prawn ceviche

Sushi de Berza con Espuma de Jengibre y Ceviche de Gamba
Villa d´Amelia
Cocinero: Damiano Nigro
País: Italia
Localidad: 12050 Benevello (Cuneo)
Dirección: fraz. Manera
(+39)0173529225

An original interpretation of sushi by Damiano Nigro in which the roll of nori seaweed is served whole rather than sliced, and the rice and fish filling is substituted exclusively with cooked cabbage. The fish element (raw prawn in a light ceviche) is placed on top of the sushi, accompanied by a delicate ginger foam. To give the dish a certain rhythm and intensity, a drop of tamarind is added. Result: a pleasant creation in which the flavor of the prawn, only lightly touched by the bitterness, is dressed with the different textures of marine and earthly vegetables (nori seaweed and cabbage), along with the freshness of the ginger foam and tamarind, expressing all its aromatic intensity. Damiano had the brilliant and daring idea to combine techniques and materials from different continents in a single dish, with the cabbage (a humble vegetable) being the sole ingredient from Piedmont, perfectly integrated in this globally spirited creation.



La Receta



Ingredients

Cabbage:

Cut the cabbage delicately and sauté with butter, remembering to wet with white wine vinegar halfway through.
When it obtains a soft, supple texture, remove from heat and leave to cool.
Shape into small cylinders of 30 grams with the help of plastic wrap then wrap them in the nori seaweed.
Clean the prawns.
Use two cylinders per serving.
A drop of tamarind syrup.



My “cima alla genovese”

Mi “Cima a la Genovesa”
Trussardi Alla Scala
Cocinero: Luigi Taglienti
País: Italia
Localidad: 21121 Milano
Dirección: Piazza della Scala, 5
(+39) 02.80688201

A splendid deconstruction/reconstruction of a classic dish from Liguria (the region where the chef comes from). The “cima” is served practically broken down. Each one of its components are “reconstructed” in the dish according to the personal style of the chef, paying homage to his beloved Piedmont region in northern Italy. The distinct elements are arranged over a delicate cooked cream (panna cotta) with peas in such a way that the guest tastes, in different bites, the sweetbreads, the peas and the crunchy pine nuts, the quail egg, the chopped pieces of mortadella, the beef marrow and the rosy slices of beef as well as a subtle veil of green cream that gives consistency and body to the cima (the genius) of Luigi Taglienti.



La Receta



Ingredients

Ingredients for 4 servings:



Carpaccio de cepes con huevas de caracol y quinoa

Carpaccio de cepes con  huevas de caracol y quinoa
Mirazur
Cocinero: Mauro Colagreco
País: Francia
Localidad: 06550 Menton
Dirección: 30, Avenue Aristide Briand
(+33) 0492418686

Mauro Colagreco is one of the most imaginative chefs we have run across in recent years. Each dish he serves is bursting with one or several unprecedented ideas. The guest is left in a state of amazement by the daring concepts, unknown products, avant-garde techniques… all combined with the infinite talent that comes through every construction of this young chef who is well on his way to international culinary glory.



La Receta



Ingredients

Ingredients for 4 servings

  • Quinoa 200 g
  • Parmesan 16 flakes
  • Butter 5 g
  • Arugula 20 leaves
  • Porcini mushrooms 8 firm ones, medium sized
  • Yarrow 20 leaves
  • Escargot eggs 30 g
  • Chervil 2 bunches
  • Fleur de sel
  • Olive oil

Method

• Quinoa: Cook the quinoa in browned butter,
add the grated parmesan and cover with a ladle of
vegetable stock, top with a wax paper and leave to cook
over low heat, occasionally adding more stock until the quinoa is cooked.
• Green emulsion: clean and remove the stems from the chervil Meanwhile, bring
to a boil 20 cl of water with 30 g of butter.
Move to a mixer and add the boiling water with the butter
Continue mixing to obtain a homogenous, uniform mixture.
• Porcinis: cut into flakes 3 mm thick
• Herbs: wash all the herbs in fresh water with a few drops of
white wine vinegar. Drain well.
• Escargot eggs: mix the eggs in a small bowl with
a few drops of oil to separate them.

Plating

Place the quinoa in the center of the dish. Top with the porcini Carpaccio
giving it a certain volume and natural look.
Arrange the parmesan flakes, herbs and flowers, add
the escargot eggs and the chervil emulsion.
Dress with fleur de sel and olive oil.