Rock

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.