The Family Meal – Home cooking with Ferran Adria

The Family Meal

I received this little present in the post a couple of weeks back and it is fair to say that I was more than a little excited. Ferran Adria is one of the most recognisable names in the highest of high class gastronomy of recent years due to his success at El Bulli, multiple winner of the World’s best restaurant awards. So when he releases a book about cooking at home for your family, you want to read it…trust me! The instructions are easy to follow and the recipes range from simple to a little more advanced and introduce a few simple versions of the more well known techniques for which he is recognised, namely those associated with the Molecular Gastronomy movement.

Easily accessible for the keen amateur, this is a great addition to your cookbook library. There’s still time to ask for one in your Christmas stocking!!!

Following is the press release from Phaidon:

Phaidon press is pleased to announce the global publication of a new cookbook from the man cited more than any other as the world’s greatest chef – The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià. While Ferran Adriá is better known for his groundbreaking gastronomic creations, this highly anticipated book will, for the first time, reveal his secrets for creating simple, seasonal and delicious home cooked meals.

Cheeseburger

The Family Meal’s recipes are inspired by the ordinary meals by the staff of the legendary El Bulli, five-time recipient of the San Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurant Award. Every evening at 6pm, Ferran’s team stops what they are doing to sit down together to a three-course dinner which they call the ‘family meal’. This time of day is extremely important to Ferran, it is a moment when he and his team can pause, gather themselves and prepare for the day ahead, just as a sit down dinner in the evening is important for all families, large or small.

Bread and Garlic Soup

Ferran believes the secret of good cooking is organisation and shows us how easy it can be, with a little preparation, to create no fuss, delicious meals at home. The Family Meal presents an international repertoire ranging from Spanish to Japanese to Mexican, reflecting the staff mix of El Bulli’s ‘stagaires’. The book is arranged into 31 menus for easy to prepare three-course meals, such as Saffron Risotto with Mushrooms to start, a main of Pork Ribs with Barbecue Sauce, and a Crème Catalan to finish. Another meal begins with a Gazpacho followed by a Cheeseburger and Almond Biscuits. Some recipes involve a signature Ferran technique, like using N2O cartridges to foam a dessert, but most are decidedly simple. All of Ferran’s everyday recipes are carefully designed to provide nutritious, flavoursome and economic meals.

Mexican Style Pork

Each meal is introduced with an image of all the necessary ingredients and a timeline to ensure the recipes are made to perfection. Then, every individual recipe is relayed step-by-step with all the know-how that results from more than two decades in the world’s most innovative kitchen.

Figs with Cream

The menus also have been designed to provide tempting dishes for any occasion. Uniquely, the quantities of ingredients needed for each recipe are given in servings of 2, 6, 20 and 75.

Generously illustrated with hundreds of new, specially commissioned photographs, The Family Meal is the book by Ferran Adrià everyone has been waiting for.

from the book The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià, by Ferran Adrià
$39.99
Phaidon 2011

Photographs by Francesc Guillamet and Maribel Ruiz de Erenchun and courtesy of Phaidon Press