This is how the first vegan menu tastes in “Eleven Madison Park” in New York that could change the world.

Beetroot is not a Kobe entrecôte. Adrià may have created espumas, fruit leathers, and other varieties of surprising textures, but his main contribution to the world of fine dining has been rethinking it. And that will probably also be the role of Daniel Humm. The Swiss could become the most influential chef of the next decade, a modern Bocuse. The main ingredients of his kitchen are plants, but no matter how naturally a Demeter beef has grown and tastes great, and even if it was exposed to Mozart symphonies while it was growing, it cannot be compared to a steak made from Kobe beef Kagoshima.

More time and creativity.

The most important ingredient of the future is therefore creativity, time, and manpower. Refining vegetables so that they become a tasty and social experience requires a lot more thought than frying a good piece of meat to the point and combining it in an interesting way. Not simply replacing butter and cream with some highly processed soy industrial product, and finding new ways to clarify broths other than with egg white, is challenging because you can hardly rely on decades-old, traditional knowledge. In a plant-based kitchen, the product is not worth much on its own; only intensive occupation with it – combined with the enormous effort of preparing it in an exciting way – turns it into a memorable dish.

Event from the clay pot.

EMP remains EMP, and there are now clay pots in the refrigerator where ducks used to be dry-ripened. They hide beetroot inside, which is first smoked, dehydrated, then rehydrated for three days and then, wrapped in salads and herbs, and baked in this vessel. The result is – you have to put it this way – a rich, extraordinary taste that is reminiscent of meat. The beetroot is served after it has been freed from the vessel at the table with a hammer and wrapped in lettuce, kimchi, and thinly sliced ​​nashi brine. There is also a beetroot red wine jus, which tastes dark, sweet, earthy, and slightly sour.

because of its relatively high cholesterin content. But recent research has corrected this and shows that in healthy people there is little correlation between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol; This is even shown in studies where several eggs per day and a person were on the menu. In the egg, cholesterol is found exclusively in the yolk fat; it can only be influenced insignificantly by breeding and feeding. And contrary to a popular opinion, which is occasionally misused to provide misleading consumer information, eggs from Araucana chickens (the only “green layers”) or from quail (speckled eggs) do not have a lower, but sometimes even higher cholesterol content. This apparently ineradicable wishful thinking can be easily refuted; Cholseterin-free eggs would not be able to hatch chicks, which would automatically cause such breeds to become extinct

What about the color of the shell?

The usual quiz question “who lays white eggs, who brown eggs?” is always answered incorrectly. Because with the plumage color, as one might assume, there is no connection. Rather, it is a question of a genetic freak of nature, in that the color of the eggshells is combined with that of the chicken’s earlobes: breeds with white earlobes lay white-skinned eggs, breeds with red earlobes lay brown-skinned eggs.
The widespread opinion, however, that brown eggs are healthier or even more ecologically produced, is based on an old wive’s tale.

The Yolk and Egg White

Contrary to popular belief, the color of the yolk has no connection whatsoever with the nutritional value, taste, or way of keeping the chickens; it all depends on the feed. While the Swiss prefer more intense yellow yolks, the Americans (also with health concerns) prefer it pale yellow.

Very Nutritious, and Versatile

Eggs are a valuable staple food. One egg covers around 10 percent of the daily protein and mineral requirement as well as a quarter of the vitamins A and D. In addition, it has ideal kitchen qualifications: foam formation and stability (whipped egg white), emulsion stability of the egg yolk (mayonnaise), baking and cooking properties (emulsifying, stabilizing, coagulating, liquid binding), not to forget the coloring effect of the egg yolk (baked goods and pasta). The protein content of three eggs corresponds to that of 110 grams of steak (with a big market price difference). 

In Switzerland we consume approximately 200 Eggs per person; in  America about 295 per person.

All of this justifies finally thinking again about those who lay these eggs: the chickens.

Original story by Heini Hofman, Urner Wochenblatt, April 3, 2022