The future of Cuisine

On the “route des Châteaux” in Pauillac are some of the most famous Bordeaux: Pichon-Lalande, Lynch-Moussas, Haut-Bages Libéral, Latour. To a connoisseur it reads like a library of favorite authors.
There is also a 2 Star restaurant, which, according to all who visited it deserves his third one, Château Cordeillan-Bages. In a vast minimal dining room overlooking vines, Thierry Marx, a bon vivant Bruce Willis, serves a thoroughly festive contemporary cuisine. Trained first as a baker he uses his martial arts expertise to direct his team. They perform enthusiastically a magical show. Presto, a translucent and smoking package appears to the table to reveal a beef filet on a bed of burning vine twigs. A clay envelope broken in front of your eyes unveils a fish flavored with chocolate. And beware of the sausage: its casing is a red pepper, the inside a mousse made of calamari. Here, molecular cuisine is put to the service of a great artist whose painting is not only three-dimensional, but also manages to tease the taste buds.
Thierry teaches on Friday morning in the Château to any one willing to learn. Reserve early, there is a one-year waiting list.
He adapted to my conventional kitchen the following recipe, which serves 4. It is quintessential Marx in that the regular parts of a risotto, rice, white wine, and saffron have been changed to germinated soy, soymilk, and mushroom essence. Crunch is retained, but is provided by a vegetable rather than a grain.
Every ingredient is found in your local supermarket, except for the oysters. Pick the meatiest one and ask your fishmonger to open them for you and save the water while doing so. As you can only purchase them by the half dozen, do not hesitate to use more for the recipe than the mere two prescribed.
For the mushroom stock, buy 3 oz (100g) dry black porcini mushrooms. Place them in a bowl and cover them with boiling water. After ½ an hour you will have reconstituted mushrooms you can save for another usage and the mushroom stock you need for this one. You may also purchase 3 oz (100 g) fresh porcini mushrooms, add 4 oz (125 ml) of water and cook them covered in a pan at the lowest gas temperature for 10 minutes until the mushroom is soft and its perfume transfers to the water. Wash, dry discard the germ and mince the germinated soy in advance, as it is the most fastidious part of the recipe, and may easily take an hour.


Soy and Oyster Risotto (Easy, Cooking time: 10 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
2 cups (500 g) germinated soy, germ removed, cut in small pieces with a knife
1 teaspoon (5 g) mascarpone
1 teaspoon (5 g) Parmesan
2 oysters shucked and cut in small pieces, juice reserved
2 tablespoons (28 ml) mushroom stock
2 tablespoons (28 ml) natural soymilk

Material:
1 4-quart saucepan
1 knife
1 strainer
1 salad bowl
1 eggbeater manual or electric


In a saucepan over the medium setting of the gas, melt the mascarpone and Parmesan cheeses; add the oyster juice, the oyster pieces, the mushroom stock, the soymilk and the soy pieces.

Before the liquid boils, strain the solids and divide them in 4 plates. Whip the juice until it bubbles up and pour it delicately over the solids.

Do not add salt and pepper. The seasoning is just right.