In Spain, Powder is the New Foam

10.04.07

Ferran Adria launched the mania for espumas in Spain more than a decade ago. Now that foams have become a culinary cliché, however, Spain’s most inventive chefs have found a new medium with which to express their creativity—powders, some dry and others moistened. At Mugaritz, Andoni Luis is serving an astonishing dessert that’s meant to re-create the meeting of sea and shoreline: The “rocks” are made from cocoa, the “sand” is a star-anise-flavored shortbread powder, and the “water” is agar-agar jelly spiked with mint oil. At Arzak, Elena Arzak serves Galician beef with a potato glaze and rendered chorizo drippings in a paste of chorizo. And at his eponymous restaurant, Martin Berasategui is garnishing baby vegetables with a powder made from Iberico ham and Idiazabal cheese.

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