First up, here is an absolutely riveting documentary featuring Anthony Bourdain exploring the El Bulli restaurant near Barcelona. The restaurant, voted by Restaurant Magazine as the #1 restaurant in the world five times, is run by chef Ferran Adria, a pioneer in molecular gastronomy. There isn't much to the video below - Bourdain simply eats a meal at El Bulli and describes the dishes as they arrive. Yet this is seriously compelling. I'm nearly brought to tears by apple caviar.
While we're on molecular gastronomy, this gallery of plates from Alinea in Chicago is stunning. Similar to El Bulli, a meal at Alinea consists of dozens of small dishes, each served on a plate/bowl/etc designed by an architect for that particular course. Alinea is the creation of Grant Achatz, who was diagnosed with (of all things) mouth cancer in 2007. Imagine, the greatest chef in the United States got mouth cancer. The New Yorker wrote a fascinating profile of Achatz, focusing on his rise to gastronomic glory and his battle with cancer. I highly recommend reading it.
Finally, I ran across this instructional video from Gourmet Magazine (RIP) detailing the preparation of duck confit. It certainly looks doable at home, but also a bit involved for those of us with day jobs. Also, I don't know where I would get rendered duck fat. I suppose I could always render it myself. Regardless, it's a lot of fun to learn how this great dish is made.
Until next Thursday!
