The Secret Kitchen

I was flipping through a book I have forgotten about, called 'The Secret Kitchen'. It's the kind that answers questions many people wonder or ask out loud, 'Where do famous chefs go to eat and what type of dishes do they choose, when they take a rest from their own cooking?' Being fabulous cooks themselves, one would think they must be extremely choosy, critical, and judgemental what restaurants to go to, and what innovative food other cooks offer.

 

Apparently not so. After interviewing all the most famous chefs in Spain, many distinguished with Michelin stars, the discovery is that: Choosy, critical and judgemental they certainly are, but the book seems to sum up that most of them usually go for the simplest and the most traditional food of the past, emphasising on freshness of products and traditional way of cooking, like a slow-cooked stew or casserole, a potato omelette, or a grill sole with butter and lemon. Nothing at all fancy or fanciful.

 

Quite a revelation. Considering for instance, in Adria's world famous 'El Bulli' in Roses, twice selected as World's Best Restaurant, used to turn out liquid air croquettes, carrot foam and the like. The book is like an act of love for the establishments who preserve the most basic elements of what is considered good food: top quality ingredients, fresh products of the season, and cooked with respect to each ingredient's characteristics to enhance, not to mask and mix, and most of all, cooked with love and pride to produce the best.

 

Personally I always prefer my food to be recognizable, each conserving it's own unique taste and aroma, not so much it's appearance. Rather than those dishes presented to me like a pretty picture or sculpture, which seems very much the trend in recent years, but when I have eaten it, most likely have even enjoyed it, I remain clueless as to what I have eaten. Besides, a meal is often very enjoyable not because it has been cooked by an angel, but because it has been shared with your favourite humans.

Tags:FoodOfLove,Angel,Human

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