I'm continually trying to expand my horizons. Traveling around
- seeing what other people are doing, learning why they are
doing it and finding new products - really inspires me with
the new ideas for surprising and satisfying the palate.
The best dishes have a sense of spontaneity. When I come up
with a new dish, I don't like to think about it too much,
otherwise it becomes contrived. I just try with each ingredient
to bring out the clear, natural flavor rather than masking
it with a lot of other tastes. A good piece of meat or fish
doesn't need much done to it - it's the garnishes, sauces
and accompaniments that add the play of sour-salty-sweet,
hot-cold, liquid-solid or crunchy-creamy. If someone says
"I can taste everything on my plate," I am happy. Then, for
contrast, I occasionally like to throw in a mystery flavor
to make people think.
Photograph by John Sherlock
In building a menu, I follow a basic arc from light to heavier,
but within that structure are infinite possibilities.
My first rule is, if it's in season use it. If it's a particularly
inspiring ingredient, I may use it a couple of times in different
contexts so that the repetition itself becomes an extra element
of the meal. But I don't repeat treatments. Each dish in the
menu has to come from a new angle and use the building blocks
in a distinct way so that the meal leads the dinner on an
exploration that stimulates a particular combination of the
senses with each course.
I want each meal to be an adventure. I want it to be an art.
Building A Menu is an excerpt from Rob's cookbook Lumiere,
click
here to read its review.
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