A great chef's appetite-breaker: bread and chocolate was a regular presence on the tables of elBulli's staff, in a version that is, indeed, very quick, but still consistent with the house's gastronomic quest in the interplay of salt, fat and bitter with precise textures.
Photo of plate on the cover: @Francesc Guillamet
The Idea
Bread and chocolate is a very common snack for kids, both in Catalonia and in Italy, where a film has even been dedicated to it. But apparently it is also appreciated behind the scenes in the highest restaurant industry. Proof of this is the volume The Family Meal, published by Phaidon in 2011, where Ferran Adrià collected the recipes that were cooked at elBulli for use by the kitchen teams.
And it is truly elementary the preparation of this very fast author's variant, yet consistent with the culinary principles of the house, for example in the recovery of extra virgin olive oil, a forgotten fat in Mediterranean pastry scene, and in the use of salt on desserts, which breaks the boundary between sweet and savory.
BREAD, CHOCOLATE AND OLIVE OIL
Ingredients for 6 people
- 170 g of chocolate with 60% cocoa content
- 6 ½ kg pieces of white country bread, divided into 8 slices
- ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon of salt flakes
Preheat the grill salamander or oven to 165 °C. Coarsely grate the chocolate on a plate. Place bread on baking paper on a tray and toast on both sides until golden brown. Sprinkle with grated chocolate, covering completely. Pour over extra virgin oil and sprinkle with salt crystals.
