Jenn GarbeeIf you've always wanted to dine at El Bulli, no doubt you already know your Ferran Adrià days are numbered (though the restaurant is now reportedly closing in 2012 rather than this fall). But you can always buy the 500+ page hardcover cookbook by Adrià, brother Albert Adrià, and restaurant manager Juli Soler, and make that deshielo (“thaw”) and its six component recipes: a green pine cone infusion; frozen green pine cone powder; wild pine nut “milk” and a sorbet; toasted wild pine nut-olive oil praline; and a garnish made from the praline, more pine nuts, and liquid nitrogen (complete with a warning that “liquid nitrogen should not be handled without training in how to use it safely”). Right.
There's always the new soft cover edition of A Day At El Bulli, released this summer for a ten-spot less than the original. Think of it as the Ferran Adrià play-by-play with astounding photos to match, all at the restaurant's Happy Hour price. As the book is literally laid out by the minute — the 11:10 a.m. staff espresso, the 5:40 p.m. soya “spaghettini” preparation (the “dough” is released through a syringe), the 8 p.m. margarita frappe cocktail with salt “air” served in a cube of ice — the discount edition is really all you need (fine, a trip to El Bulli would be better, but who can afford that?). The few recipes that are included feel more like a party favor, a kind gesture but not something you'll ever really use. And so like the book, which is essentially a photo album, we'll focus on the hundreds of visuals instead. Get more photos, including that pine cone/pine nut “thaw,” after the jump.
Kitchen Staff Meeting, 2:35 P.M.; Credit: Maribel Ruiz de Erenchun
The “Thaw”; Credit: Francesc Guillamet
Making Freeze-dried Pistachios; Credit: Maribel Ruiz de Erenchun
What Happens Midway Into 1500 Dishes Over 5 Hours, 9:30 P.M.; Credit: Maribel Ruiz de Erenchun
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