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Prologue by Ferran Adria

This document presents the relationships between cooking and science from Ferran Adrià's perspective. Adrià argues that although cooking uses new scientific techniques, its fundamental goal remains to preserve the original flavor of the ingredients. Furthermore, he highlights the work of the Alicia Foundation to promote culinary research and improve the nutrition of people with illnesses, and he recommends the book "Science with Good Taste" to explain scientific concepts in an accessible way.

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15 views4 pages

Prologue by Ferran Adria

This document presents the relationships between cooking and science from Ferran Adrià's perspective. Adrià argues that although cooking uses new scientific techniques, its fundamental goal remains to preserve the original flavor of the ingredients. Furthermore, he highlights the work of the Alicia Foundation to promote culinary research and improve the nutrition of people with illnesses, and he recommends the book "Science with Good Taste" to explain scientific concepts in an accessible way.

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PROLOGUE

I have always had a reverential respect for scientists.


Yes, many times those big words give me panic that sometimes ro-
to the kitchen as "molecular" or "techno-scientific". The chefs
we have always been and will continue to be basically craftsmen, but
Hello does not prevent us from recognizing that in all activities, even in the
Love, there is chemistry, which is nothing but a scientific discipline.
I sometimes give very basic examples. A car has not been
transformed so much from the eighties to the present, a period
in which technology has advanced a lot. But a car still
being a car. In the kitchen we have new techniques and ingredients,
but basically what we continue to do is cook and plate for
serve the dishes we cooked.
What is new is that gastronomy and science are increasingly walking together.
more hand in hand and they are no longer those disciplines whose paths diverge,
as it used to happen in the past. And some other great chefs talk about her
from the world, who are among my best friends, like the British
Heston Blumenthal or the French Pierre Gagnaire.

SCIENCE INTHE CASSEROLE 13


Gastronomic manifesto
The "23-point synthesis" that I presented last year at "Madrid Fusion"
I think it summed up my thoughts regarding the complex relationships in-
three cooking and science. Starting from the premise that new technologies are
support for the progress of gastronomy, it also pointed out that "even-
that the characteristics of the products are modified (temperature, texture,
form, etc.), the goal is to always preserve the purity of its original flavor.
Because, as I summarized in the final point: "knowledge and collaboration
with experts from different fields (gastronomic culture, history, design-
Industrial knowledge, science) is essential for our evolution.
Therefore, I believe that in these times of scientific expectation, what
we basically continue to cook, although we have been harassed
tumbled to the fact that we increasingly need more utensils. But it is convenient
I would like to remember that some of these supposed complex machines are
very elementary, like the siphon, a very useful device that must be used
to buy very simple things. For example, anyone can buy a
caramel ice cream, put it in the freezer overnight and, the next day,
fill a siphon. A quick and easy caramel mousse will come out. If you put
strange things in the siphon, the result will be more debatable, but the blame
it will always be of the cook, not of the machine.
The activity of the restorer consists of combining, with technique and ima-
gin, flavors, textures, aromas, and temperatures, to create formulas
supposedly unusual, as some may find croque-
liquid tasks, gelatins, deconstructions, and other recipes with ni-
liquid nitrogen. They are cutting-edge models, but from the point of view-
of scientific development, they do not turn out to be so different from the
brilliance that our ancestors invented and that has been useful
to feed so many generations.

Alicia Foundation
I have always been concerned about the relationship between cooking and science.
so much that is why I promoted the Alicia Foundation (Food and Science),
since we promote food research to alleviate the

14 Science in the Pot


effects of serious illnesses and we try to improve the food of the
people affected by certain ailments.
Alicia's Scientific Department is one of the real engines
foundation. Chemists and food technologists work at
next to the best chefs and university experts from different
fields to bring scientific knowledge closer to culinary practice,
fostering creativity and innovation. Apart from the programs of
specific research in collaboration with the restaurant teams
most prestigious rankings, this same year will start to appear in the
manuals developed expressly by the Department
Scientist to become tools to help cooks.
example, the Gastronomic-Scientific Lexicon, which unifies the rigor of the
science with a comprehensible language regarding the needs of
knowledge that professionals have about the products and the pro-
culinary origins. This lexicon will help to explain what a product is
to natural and what is not. Because artificial is not the same as bad, as it sometimes
they want us to believe.

Science with good taste


For more than four years, the seminar "Science with Good Taste"
from SEK-Ciudalcampo International School is working on the dissemination
scientific investigation of the phenomena involved in the cooking of the ali-
mentors among the Secondary Education students. The entire experience
now brought within reach of enthusiasts in this book, in the
that combine theoretical information, explained in a simple way
but rigorous, with other practical types so that tasks can be carried out
easily with the utensils available in any home kitchen.
On the following pages, you are invited to "take a tour of science"
in the pot" (somehow, to look a little inside a hollow-
fried), from the analysis of what the food is made of to the study
of the materials (they call it "laboratory utensils"), the peculiarities
scientific aspects of fish and meat, rice and pasta. And all the
information is entertaining and educational, like what surrounds the co-

Science in the Pot 15


scientific knowledge. I especially recommend that you read in detail
the contents of the recipes, as they are not limited to the formulas themselves,
but are filled with singularities and secrets that will interest,
to all the cooks.
I believe that for everything noted and many other things that you will discover
Throughout this work, what is called Food Technology does not make
to diminish the essence of the raw material even a little, and although our-
Behind kitchens can sometimes resemble the most complex laboratories.
and from them come gels, bubbles, and foams, we remain patient
alchemists in search of the quintessence of flavor.

Ferran Adrià
Chairman of the Department Council.
Ferran Adrià Chair of Gastronomic Culture
and Food Sciences.
Camilo José Cela University

16 SCIENCE INAPOT

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