Introduction

This is my second blog of its kind, an attempt to replicate the recipes of one of the world's greatest chef's, Ferran Adria. Those of you who follow me will know that I also run White Heat - The Recipes, dedicated to the re-mastered version of Marco Pierre White's debut book, a fellow three star chef of his time.

So why two blogs? Well, why not? I have these wonderful books in my possession and the time on my hands to have a go at some recipes that make me think a great deal and present challenges I've never faced before with ingredients I'm completely unfamiliar with. Ferran Adria's book 'A Day at El Bulli' contains both challenging recipes and mind boggling ingredients.

Flicking through the book you get a real sense of what El Bulli was. Beautiful in its position in the small town of Roses on the Costa Brava sitting in a small cove looking more like a holiday villa than a centre for some of the worlds most forward thinking cuisine. The daily routine of the team at El Bulli is captured in stunning photographic detail, from the clearing of the drive ready for the guests arrival to the kitchen in the full flow of a busy service.

Am I a chef with training and experience in this field before? No, in short. I have no experience of combining Sodium Alginate to a Calcium solution to wrap an olive within itself or any other wacky techniques that are shown in this book. Why take up the challenge? Because it is exactly that, a challenge, preparing to transform my kitchen into a science lab excites me as much as it sets the nerves on edge, cooking is about taking risks, so they say.

So, gathering up my syringes and medicine spoon's its off to the kitchen for the first of many day's at El Bulli....

Now located at www.artisantraveller.com