Spring Ingredients...

After reading an excerpt obtained from the web about Ferran Adria's take on a few things that have come into their own in this new millenia, stating this and that about everything from molecular gastronomy to sensory enhancement to technology to elements of taste, one of the most provocative of the statements, albeit quite true and honest, was the topic of ingredients. Specifically...that unique, stellar and the most interesting and freshest of them are now taken for granted and more so...expected! In this day and age, when simply having fresh asparagus in spring is no longer the norm, but the expected, they tend to sort of fall out of the limelight that they once held. Now on one hand, it is great to see the evolution of our communities and customers tastes, education and expectations, which inevitably hold us as chefs to much greater and higher standards. Bravo for that! And yet, it is so expected at times and in places that the only left it seems, is to alter it, if even by chemically or molecular done practices. I do agree and support the notion that this forward movement is driving out the mediocrity, poor sourcing, substandard quality and commonplace methods of operation in restaurants just to make a higher profit margin for some ignorant cat who is more concerned about making payments on his or her Mercedes than giving good product, and is most likely in bed with the large volume brokers, huge corporate suppliers or perhaps...just simply does not give a shit or know any better. Touche! For those that know me, I am one that definitely supports high quality products, locally foraged and found ingredients, fauna from the best of humane breeders and ranchers and ecosystem-friendly harvested sea life. The list goes on. I have built my reputation and career on purity. Extreme high quality. Hell, I have been spoiled in many circumstances with the best of products and resources, and am probably preaching to the choir. I am fortunate that I am able to perfect and present my craft to those discerning diners who enjoy, and yes, expect great products in which I provide for them. It pushes me to do even better. And yes, I do at times become over-analytical about the products in order to "create something new" out of them at the expense of the naturalness of itself. I am a victim and a proponent. So...as I ramble on about this, know that I am on the same page of this and will continue to do my part to help the cause, support the calibre of ingredients to weed out the piss-poor mates who give the rest of us cooks a bad name and to always maintain what I can to make the farmer-chef connection a sustainable one. But I do offer you this...we can not let the simple thought of the freshest of ingredients become mundane or un-important, if even by nature of habit, as it can tend to be when everything becomes no longer special due to overindulgence. We can not lose sight of and continue to appreciate the very nature of what sparked the topic. The beautiful thing that nature brings us...the ingredient. What does this mean??? Probably nothing more than just the statement and observation itself. Am I saying that we should not strive to promote the best of ingredients in fear that they will not be special sometime in the future? No. Just saying to think about it. Information to our clientele is paramount and the more we communicate to them about what we are doing, the more in touch they will become with our practices and ingredients. In the long run to me, it is far better to have the best product taken for granted than to have shitty product with only a few instances of good ingredients be the norm. The article also mirrored the use of high-tech equipment and very sophisticated techniques as the same, but that is another post! Enjoy the ingredients brought to us from the Chef's Garden!