MADRID LAB

So this week the famous Ibericón has been finished and here is the photo, for those of you who have not been reading this site first of all……. Shame on you! Second, a small explanation will be needed.

Ibericón is basically the best fresh cut from the Iberico pig (with the black feet and what they make the world famous Jamón from), which is not available in any other country except Spain. The cut is called Presa Iberica, and think of Kobe beef! This cut is very highly marbled and a very caramel flavour to the fat as the pig has only been eating sweet acorns. It is also customary to eat this cut medium rare.

Ok, so we have the Presa Iberica…………….. Now we add the king of all meats, BACON! But of course this is not ordinary bacon! It is a fresh belly which I paint with a mix of sweet soy sauce and Chinese 5 spice and allow it to air-dry in a walk in chiller for about 2 days. Then it gets cooked in it’s own juices at a very low temp for 10 hours in a water bath.

Take these 2 ingredients then fuse (glue) them together to make the new meat we now call Ibericón.

A long time ago before I knew anything about Spherification I used to improvise with a technique using agar. So I decided for old time sake to do a small test using this same technique, this is not going to be used for the restaurant! So basically we were having some Spanish Lentils with Chorizo for lunch and the jus was very tasty. So I took a small part and also some lentils and pureed the mix, added some agar then boiled it.

The technique of dripping a mix containing agar into a container of oil which has been in the freezer was told to me by a Danish friend of mine. The idea is the oil can hold the very low temperature and is dense enough that the agar slowly falls and sets before it reaches the bottom. It is a very curious technique that had many applications before but now with the advances we have made in Spherification and other such techniques it has been put on the shelf as there are many other better and more precise ways to do things.

After this photo was taken I figured out a way to drip the mix from a little higher to make the mix form into flat little discs which looked exactly the same as the form of a lentil.

I did the story on Friday about reforming oysters, but I don’t think I went into the combination of Oysters and cucumber or the natural foaming of cucumber in depth enough.

So to start from the beginning, we all know that there is a very particular flavor of Iodine within shellfish, and oysters are definitely the most obvious. When you juice a cucumber the flavors are much stronger due to the absorption into your sensors and if you juice it at a low enough temperature you do not loose any of the volatile molecules so you get the full aroma as well. When you taste this juice there is an unmistakable taste of Iodine, so with the presence of iodine in the 2 components they are a perfect fit (although this is not always the case).

So to strengthen the link between the 2 I wanted to make a foam of Cucumber so it is more the aroma you are getting from the cucumber and the taste from the oyster. This way it can be balanced perfectly without loosing one of the flavors. So something that I discovered (and later realized when I searched the Internet that it has been done before) is that cucumber will naturally foam and hold the air for a very significant period of time. But the thing is you cannot foam it too many times and it has to be very cold to work best. I use food additives in my cooking all the time but when I discover a way to do something naturally it is always so much more rewarding as it is something already within the product waiting to be discovered.

If I told you that it was possible to totally puree oysters then reform them would you believe me?

Well last week I found a technique to do just that! I am not sure if it is a technique which has been done before but it is something that actually happened by accident and only through an observation. It is pure oyster and when exposed to a certain very low temperature it reforms and makes the texture of a baked custard or creme brulee. But it is the mouth feel and flavor that is so much affected. Every person to taste it so far has commented on the full mouth flavor of oyster with more obvious flavors of Zinc (which oysters are high in). The flavor lingers in every part of your mouth for about 5 minutes after you have eaten it.

I put cucumber as it has a very distinct iodine flavor which perfectly pairs with the oyster, I decided to do it in the form of a natural (additive free) Air as this will lift the aroma into your nose first so it doesn’t get lost behind the oyster. Then I have taken a bit of a Japanese angle; Japanese Pepper leaf, Pink pickled ginger, Mirin, Fried peanuts (to also give texture), Yuzu, szechuan pepper oil and black pepper.

So the Famous sandwich was finished this week.

It holds a great deal of sentiment as it represents a chapter in my life when I was living in London, plus it has taken 3 years to get to a stage where I could serve it in the restaurant. I had a pain in the ass stalker attack me about this dish about 2 months ago and it is with pride that I say that it has been served  to the top Gourmet of Spain (and friend to most of the best Chefs in the world) and also a very tough critic and they both gave it outstanding reviews.

It is very honest and using very basic techniques, the trick is in the balance, proportion and execution. I wanted it to bring back memories of the worlds best Sandwich……… Bacon, Tomato, Avocado and mayonnaise! The objective has been achieved.

The bread crisps are only 1.5mm thick but 10×4cm is size, this is a very delicate job to coat with the best Spanish Extra virgin olive oil and sea salt then baked until golden and crispy between 2 heavy baking trays. The avocado is seasoned with Jamón Iberico (La Pata Negra) fat and points of Tomato reduction. The trick of this dish is in the heavy flavors but light presentation (using vienetta ice cream as the inspiration), so something that seems big is actually very little in weight. To top it off I made a “Hellmans” mayonnaise sorbet and a green tomato pulp (as the acid will cut through all the heavy fats) but unfortunately for this photo I could not get any green tomatoes:-(

There you have it……… My homage to the Sandwich I ate on the way to work every morning for a year and a half when I was living in London!

Figurative progressive cuisine is still one of my favorite forms of cooking (one of the best Chefs in the world for this style of cuisine is a friend of mine named Paul Pairet). It can show a great sense of humor in a dish from the moment it is put in front of the guest. It also gives you a pre-conceived notion of what it’s going to taste like, and this is generally where the biggest surprises come from…………. When you are anticipating one thing and you get another.

So today I finished the ‘Watermelon “Tuna Sashimi”‘, which is basically as figurative as you can get, it is the classic stereotypical slice of watermelon you would imagine every time you think of watermelon. But what you see and what you taste are light years apart! It has been vacuum infused with many products normally associated with tuna and/or Sashimi in general. As it has had all the air removed it is dense and flexible like raw tuna and even the exact same color. So before you even put it in your mouth you are totally confused as your eyes are telling you it is watermelon but your common sense is telling you it must be tuna as watermelon will break if you bend it. The moment you put it between your teeth you realize it is watermelon for sure as it has that characteristic crunch, but still you are confused as it now tastes like tuna and even has the background flavor of Wasabi…………….. But you don’t eat watermelon with wasabi! The fake seeds are basically a soy fluid gel and the Peel is a combination of nori seaweed and wasabi mixed with Koopi mayonnaise. To highlight the tuna flavors some points of sesame oil and maldon sea salt have been used.

So the humble watermelon is not so humble after all

Sometimes you can search for a new technique in food for what seems like forever, other times you can be lucky enough to discover something by pure accident. When I say accident I take a little bit of the process away, it mostly happens from observing ever possible element and process.

This case is no exception, I was processing raw purple cabbage when I discovered a very starchy texture. Upon investigation I discovered how to extract this and utilize it as I would any other starch. So far I have achieved a paper thin galletta (biscuit) which has a lace like pattern, a Turkish delight with Coca Cola and the purple cabbage starch and a way to thicken sauces at low temperature. As I have not finished perfecting this technique I am not going to give away the “How” yet, Sorry!

For me this is one of the most rewarding things to be taken from our profession, when you truly understand the natural elements of food and how to best use or extract them, which is another strong point of Highlighting the strengths and overcoming the weaknesses of every ingredient.

One of the biggest mistakes made by Chefs is in the cookery of Fish. For example when I was working in Dubai the first time I asked the Chefs of my new kitchen “How do you know when fish is cooked?” They simply responded with “when the white stuff starts coming out”!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyone who knows anything about fish knows that when the white protein starts leaking out it means basically you need to start again as it is overcooked. When eating out I very rarely order fish as I find 9 times out of 10 it is brutally overcooked. But what takes the cake is an opinion I heard just recently…………….. “Don’t you love it when you cook the fish and it twists, it’s amazing”.

With everything in cooking we are only just really starting to understand the differences in temperatures which different types of ingredients need. Gone are the days where a Chef would boil all vegetables just because they are “Vegetables” or cook all fish the same as they are all “Fish”. Basically to get a perfectly cooked piece of fish without breaking any of the cells or loosing excessive amounts of juices, it is best to cook it sous vide until the desired temperature then pan sear it from cold to activate the Maillard reaction and give the correct flavor. What core temperature do you need to achieve and how hot should the water bath be? This will greatly vary depending on the type and even the region the fish has come from as the density of the flesh will change with the temperature of the water it has come from. Pictured above is how I am cooking the fish here in Madrid, obviously I am doing this in my Lab but for the restaurant I am setting a time and a temperature based on an average of all of the testing I have conducted on each type of fish. Even when we talk about the searing of fish, this has to be done with love and careful attention as well. Here there are many variables that have to be taken into consideration; the temperature of the pan (Too hot will scorch the fish and make it dry on the surface, too cold will make it stew and loose too much moisture), which kind of fat to use, how much fat to use (too much will fry the fish whereas too little will give an uneven heat transfer), etc, etc. It is a big topic to cover in 500 words but the moral of the story is: Imagine different items of food are like people, you can’t treat them all the same and expect to get the best out of each one.

Good cooking is about consistancy, I laugh when I hear Chefs say “I will never use Sous Vide or exact recipes, I cook with feeling and instinct and these things take the personality out of cooking”. In actual fact the only persons feelings and instinct people pay to taste is the Chef of the restaurant who has his name on the front door, it is up to him to perfect his recipes to the level that every Chef in the kitchen can replicate it the same every time.

A product very rarely used in Australia is the wood from Grape vines, in fact we do not have much of a food smoking culture in general. Working with European Chefs in my more junior cooking years gave me a basic understanding of the smoking techniques, but it wasn’t until I left Australia 8 years ago that I really built on this knowledge.

For every product you want to smoke you need to choose the most suitable smoking medium. The choices are endless!!! 2 Of my personnel favorites are eucalyptus leaves for smoking Kangaroo and Monte Cristo #4 cigars for smoking aged venison loins. But as a general all round smoke nothing beats grape vine, any grape vine will do but we choose to use the vines from Rioja which are much stronger in flavor. In the south of France, Italy and most regions of Spain this is a strong part of the food culture when cooking outdoors.

For the best results put the piece of wood in the oven at about 250 degrees celcius for 30 minutes. Remove, then immediately flame with a blow torch until on fire. Extinguish by placing into a gastronom and cover to remove oxygen, place your item of food inside and leave for desired amount of time.

Something you should try is smoking low temperature eggs (64.5 degrees) through the shell then infusing an olive oil with the same burnt wood for 24 hours.

I am going away until the 16th of June to Bali on a Rest/Research trip.

When I return I will have many tales of my discoveries, so keep reading to learn more.

While working with some fresh coconuts I discovered a way of making it taste and feel like white chocolate. Basically I extracted the pure fat from the coconut and put it through a series of temperature changes to alter the structure when it reset. What I ended up with is a disc which looks and feels like White chocolate, but has more the crunch of bitter chocolate and taste of coconut. The interesting points are; It is stable at room temperature, Nothing has been added and the flavour takes a while to develop in your mouth as when you it warms up and releases the flavour.

So I made a “Snack”, which is a deconstructed Laksa soup. It’s the perfect 1 bite Laksa soup!

The most stereotypical thing to do when sitting in the many Plazas around Spain is to drink a jug of Sangria with your friends in the sun. I must admit this is nice but it has also been hijacked by the scores of tourists to the point that you look like a tourist in your own city if you drink sangria. The funny thing for me is; in Australia and England it is very common to drink Pimms in the summertime (as it is so refreshing), but Spain does not know about Pimms! It is just across a very small ocean!

So I am taking it apon myself to introduce the Spainish to this summer drink. To make it fit in with the “Progressive” style of restaurant we have, I have texturized the Cocktail with a little Xanthan and suspended the normal garnish inside. The trick to this drink is keep it very cold! So I keep the liquid mix at zero, Freeze the glass and shock freeze the garnish in liquid nitrogen (which actually helps to sprinkle it inside more randomly).

Let’s see if we can’t start a trend here in Spain just in time for summer.

Whenever you receive a product live it’s always an exciting feeling. This is the ultimate sign of freshness! There are a very particular type of Prawns here in Spain called Camerones, they have a very sweet flesh and a slight crunch between your teeth. I entered the walk in chiller this morning and I heard a tapping, I thought it may be the fridge so I continued to collect my samples for the day. As I was going up in the elevator I heard it again and actually saw the bag of prawns move. I ended up spending half of the day trying to work out the best dish to create to do them justice. I found some good ways but nothing fantastic yet as the problem is they are just so good when you blanch them for 3 seconds and eat them immediately.

This theory is the simplest way to define all cooking without any other of the 100 or so definitions that exist. Since I adopted this theory I have always tormented myself to really figure out if a dish or technique is my idea or if I saw it somewhere else and didn`t remember. The theory is: if it has been already done but you change; the flavour profile, the appearance, temperature Etc. This is Interpretation and does not truly belong to you, we see many examples of this these days and hear of many wild claims of ownership with no merit or honesty. Some of the most beautiful food in the world has been interpreted and there is not shame in this as there are many classics we all know and love, all traditional restaurants of the world fit into this category and it is down to the skill of the Chef to replicate precisely (but generally it goes all wrong when they try to come with a funky idea and loose touch with the true spirit of the dish). The second theory is Creation where you take a new idea and usually a new technique which you have discovered through trial and error (more error than success) until it becomes a new dish or technical discovery that you can claim as yours and sleep soundly at night. Here in Madrid I am in charge of the lab of Paco Roncero and we are also working with Ferran Adria, we pump a lot of money and time into the lab as we are a 100% cost generating department who’s sole purpose is to make new technical discoveries and then new dishes. Granted not everyone has the funds and resources to have a laboratory and full staff to run it, but you can still be true to food and yourself in your own kitchen.In summary the world needs the 2 types of Cuisine as you do not want to eat a discovery meal every day and also it would be a crying shame if you could not eat dishes such as a true Creme brulee because everyone has add there own Flair and flavours to it and the dish is lost.

There always has to be a certain level of humor in food, be it tongue in cheek or just outright funny it needs to be there in certain parts of the meal. The job of a Chef is a very serious one, but this doesn’t mean that the plates he or She produces have to always be serious. The Guestscome to your restaurant to have a good time, there is nothing better as a Chef than walking through your restaurant and hearing guests openly laughing when a plate is presented and they are surprised, there is nothing worse for me than eating in a serious restaurant where the ambiance is too tense to have a good time. An example of this which I have developed here in Madrid is a savory deconstructed Tomato mozzarella salad Which is served just before the main course to clean the palette and lighten the meal. This first salad is basically 2 balls; The first one has a white skin of mozzarella and cold liquid tomato on the inside, the second has a red tomato skin and a warm liquid mozzarella inside. After the main course I serve a 1 bite dish with all the same flavours but sweet including a crystalized pure Ketchup cone and sweet mozzarella mousse.

I have been wanting to do a replication of a Zen rock garden for a long time but was not able to achive the right effect. I have now discovered a technique using a Gum and Liquid Nitrogen, this coupled with Mycryo (cocoa butter from Cacao Barry) gives a result which looks like small stones or Even potatoes but contain liquid on the inside. This is another version of Fruit salad! the powder which I rake depending on my mood is Yoghurt with Dextrose. There are 2 different versions pictured

As a Chef temperatures are critical, and don’t just think this is only applicable for the kitchen this also extends to the bar after work for that first glass of Champagne or beer. Generally your first beer of the night is always guaranteed to taste pretty damn good but I have discovered the perfect temperature to serve beer. I was in a bar in Bali in the middle of a hot day so I ordered a beer, when I drank just the neck of the beer I proclaimed that it was the best beer of my life! Now this is no easy feat I have had the finest beers from around the world in some very exotic settings and this was only a corona but by far the best. I glanced over to the fridge designed solely for the beer and it was set on -6 degrees celsius, the thing with beer is if it is too cold than it looses its carbonation and too warm, just tastes bad. So this bar found the exact degree point not to loose any gas and serve the best beer in the world, how easy it is to make an impact when you know your product and how to treat it.

There are some flavor combinations that exist which go so well together and sometimes you can break your head to make a technical dish with the same flavors that tastes as good as the original. listed below are some perfectly matched flavors which exist today;

• Strawberries and cream
• Licorice and lime
• Tomato, mozzarella and basil
• Dulce leche, green apples and olive oil
• Bitter Chocolate and Foie gras
• Miso, burnt butter and Salmon
• Balsamic vinegar and strawberries
• Lime and coconut
• Goats cheese, figs, port and rosemary
• Tomato, passion fruit and caramel
• And my personal favorite Whiskey on Ice

So basically this week I have been exploring one of my favorites, a variation on a pear crumble and how I love to eat blue cheese from a cheese board which was a Caramelized pear, blue cheese, walnuts, rosemary and custard. So I pan roasted the halved and cored pears in a burnt butter which was infused with aromatics, then added demera sugar and some fresh whole butter to make a strong caramel. I then made a Ball of liquid custard (using spherification) and put this in the place where the core used to be and closed the pear using the caramel to stick together. The top of the pear is a rosemary stalk, I then dipped it into liquid nitrogen and then into Bitter chocolate and defrosted it. I served this with a sorbet (blue cheese, honey and rosemary), some walnut sable crust, a walnut and toffee praline and caramelized walnuts. End result was the exact flavor profile that I wanted (and brought back all the right memories) and a good balance of textures.

Many people really don´t know what a nut looks like in its raw form, or even in some cases not even know what the shell of the nut looks like There is such an interesting experience in tasting the nuts in there soft state as the texture is obviously different and so is the taste. They are all truely unique in one way or another; the walnut is soft but incredibly bitter, the almond has a very strong purfume which is almost synthetic in taste, hazelnut is crunchy like a pear, Etc. But the award for the most effort for the Smallest yield goes to the Pinenut (for those of you who don´t know it comes from the green pinecone) as when I was up in El Bulli last time it took 25 Chefs 30 minutes to produce 2 shot glasses full of pinenuts and belive me being 1 of the Chefs removing the kernals with them it is hard work! But the effort is worth it as pinenuts in there raw form are a real treat, they are translucent and springy on the tooth. I recommend you try and find what available fresh nuts you have in your cities as they are a very underutilized resource that can add that unique point of difference to a dish.

More than a year ago I created a new meat called Ibericon, in short it is Pressa Iberica (A very highly marbled part of the neck of a black Spanish pig which only eats Acorns) and a very low temperature bacon which gets “Glued” together. Here in Spain it was not my biggest success as they do not believe in eating Bacon in a Michelin star restaurant, they have the belief that its a cheap breakfast item. I personally love to use it in certain places as in small doses it has such a particular flavour that lends itself to many things. So me being stubborn I stopped all testing on this plate as I refused to change it.

That is until now, after being in Singapore a few weeks ago I have now regained my Asian taste buds. So I was thinking to change the bacon for a fresh Pork belly which was scalded then painted with a mix of Chinese 5 spice and sweet soy. I air dried this for 3 days then cooked it at a very low temp to keep it tender then blasted it for the last moments of cooking to burn the marinade (as the bitter balances the fat).

To cut a long story short, I then did the same process with sticking the Pressa Iberica and cooking the whole thing in Vacuum. I had some of my teriyaki sauce in the fridge which I have been ageing for about a year now, so I laquored the meat and I must admit it is far superior than the version I did a year ago. This was then confirmed by my Spanish colleagues. Finally Ibericon might make it’s well deserved debut in Spain.

I started work today on an oyster “Cocktail plate” which I will write about at a later date. I needed the oyster flavour without anything else but in a sauce so the flavour hits you immediately before you have even chewed the oyster. So what better than pure oyster with the second water (the first water is when you just open the oyster which is usually more salty and dirty, when you cut the oyster out of the shell and leave it the second water comes when it relaxes). When I pureed the 2 elements together it made a cream which is not the discovery, but as the mix settled it started to reform and coagulate. This is useful as it is not necessary to add any gums or stabilizer’s, which I prefer as gums tend to take out a percentage of the fresh taste. Stay tuned for the Cocktail plate which will be finished by next week.

In Australia we have a beetroot called a “Target Beet”, it basically looks like a target board. I have been searching for this product here in Spain for about a year with no luck. So I decided to make my own luck with a sweet version.

The picture you see is NOT FINISHED! But basically it is vanilla, beetroot, rose and raspberry. I am now working on the temperature and viscosity to achieve layers which are uniform and equal in texture, plus the next trial will be aerated so you can cut through with a spoon and taste every layer.

The beauty of living in a free world is that we can choose to do or not to do something. So why is it that people still feel the need to post stupid or abusive comments on blogs when they can simply choose not to continue reading?

I say this out of frustration as I have tried many times to get my friends who are some of the best Chefs in the world with a wealth of knowledge to send me some stories which I will post under their name. The answer is always the same ” we don’t want to do it as there are so many people out there who find it entertaining to comment on things they know nothing about in an abusive way”. I used to say this was untrue and try to convince them otherwise, but as the time goes on I have spoken to more of my friends with Blogs and I realize that this is happening everywhere. Why do people find it necessary to abuse others who are giving something for free? I am sorry for writing this negative post but I too have a Blog stalker and it’s just getting boring to keep deleting the stupid comments every morning. If you are bored, please GET A HOBBY!

As I am working on a “Flavor Profiling” graph, I always find it interesting to find 2 flavours which just work together so well. All of my life I used to hate papaya as it has a very distinct and almost dirty flavor, that is until my friend in Bali introduced me to the idea of adding fresh limes. I was reminded of this last week in Singapore where I was eating 2 plates per morning. The more lime you add the better, the papaya cancels out the acid from the lime and the lime cancels the dirty flavor. All of this while still being perfectly balanced, you can taste the characteristics of both of the fruits. This only works with Tahitian style limes as I tried the same with the local “Calamansi” lime and it was awful.

While working on a corporate consultancy project I created an interesting little tapa. One of the most famous tapas in Spain is the Croquetta de Jámon, which is basically deep fried bechamel with Jamon. You can buy these in pretty much every tapas bar and quality is judged by how fluid it is on the inside without breaking the outer layer of bread crumbs.

So basically this started out as a joke, I was trying to combine the exact flavour of a hot-dog inside of a croquetta using proper hot dog sausages and all the trimmings (complete with ketchup and mustard). To finish the total hot-dog experience I used hot dog buns as the crumbs for the outside as they have such a particular taste and also some crispy Asian style fried onions. But of course an essential touch for the hot-dog is squeezing the ketchup and mustard on the top (which always touches your top lip first which you have to lick off), so for this I texturized both ketchup and Mustard to the exact same viscosity and put it in a tube so it can be squeezed out like toothpaste making a perfect line with half of each in the same line.

Success! The perfect hotdog inside of a croquetta, not be be eaten at a ball game as they are dangerously fluid

Many years ago when I was living in London I used to have a morning ritual on my way to work, I would buy a Bacon, Tomato and Avocado sandwich (everyday) from Pret a Manger. I think you will agree with me that it is probably the worlds most consensually liked sandwich (unless you are a vegetarian). The only way to make it better is to add some grilled chicken!

Whenever creating a new plate I always like to try and have a story attached to it as this makes me believe in it more and also you tend to try harder in making it better than the already fond memory.

In this case I have been working for about 3 years on this plate with no success so far, today is the closest I have come to happy. I believe that avocado tastes better when it is light, so I remembered a dessert named Viennetta from when I was a child. This form would suit the idea perfectly! So I shaved the avocado into very long thin ribbons the width of the croutons, this was layered with Jamón Iberico de Jábugo (some of the best Spanish ham), this held the perfect wavy form required. For the bread I used a seeded soy loaf as it has to be paper thin while still having a very distinct bread flavour, the reason for being cut at 1.5mm thick is so when the guest breaks through the bread it doesn’t compress and crush the avocado. The bread was then pressed between 2 baking trays and baked at 170 degrees for 13 minutes. To cut through some of the fat in the dish I used a combination of green and red tomato pulp. And of course this sandwich would not be complete without mayonnaise, for this I made a sorbet (this is a cold dish and by serving a sorbet it gives the illusion of a higher temperature), it is a combination of Greek yogurt and mayonnaise with plenty of extra virgin olive oil. An interesting discovery that came from this was that when I put the sorbet into the pacojet it held so much air from the stabilizers that it was like a sorbet mousse.

While living in Shanghai I was introduced to a wondrous texture in an animal I had never eaten………….. A Bullfrog! I have eaten frog many many times in my life, but his relative the Bullfrog does not even come close to the same. The good and bad point about using bullfrogs in Asia is that they come live, and in order to use them you have to kill them. Normally this should not be a problem for a Chef, but my first time 3 years ago I felt a little ill as I used to keep frogs as pets. Now its not difficult but still a little disturbing, without being too graphic, you need to separate the head from the body with scissors. While in Singapore last week our host hotel ordered some live Bullfrogs so I could prepare and eat them again, plus I taught them how to prepare them, in the 2 pictures above you will see the wet version is a French/Chinese fusion and the second is Wok fried, its not a restaurant dish but very good to eat.

The meat doesn’t really taste like much at all, the real beauty of the bullfrog is in the texture. It has small fillets that separate (like fish) with a very gelatinous texture in between, it needs to be cooked fast and very carefully as it it goes too far then you loose the gelatin. With the weakness being lack of flavour you need to compensate with a very strong sauce or aromatics in the cooking process.

For anyone travelling or living in Asia it is a definite must eat!

I got back 1 week ago from Singapore where I spent 10 days participating in the World Gourmet summit. But it was a bit of a different role…………. I was translating (Spanish-English) and assisting Alfonso, The Head Chef of Paco’s Tapas Bar Estado Puro. So we were preparing some new versions of classic Spanish tapas. These kinds of Chef gatherings are always good as I can meet with my friends from all over the world who are coming to present. Unfortunately as we were preparing dinner every night in the Sentosa Resort we did not get a chance to go to the other restaurants to see what our other Spanish friends were preparing during this week. The other Spanish Chefs we went with were Oriol Balaguer (one of the best Pastry Chefs in the world), David Muñoz (Chef owner of Madrid’s hardest table to book), Sergi Arola (2 Star Michelin) and of course Alfonso Castellano. But of course it wasn’t all work, we had many great lunches (and drinks) together.

I always love to visit Singapore as it is such a dynamic city with so much to offer, during this week I will be writing many stories of things I had forgotten about since my time living in Shanghai. I have a very special place in my heart for Asia so I will try to share some of the more unique things with you.

About 6 months ago Paco handed me a catalogue from Míele and asked me to choose whatever I wanted for a new Lab which Míele (http://www.miele.es/es/electrodomesticos/productos/gama_de_coccion.htm) would be sponsoring. Every Chef dreams of a new Kitchen, so obviously I was thrilled. I made a new design as well and basically tried to squeeze in every practical machine possible. Keeping in mind we have a reasonably compact space the priority was also to make sufficient work space as the last kitchen was short. The island bench in the middle is amazing as 1st it houses all of my personal small tools and knives and second it is a bench which is a pleasure to work on.

So to “Cut a short story Long”, I now have some equipment which is designed for top of the range home kitchens but to tell you the truth the features beat most machines in professional kitchens. I now have: Pressure steamer (capable of 120 degree steam), Oven with Steam (steams from 1 degree to 100 degrees, plus an oven), Microwave (normal), Oven (Steam injection feature, Wireless temperature probe, 300 programmableprograms), Plate warmer (which also has a food warming function), Induction (with a very powerful 2 stage booster function), Wok induction, HUGE Fridge/Freezer (with LED lights in every shelf), Mobile Tepan plancha, etc, etc!

Who could be anything but be inspired in a kitchen like this? Thanks Míele!

It has been at least a month since my last story……………….. Many things have been happening here in Madrid and out of Madrid.

While trying to transfer hosts I lost all of my data from this Blog, so basically after many many hours of searching google cache I found about a third of my work (as you can see all stories before this one have the same date. So I can look at this as a total disaster or a chance to start fresh and maybe even tell some of the same stories but now more updated with what I am doing today, I chose the later more positive option.

My new Lab has also just been finished (which I will write a story about) and I have also recently been to the World Gourmet Summit in Singapore. So many many stories to tell, Keep reading!