Tuesday, Nov 17th, 2015
It’s been a busy past few weeks….but isn’t it always.
Seven weeks ago I was happy to participate in the Valrhona C3 competition held at the StarChefs Congress in Brooklyn.
“caramel cremeux coated in speculoos cookie butter, dipped in chocolate, rolled in gold”
Four weeks ago I had a Chef de Cuisine from a Michelin 2 Star restaurant stage with me in pastry because he wanted to see how I work and create in my little restaurant-by-the-sea.
Two weeks ago our restaurant was happy to have our annual Rediscovering Coastal Cuisine dinner where we invite friends and Chefs to experience our area and create a one of a kind dining experience. Having guest Chefs from Oxheart in Houston, Birch in Rhode Island, Contra in New York, and Amass in far off Copenhagen was a dream for our kitchen and our dinner guests.
After another week of reflection on these past events, I was able to define what made these past weeks special:
COMMUNITY
When I first began cooking 15 years ago I had no idea what was happening in other kitchens. Recipes and techniques were secrets, hidden behind locked doors. Ideas lived and died with the Chef. Save those thoughts for the cookbook deal. I didn’t even think about traveling, I had to work to pay rent. Then BAM! social media happened. But even more than that, Chefs knew that in order to grow they needed to open up. From what I know it was the brilliant Ferran Adria. His legacy of recipes will be greatly overshadowed by redefining what a restaurant is. Not just a place of sustenance. But an idea, a think tank, a movement, a creative entity that makes us reflect and view how we eat, live, share, grow, act, react, respond, and most importantly, how we communicate.
He opened his restaurant doors, let in 30 stages, finished every dining season with a cookbook. Giving everyone all the recipes, techniques, thought processes on how they work.