Molecular gastronomist/chef Grant Achatz, founder of the "mad scientist lab of a restaurant Alinea" in Chicago and the recipient of the 2008 James Beard Foundation's Best Chef award, has an old gramophone in his home kitchen. It was picked up on an antiquing trip, as Achatz tells The Wall Street Journal in this recent kitchen profile. He also has "every spice you could ever imagine" and keeps "crappy vanilla ice cream" in his freezer. Who knew?
It's always interesting to glimpse inside someone else's kitchen, to see what they use, what they love, what their unique cooking needs and preferences are. Grant Achatz's kitchen is no exception. As an avant-garde chef, you'd think he'd have a lot of crazy stuff, but it's really quite straightforward and thoughtful. (Well, except for his spice collection, which is pretty unusual and awesome.) Here are a few highlights from the article:
To me, every kitchen appliance is useful and nothing's overrated. When I look at my little espresso machine, I don't see coffee. I see a steaming valve as an opportunity to make amazing crème brûlée.
The kitchen gadgets I use every day at home are a mortar and pestle, a Benriner Japanese mandoline and—this will sound sacrilegious—a Fiskars knife sharpener. Here I am, a chef who knows how to sharpen a knife with a whetstone, but rock your knife back and forth on the Fiskars and you're good to go. For my sons, we have a collection of Zyliss plastic knives and they're the greatest thing ever: sharp enough that the boys are contributing to the prep, but there's no way they're going to cut themselves.
The meal I like to eat best at home with my family is pasta with capers, toasted garlic, basil, olive oil and Parmesan. I also like scrambled eggs and quite heavily toasted whole-wheat bread, dry. Those are my two go-tos. I'll drink fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice and sparkling water, mixed 50/50.
Read the full article to learn more about Grant's secret vice, his two greatest influences, his home entertaining philosophy, and more.
Read More: In My Kitchen: Grant Achatz | The Wall Street Journal
(Images: Daniel Shea for The Wall Street Journal, used with permission)
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"I have every spice you could ever imagine... my two boys lick their fingers, dip them in the spice and try to tell me what's in it."
Haha, if I'm ever so lucky as to be invited to eat at his home, remind me not to actually eat anything since his kids' licked fingers have probably been in it.
Joking aside, he seems refreshingly low-key for how sophisticated and complicated his recipes are. It's nice to hear that he doesn't turn up his nose at things like a Potbelly's sandwich or store-bought condiments.
While I didn't entirely lose my sense of taste like he did, I too have had radiation therapy to my neck that permanently changed how things taste to me. It's a scary and uncomfortable enough situation to go through in the first place, but for him, his livelihood and passion were also at stake. Working in design and art, it would be like if my treatment necessitated the amputation of my right hand. His bravery is really inspiring to me as a fellow patient.
"I also like scrambled eggs and quite heavily toasted whole-wheat bread, dry".
A man after my own heart, especialy with that toast.
There is so much wisdom in that article, from the idea of being aware of how what you do in the present will affect the future, to not letting price tags or expectations control how you live.
I love that article... Achatz is an inspiration, coming through his illness and relying on food memories to compose dishes, I've eaten at Alinea 6 or 7 times - twice building trips around dining there - and it's consistently been an amazing dining experience. I've cooked my way through his writings several times but ultimately what he taught me was to set aside writings, build a great pantry and buy amazing fresh ingredients, and cook more experimentally. Thanks Grant!