Forged in the kitchens of el Bulli, the union of Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch is made up of talent and creativity, combined with constant innovation, "to create a modern and sophisticated cuisine, but with our feet on the ground. We have embraced creativity and we have a fantastic team to carry it out', they say in their presentation video. And on stage, Oriol and Eduard were ready to unveil and describe the latest techniques and creations they work with in the kitchen, some of which the public were able to taste.

As in Disfrutar*** (Barcelona), Oriol began with an aromatic water made from lulo, "made by infusing this fruit with citric acid, water and sugar to obtain an essential oil, which in our case we mix with sparkling water because it best preserves its properties". Eduard went on to present an evolution of the famous vodka distillates they discovered in 2016, which they have reduced from 45º to 18º, 'and we call it the distillate that wanted to be wine, so we can serve it as the perfect accompaniment to some of the dishes on the menu'. The public was able to taste one based on calçots and another made with undergrowth, paired with a simple dish of tomato jelly and sprouts, arranged according to their intensity of flavour and accompanied by a minute with their description. In addition to the educational component, this dish involves the five senses, as we serve the distillate in metal glasses to achieve the magic of the sound of the toast, which transports everyone to a place in their memories," they explained.

Developing techniques and products for the home

Then it was the turn of the flourless puff pastry, made with sheets of obulato to obtain a texture similar to that of glass bread and painted with different fats; with Iberian ham, they prepared live their particular interpretation of a pa amb tomaca, with tomato jelly and jelly and Iberian ham consommé. The masterclass then moved on to the savoury mousses, which they made using agaragar instead of fish collagen, along with egg white, inulin and maltodextrin and the water from the chosen food. Now that we are in the hunting season, we make them with pigeon or foie gras. Today it was a green olive, with which he made a mousse salad with cucumbers pickled in vinegar, cherry tomatoes, delicate pistachios, tomato water jelly, tomato seeds and basil sprouts, tomato juice and oil emulsified with chantana, delicate almonds, basil oil, passion fruit reduction and finished with padron pepper seeds.

Another of Disfrutar's proposals presented today was double-baked spherification, or spherical chocolates, "a technique that makes the outer layer more resistant, but not thicker, so that you can pick them up with your fingers", which consists of bathing the liquid to be spherified in an initial mixture of mineral water, soya lecithin, alginate and cocoa powder, and then bathing the sphere in a calcium bath based on water and gluconolactate. Today's chocolates were made with mint liqueur and can come in many shapes depending on the mould, sweet or savoury, and other flavours such as egg yolk, basil or black sesame.

They ended the cooking demonstration with some fine and delicious chocolate and nixtamalised hazelnut pralines, without flour or eggs, which when heated offer three different textures from the surface to the inside, "and which we can make both sweet and savoury, with flavours such as black sesame and yoghurt, mango and coconut, pumpkin seeds with mandarin or piquillo pepper and cod". The presentation ended with the presentation of Pinturas, an extraordinary range of very dense oils made with conchadora, tomato, raspberry, almond or pistachio, full of colour, which they have bottled in collaboration with Caviaroli, "with which we can ensure that this type of innovation, in addition to Gastronomika, reaches everyday restaurants and even homes".