AVANT GARDE CUISINE!!!!!!!!

AVANT GARDE CUISINE!!!!

The term avant garde originated in France in the twentieth century and refereed to a group of writers, composers and artists whose work was seen as being extremely experimental and totally unlike anything that had been seen , heard or read before.

Fast forward to around 1992 and the time when one of the chefs whose style of cooking greatly inspires me began to embark on the real road and journey of creativity. The chef that I am referring to is no other than the Spanish legend who is Ferran Adria. From the way that I personally view it, avant garde cuisine transcends national barriers and is a truly international style of cuisine. It incorporates techniques and ingredients from every conceivable cuisine imaginable. Recently, I have been looking back at some of my own menus from the 1990s' and much of what I was creating and cooking at the time could very well be seen as Avant Garde Cuisine, especially in terms of the combinations of flavours used. And here, I am referring to many flavour combinations that are unique to me personally as I have never come across them anywhere else. Anyway, here is a list of some dish that I created in the mid 1990s'.

Tiger Prawns poached in a soy and bacon butter broth, basmati rice braised with sweet peppers and spring onions

Spaghetti Sakura........ Spaghetti served in a sauce of Sake, Shitake mushrooms, coconut milk and coriander

Savoy cabbage and tandoori spiced soup, Poached egg and crispy seaweed

Lasagne of apples and Lancashire cheese, Cider Sabayon

Butter Poached Salmon, Fondue of leeks and tomato/ginger butter sauce

Korean Chicken with Kimichi, (this was a rather interesting dish in which I marinated the breast of corn fed chicken in soy sauce, sake, rice vinegar, chilli and demerara sugar and then char-grilled it and then served it on sauce made with Kimchi {this is a pungent, hot and sour marinated cabbage from Korea that is redolent of chilli}.

Lamb Shank braised with coconut milk, cinnamon bark and red wine, which would be accompanied with mashed potatoes flavoured with spring onions and Chinese five spice powder.

Warm salad of broccoli, cauliflower and king prawns, parsley, egg and lemon dressing.

Anyway, that is just a short list of some of the many dishes that I devised and developed all those years ago. There are many more that I could find by trawling through my collection of notebooks from the time.

All though many of the above listed dishes may sound totally strange, they have all featured on various menus that I have put together and mostly importantly, they all proved extremely popular with the guests.

Until next time, happy eating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seawater Sorbet anyone????????