Posts Tagged Harold McGee

This blog – Cooking Issues – by chefs of the French Culinary Institute of America is 100% food for thought. I am very taken back by the onslaught of the quest for perfection and knowledge in cooking now. I recently got the new edition of  On Food and Cooking:  The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee and I am finding myself unable to stop flipping though this collection of all the whys of cooking and food.

I think this exciting wave of energy was started by the chefs in Basque and Catalonia (of course, I have to say Ferran Adria is a key in this). Even if the techniques discussed are traditional, the science and testing is new. Where else can one find a topic on fish killing by spinal cord destruction and fish anesthesia? And a detailed description on the Japanese art of killing fish.

Last week we went to The Royal Mail. Dan Hunter, head chef, worked in Mugaritz for 2 years before starting at Royal Mail. There is definitely some of the wildness in creativity but it is used spariingly. His food now is based showing the best and freshness of ingredients. The food is at times simple and allows customers to experience what a pea really should taste like. Some Japanese influences in flavours too. Many of the vegetables are grown on site or picked from the wild.

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