The man behind Alinea, one of the world’s best restaurants, discusses edible balloons and his recovery from tongue cancer

Michelin-starred chef Grant Achatz - FT.com:

There is no sous vide machine, no dehydrator, not even a liquid nitrogen tank in Grant Achatz’s kitchen. Instead, it looks a bit like a fresh-out-of-university flat share. The kitchen is, in some ways, a testament to the working hours the chef still puts in nine years after he opened Alinea, an avant-garde Chicago restaurant known for dishes involving pillows that emit lavender-scented air, peppermint snow served over pine needles, and beetroot juice drunk from a block of ice.

... He earned his reputation as a mad scientist thanks to his creations at Alinea, where the 18-course menu at present includes squab “inspired by Miro” and an edible green apple balloon filled with helium.
When his team perfected the balloon, the first thing he said was “make a YouTube video right away – get it on the internet so that . . . it’s ours”. In an industry with few safeguards against theft, the internet is a useful way to unofficially copyright recipes – one of the reasons why Achatz says it is the most important tool in his kitchen. It is also useful for self-promotion – Achatz is active on Twitter – sourcing ingredients and keeping tabs on other chefs. The advent of food blogging in the early 2000s “changed everything”.
“I could look at Mugartiz or El Bulli without going to Spain – I could know exactly what was going on,” he says.

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