What Live Fire Cooking and Modernist Cuisine Have in Common

Let’s examine my favorite way to cook, live-fire cooking, and its popularity juxtaposed against the movement that preceded it: modernist cuisine. These movements are fascinating, as they showcase two different sides of a coin.

The modernist cuisine movement was a time when “anything was possible,” and it also “cued the return to the primitivism of the twenty-teens” when diners and chefs yearned for simplicity (Sexton, 2022).  Like fashion, food has a yin and yang, and each movement pushes or pulls towards or away from the preceding one.

The Modernist cuisine movement started in the mid-1990s and tapered off around 2011 with the publication of Nathan Myhrvold’s “Modernist Cuisine” book series. With the widespread knowledge exchange, the modernist cuisine movement has entered the fold of contemporary cooking techniques. Starting in the Basque country with Ferran Adria’s El Bulli, the modernist cuisine movement was fueled stateside by Chefs like Homaro Cantu at Moto, Wylie Dufresne of WD-50, and Grant Achatz of Alinea. The equipment, technology, and techniques were innovative when applied to food from other industries, but something was still missing (Sexton, 2022b).

Hailing from Patagonia, Francis Mallmann was one of the first chefs I heard of when speaking of live-fire cooking, and Lennox Hastie from Australia was the second.  Live-fire cooking has increased in popularity following the modernist cuisine movement, and many restaurants have formed concepts surrounding the hearth or, at the very least, incorporated some of these primitive techniques into their repertoire. A few key players, like Victor Arguinzoniz from Asador Extebarri, have made strides in equipment design, grilling the lightest and most delicate foods possible. Reaching popularity in the Basque country, Patagonia, Scandinavia, and Australia, the chefs located in the reach region have even commissioned custom-made equipment inspired by the techniques of each other, like the Argentinian iron cross for lamb asado (Sexton, 2022b).

One may describe Mallman’s cooking as “ritual, theater, and an art installation” (Sexton, 2022b), and one may similarly describe modernist cuisine. The comparison of food to art and its inspiration has shifted from being born in a lab to primitive survival techniques.  Cooking techniques and recipes from the modernist cuisine movement were “built for speed and consistency, but [took] the cook out of the process” (Sexton, 2022b). Cooking with wood requires real talent and management of the heat source, which is unnecessary with gas-powered equipment.

At Extebarri, Chef Victor Arguinzoniz has been dubbed the “Ferran Adria of the hearth” (Food & Wine Editors, 2017), and this comparison is very fitting given the origins of modernist cuisine. Food and Wine even mentions that his food is amazing without “a trace of liquid nitrogen or hydrocolloids” (Food & Wine Editors, 2017). Open declarations like this showcase how the country’s popular chefs and restaurants have shifted from gastronomy to ingredient-driven cuisine. Chef Arguinzoniz has served smoked ice cream, grilled baby eels, and even Iranian beluga caviar cooked over coals.

The mention of smoked ice cream also reminds me of a similar dish of ash ice cream I have eaten many times at Roister, The Alinea Group’s live-fire restaurant.  Very interestingly, Roister has now closed and replaced with FIRE, a tasting menu concept that opened about 10 days ago in the former Roister space. FIRE will celebrate different “open fire cooking techniques beyond the hearth” that showcase the layers of complexity fire can provide (Selvam, 2024). “Ember cooking, ash-salt crusting, Patagonia-style asado crosses, Flambadou fat rendering,” searing, and roasting are all techniques Roister executive Chef Adair Canacasco hopes to showcase in the new restaurant. Each of these techniques derives from one of the abovementioned geographies and is clearly gaining popularity in the states. Just as San Sebastian has gone full circle, so has the Alinea Group, with its first and most recent restaurants showcasing the intersection between modernist cuisine and live-fire cooking.

References:

Food & Wine Editors. (2017, June 16). Victor Arguinzoniz: The grilling Genius of Spain. Food & Wine. https://www.foodandwine.com/cooking-techniques/grilling/victor-arguinzoniz-the-grilling-genius-of-spain

Selvam, A. (2024, November 14). Fire is Alinea’s first new restaurant in eight years. Eater Chicago. https://chicago.eater.com/2024/11/14/24294293/fire-alinea-group-roister-closing-new-restaurant

Sexton, J. (2022, April 4). De gustibus: Where food, art and era meet. Edible Manhattan. https://ediblemanhattan.com/intersection/de-gustibus-arcimboldo-where-food-art-era-meet/

Sexton, J. (2022b, December 30). The Future Is Primitive: Bringing Back Wood-Fired Cooking. Edible Manhattan. https://ediblemanhattan.com/artisans/the-future-is-primitive-bringing-back-wood-fired-cooking/

Tonon, R. (2023, July 13). Rekindling an old flame. Club Oenologique. https://cluboenologique.com/story/live-fire-cooking-restaurants-trend/