This is how the first vegan menu tastes in “Eleven Madison Park” in New York that could change the world.
Beetroot is not a Kobe entrecôte. Adrià may have created espumas, fruit leathers, and other varieties of surprising textures, but his main contribution to the world of fine dining has been rethinking it. And that will probably also be the role of Daniel Humm. The Swiss could become the most influential chef of the next decade, a modern Bocuse. The main ingredients of his kitchen are plants, but no matter how naturally a Demeter beef has grown and tastes great, and even if it was exposed to Mozart symphonies while it was growing, it cannot be compared to a steak made from Kobe beef Kagoshima.
More time and creativity.
The most important ingredient of the future is therefore creativity, time, and manpower. Refining vegetables so that they become a tasty and social experience requires a lot more thought than frying a good piece of meat to the point and combining it in an interesting way. Not simply replacing butter and cream with some highly processed soy industrial product, and finding new ways to clarify broths other than with egg white, is challenging because you can hardly rely on decades-old, traditional knowledge. In a plant-based kitchen, the product is not worth much on its own; only intensive occupation with it – combined with the enormous effort of preparing it in an exciting way – turns it into a memorable dish.
Event from the clay pot.
EMP remains EMP, and there are now clay pots in the refrigerator where ducks used to be dry-ripened. They hide beetroot inside, which is first smoked, dehydrated, then rehydrated for three days and then, wrapped in salads and herbs, and baked in this vessel. The result is – you have to put it this way – a rich, extraordinary taste that is reminiscent of meat. The beetroot is served after it has been freed from the vessel at the table with a hammer and wrapped in lettuce, kimchi, and thinly sliced nashi brine. There is also a beetroot red wine jus, which tastes dark, sweet, earthy, and slightly sour.
