The role of an art director and a well-informed scriptwriter can make a series a resounding success. Perhaps these two figures have been key to turning The Bear into a cinematic hit, the story of a chef and his kitchen team who try to turn a scruffy sandwich shop into a famous haute cuisine restaurant in search of Michelin stars. The series is at times strident and unbridled, and at other times, slow and meticulous, especially on the few occasions that it shows cooking and creative processes. It is true that the image it gives is that of a haute cuisine restaurant where insults and shouting predominate, which has nothing to do with reality, where there is no other voice than that of the chef and no other sound than the dullness of a well-sharpened knife. But there are great successes in their bet and one of them is the role of books in the plot.
The cookbooks, the restaurant’s culinary library and the colourful notebooks with the chef’s creative work are a recurring attraction in each episode of the series. At times, names such as Thomas Keller, Nobu Matsuhisa, Daniel Boulud and Paul Bocuse can be heard, to name a few. You also see some of the main characters studying Noma’s books or looking for creativity in Ottolenghi’s baking. The books appear in the background at certain moments in a scene and the camera goes from out of focus to in focus, leading the viewer’s gaze to this selection of books, turning them into fundamental keys to the plot. Thus, in this game, we have discovered books that are already out of print, such as A Gastronomic Tour of Spain (Konemann) or references as current as Cooking at home or how I learned not to worry about recipesby David Chan and Priya Krishna (published in Spanish by Neo-Cook). Along with these, here are some references that can be found in Spain:
Passion for Nordic cuisine
From the first episode of the series, the actors refer to René Redzepi’s books as if they were bibles of contemporary cooking. In a way, they are. The Noma Book (Phaidon) is one of the sources of inspiration in The Bear. The book is much more than a recipe book by a great chef, it is a manual of gastronomy where the cuisine of the product and the area is explored in depth. Without a doubt, it is an essential item almost as much as The Noma Fermentation Guide (Neo Person). The book contains more than 100 recipes, research carried out by the restaurant’s fermentation team, and explains them with precision and fantastic photography. Along with these two books, in the restaurant of the series we can find another of the fundamental manuals of Nordic cuisine, the book by chef Magnus Nilsson, The Nordic Cookbook (Phaidon)It is a thoughtful book, aimed primarily at professionals, which has not been translated into Spanish, but which reflects the new trends in Nordic cuisine.
France always alive
The voluminous French cooking manuals are piled up in the library of The Bear: the great books of Paul Bocuse, the recipes of Julia Child and the cookbooks of Robuchon. The two volumes of The art of French cuisineby Julia Child (published by DEBATE) are essential for learning about classic French techniques and recipes. In the case of Robuchon, the chef who had 38 Michelin stars spread across his restaurants around the world, who loved and lived in Spain until the last days of his life and who left us a legacy of recipes (beyond mashed potatoes) in several books, is, in this series, an essential. It could not be missing Robuchon. All Recipes (RBA).
Sweets and breads
Among the selection of books The Bear Two of the chef Ottolenghi appear: Sweet and Jerusalem (both by Salamandra). The first is one of the most tempting pastry books published in recent years. Written by the chef together with the writer Helen Goh, it contains more than 100 recipes where Arabic ingredients are combined with the pastry tradition, creating original and tempting desserts. The other book, Jerusalem. Melting pot of the world’s cuisines, It undoubtedly constitutes One of Ottolenghi’s best books, written together with the Palestinian chef, Sami Tamimi. A manual that should be consulted again and again to discover the gastronomy that harmoniously comes together to create one of the world’s great cuisines, one that draws on Jewish, Muslim and Christian traditions.
American baker Chad Robertson, along with his wife Liz Prueitt, revolutionized not only the palates of San Francisco but of the entire world. He is the author of Tartine Bread, a top seller that came to Spain with the publishing house ColandCol with the title Tartine breadtranslated by Ybán Yarza. In the series they get busy making bread and the recipes… you will find them in this book.
Avant-garde cuisine
They could not be missing in the library of The Bear two volumes where you can find all the history and techniques of molecular and avant-garde cuisine of the 21st century. One is the Modernist Cuisine. The art and science of cooking (Pouches) written by the team of scientists, chefs and creatives at The Cooking Lab. It is not only the bible of modern cooking, but one of the best illustrated books of recent years. And another must-read are the seven volumes (from 2005 to 2011) of elBulli, Edited by Phaidon, it contains all the knowledge of what has been the best and most revolutionary restaurant in the world.
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