The reinvention of fried eggs, at Disfrutar in Barcelona

The very interesting dish in the photo above, struck us during the lesson given by the three geniuses from Disfrutar in Barcelona during the 4th edition of Gastromasa, the increasingly successful fine dining congress organised by Gökmen Sözen.

Oriol Castro, the frontman of the trio which includes the more introvert Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas, was on stage. He was explaining the techniques and ideas they’ve used in their most famous dishes, many of which we had already tasted: Rosa & lichis, La remolacha que sale de tierra, Panchino relleno de caviar beluga, Tatin de foie-gras y maíz multiesférico... We wrote about it a while ago, in this piece Marvellous Disfrutar.

In this presentation, there were two brand new recipes too; one of these was Huevos fritos, fried eggs. Which of course are very different from the ones you’d make at home: it was a spectacular, multicolour version. 

We asked Castro to tell us about them in detail. It’s a simple yet brilliant idea, which is coherent with the history the three share at Disfrutar, because it uses spherification, perhaps the most famous technique of Ferran Adrià. Xatruch, Castro and Casañas (who also own and run Compartir, in Cadaqués, opened in April 2012. See The Sharing Restaurant) are true Bullinians (see Acquiring experience with Ferran Adrià). Not only have they worked for over 16 years at the iconic restaurant in Cala Montjoi, but since 1998 they’re also part of the creative team, with Ferran and Albert Adrià, and have continued to collaborate even after elBulliclosed in July 2011, contributing until November 2014 in the conceptualization of the Bullipedia.

This is what Castro («I hope you’ll understand. Speaking of techniques, my English is sometimes not that good...») told us: «We’re trying to recreate a fried egg, but we replace the egg yolk with another substance, which can have the flavour we prefer. We do so through spherification ». Basically, «we interpret the egg yolk like a spherification (the product is wrapped in a very thin membrane) so we make a spherification of a size similar to egg yolks».

They open the egg and separate egg yolk from egg white. The egg yolk is used in different recipes [this is also a good way to use the egg whites, of which there is often an excessive quantity in fine dining restaurants]. Then «we put this "fake egg yolk " in the egg white, we leave the two elements to merge for a couple of minutes, and we fry them as if it were a normal egg. With this technique, we can make a fried egg of the flavour we prefer».

So the guys at Disfrutar can present Huevos fritos with fake egg yolks made of salmon (by spherifying the juice of lots of salmon roe. That is where the idea came from in fact: one day, while they where spherifying salmon roe, they realised the result was similar to chicken eggs), or black truffle, beetroot, pesto, squid ink... The sky is the limit.

A seemingly normal, “rustic” fried egg, with the crunchy edge. In fact, an elegant culinary idea. And a deep, clean flavour that lightens up the mind.
«As the waiter served me that fried egg, my neurotransmitters responsible for pleasure improvised a wild rave in my head. "You are too Bullinian", an expert accused me friendly. I accept this, it’s the privilege of having accompanied a revolution that will always have a mark on my gastronomic perception. Indeed, there is a prejudice because as soon as I saw that egg, my memory connected it with the image of the previous sublime experiences that have made the history of culinary avantgarde». (Toni Massanés, La Vanguardia)

Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso