Light & matter
Sometimes there’s no point in forcing the line: following a clear & essential thinking is enough to illuminate the paths we take.
Let the light seep in, shape and underline what’s important, we must accompany it and with our fingertips slightly adjust it according to the tone we want to share.
Also, one of the rules governing the act of cooking is non-negotiable: we must set ourselves a tone below the material we’re cooking, just imperceptibly helping it to exist, to take shape, listening and obeying to it.
Here, I brought together the turnip and the cuttlefish, then thought of the « bland »to make them dialogue, and rather than enhancing them, I chose to sublimate their “gustatory silence”, to push them into their absence of noise, a naked dialogue of sorts.
The turnip is poached in turnip water, while the cuttlefish is simply incised and poached à la minute in a squid broth.
A clear cuttlefish jus, slightly enhanced with kasu sake and fermented butter, completes their bond.
To underline this “emptiness”, I needed something to stimulate it, so I chose slices of homemade bottarga, mandarin orange, canut brain and a dash of bitter olive oil.
Lionel Beccat