num_pages: 296
description: WHAT GOES ON BEHIND THE SCENES AT ELBULLI? Elected best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine an unprecedented five times elBulli is where chef Ferran Adris remarkable cuisine comes to lifewith dragon cocktails that make the drinker breathe smoke and caviar made from tiny spheres of olive oil. elBulli is also the object of culinary pilgrimagemillions clamor every year for a reservation at one of its tables. Yet few people know that behind each of the thirtyor more courses that make up a meal at elBulli a small army of stagiairesapprentice chefslabor at the precise exhausting work of executing Adris astonishing vision. In The Sorcerers Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adris elBulli Lisa Abend explores the remarkable system that Adri uses to run his restaurant and in the process train the next generation of culinary stars. Granted more access to Adri and the elBulli kitchen than any other writer in the restaurants history Abend follows thirty-five young men and women as they struggle to master the cutting-edge techniques grueling hours furious creativity and interpersonal tensions that come with working at this celebrated institution. Her lively narrative captures a great cast including a young Korean cook who camps on the doorstep of elBulli until he is allowed to work in the kitchen; an ambitious chef from one of Switzerlands top restaurants struggling to create his own artistic vision of cuisine; and an American couple whose relationship may not withstand the unique pressures of the restaurant. What emerges is an irresistible tale of aspiring young talents caught for good or ill in the opportunity of a lifetime.Taken together their stories form a portrait of the international team that helps make a meal at elBulli so memorable. They also reveal a Ferran Adri few ever see one who is not only a genius chef and artist but also a boss teacher taskmaster businessman and sometimes- flawed human being. Today food has become the focus of unprecedented attention and The Sorcerers Apprentices also explores the strange evolutionin less than two decadesof a once-maligned profession into a source of celebrity.
language: English
title: The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià's elBulli
publisher: Free Press