INSPIRATIONS...

...Chefs

The purpose of my blog is to share the things that inspire me with the emphasis on design and detail that is beautiful and unique. My ultimate goal is to take these things and turn them into the basis of a Boutique, in the near-ish future.
Currently, and for the past 17 years, I have been passionately committed to the world of food and restaurants. It would be fair to say that it is in my blood. Pops has a deep love for all things culinary and my first waiting job was in a restaurant in Vermont, The Three Clock Inn, where my brothers and I have all done a stint, and where my father has been dining since I was born. Going back to the Three Clock, is like coming home.
So, with my current job finishing in just over two weeks (after 11 years), and my move to Vermont imminent (in time for Thanksgiving) I though I would share some of the most inspirational Chefs I know about, to give you a taste of just how incredible this world of ours is.

Fergus Henderson, Chef/Proprietor of St John in London's Smithfield Market, specialises in cooking British Classics with an emphasis on "Nose To Tail Eating".

The St John Logo, says it all.

There are no unnecessary frills, instead just perfect simplicity in the clean white space he has created as the background to allowing the food to take center stage. The setting of this restaurant is crucial, as Smithfield Market is one of the oldest meat markets in the world (where meat has been sold for almost 1000 years). For more of its history, start here.

The hallowed halls of Smithfield.

Enjoying a morning pint, after a hard days work at Smithfield
(images from Time)

This is a carnivore's paradise, particularly if you like the more unusual cuts of meat and offal. His signature dish is roast bone marrow with a parsley salad. This year he was deservingly awarded his first Michelin Star.

The unique, Fergus Henderson

Rick Stein, the self taught chef specialising in seafood is based in Padstowe, Cornwall. He is a Chef's Chef, burly and direct with something of a temper, but passionate about the fruits of the sea that are freshest in his home town. To many Britains he is a "TV Chef" almost in the vein of the late Keith Floyd, after years presenting travelling cookery shows for the BBC, but he is in fact a prolific Chef/Proprietor in his home town with 4 restaurants, a bakery, delicatesen and hotel in the small town of Padstowe. His first and most famous establishment is The Seafood Restaurant opened in 1975.
His reputation is built on his passion for fresh fish, simply cooked. His style is based on classic cookery, designed to bring out the best in the ingredients with little embellishment, to create the maximum impact of flavour in what he cooks.

Rick Stein, in chef mode.

From the simple and sublime, to the (almost) rediculous...

Ferran Adria, Chef/Proprietor of El Bulli in Spain has the notable position of owning the World's Best Restaurant. This is the stuff of total fantasy and amazement and cannot be done justice in just a few lines. Suffice it to say that, it is impossible to get a table (1,000,000 applications are made for 8,000 seats) with reservations based on a lottery system and this venerable institution only operates for six months in a year.

The Wizard, Ferran Adria
(image from The Guardian)

Often described as Molecular Gastronomy, Adria dismisses this categorization, instead using the term Deconstructivist to describe his unique style. His 30 course gourmet tasting menu is the stuff of legend. He states that his goal is to "provide unexpected contrasts of flavour, temperature and texture. Nothing is what it seems. The idea is to provoke, surprise and delight the diner."
The website for El Bulli is just as elaborate and technical as his food. In it, he sets out is 23 principles The Synthesis, that shape his style and set out the foundations of El Bulli's approach to food. Starting with Number 1..
"Cooking is a language through which all the following properties may be expressed: harmony, creativity, happiness, beauty, poetry, complexity, magic, humour, provocation and culture." - via El Bulli

For a unique insight into the world of this Chef, pick up "A Day At El Bulli", an incredible book that follows Ferran Adria minute by minute, through his culinary day. The pictures are out of this world...food porn.