My article about cooking incredibly difficult food from the most insane cookbooks of the year is running over at Cooking Light.
1 Ordinary Cook, 35 Impossible Recipes (“Can a home cook learn anything from the supercomplicated cookbooks of the world’s most celebrated chefs? We asked Timothy Taylor to dive into the deep end and throw some dinner parties for friends.”)
Marina Dodis shot the pictures for the magazine. Here are some outtakes I shot myself. Random preparations and plates.
11 Madison Park Radicchio and Mango Salad with Basil Gel
Blanched basil leaves
Juiced basil
Set up with agar-agar
Assembly, note re-pureed basil to make gel
A pretty plate. Basil gel necessary? YMMV
NOMA Dinner with Heston Blumenthal dessert, by far the most massive undertaking I’ve ever attemped in any kitchen, anywhere.
Obsessive planning paid off, in the end. Couldn’t have done it by memory.
Beets and blood oranges for the jellie
Parsley Oil
Apple gel for discs
Shallots marinating in blueberry juice
24 hour oxtail reduction
Improvised “dirt” for the NOMA vegetable field
Shocking veggies
Plating the app: Blueberries and Onions
Spectacular dish. Amazing flavours.
Plating the vegetable field: mashed potatoes, shocked veggies, top with dirt and carrot greens.
Et voila. Oh man. Goo-ood.
A hit.
Apple discs for the main
Apple *gel* discs
Oxtail, oxtail reduction with verbana leaves, apple garnish
Oxtail with reduction, apple, sunchokes and crisp verbana leaves
Blumenthalian Jelly.
