July 26th

First day at Miramar in Llança! Had a few espressos on the way to work this morning, and some killer pastry. You can smell these bakeries from 30 feet away, they're amazing. That's one thing Europe in general, kills us on... bread!

Walked into a chefs dream kitchen! It is one of the best in the world, kinda hit me today. This place has every tool and gadget imaginable. They are using all the chemicals, we have about 8-10 back home, they have 100. They have an "anti-griddle," like a flat-top or skillet but it gets super cold instead. Never actually seen one of those. They use liquid nitrogen, and it's utilized in like 5 of their dishes. View of the beach doesn't suck either.

That being said, we have a pretty amazing spot back home. We should be thankful!

A lot of cooks! Half actually work there and half are interns basically, at least 15. He has housing on site for most as well. One sous chef, the main chef, and Paco. The Dean of Barcelona. This main chef is def serious, but at least let me take some pics. He is kinda like other guy, chef de cuisine at Arola, I think that they might have worked together at El Bulli. El Bulli, for all of you basically, was once the greatest restaurant in the world, on a 2 year break right now. Its in Spain, look it up. These chefs here just demand the utmost care and quality of every little thing that you do. They are truely what I've always heard about in books and stories of old school chefs.

I made a lemongrass infused syrup, picked some flowers for pastry today, and that was about it. I watched and tried to clean as much as I could but... These plate ups are just as they were at Enteca. Tweezers, rings molds, super delicate ingredients. It's rough because I'm just in the way, but it's still cool to see what they do. Couple of the guys have been explaining things so don't feel completely lost. It's tough... Takin lots of notes though, have lots of recipes. and they did let me plate some tonight which was nice.

It is the cleanest place I've ever been. They scrubbed the entire kitchen before family meat @ 1230 @ 5 before our break, and of course at end of shift bout midnight. It's nice to see that! There's a wet towel (Shamwow) on every station, and they constantly wipe down. They even have different towels to wipe different surfaces. EVERYTHING is vacuum sealed! The slicer is actually clean, sorry Europe, that's one thing I haven't seen yet?!?

Insane tasting menu! You are served four rounds of Tapas, then an Amuse bouche, and then about 8-10 app and entree courses. After lunch/dinner you get pre-dessert, three desserts, and petit fours. It's crazy! Now, we did four for lunch, and 28 for dinner, but still. That's still a lot of plates!

Wish they could see us do 300+!

Pics

That's Foie gras... Dunkin Donuts style

The kitchen

The Lemongrass syrup for a meringue

Really cool chicken sauce "skin" with deep fried chicken & Foie gras. They take chicken Demi (chicken stock reduced down to almost nothing) and brush it on that paper I used the other day to make fried ice cream. Then fry. You get this awesome chip, that looks like skin, and tastes like the most intense chicken sauce... Wow!

These are cool little fake limes. The skin is this is like gelatin, filled with ice cream... One of the many petit fours

Liquid Nitrogen, always thought it would burn if you touched it... Not so much

This guy is making chocolate cones for dessert with the same paper. They make a chocolate spray/sauce and brush on the paper. Then slightly heat up to form around the mold to make the cone shapes

The next two pics are of a really cool technique of frying potatoes. You constantly flip the potato in the cooler of the two pots of oil. Then just when they are right, you just gotta know. You put in the hotter oil, and they pop up like little pillows... Awesome

The dinning room

Fresh octopus/calamari/squid... There are so many different kinds here

Fresh eels, when I say fresh I mean still jumping around, lol!!!! They chop the heads, and clean them while they are still jerking around.

These are the Dunkin Donut Foie Gras!!! They even have the paper, I'll take a pic this weekend when I sit down to eat. So cool! They have another special paper/mold for this. Then poke with a needle, and dip in the different colored chocolate. I need Dean to contact Krispy Kreme so we can do this!!!!!

These are the finished product, super fresh cleaned eels. The sous vide them for three hours, then finish on the grill