On Creativity in the Kitchen

I'm asked the question very often: "where do you find all these ideas?"

Cooking, in its execution, rests on a principle. A principle of creation through the transformation of raw produce, with the aim of elevating it by bringing together complementary flavours.
At our disposal we have any number of tools (heat, for instance) and techniques.

After much trial and error over the course of my career, my aim in the kitchen has become to apply that transformation while respecting the produce, yet combining it with others in order to create a new harmony out of the whole.

It is through this search that I manage to arrive at an original dish.

Every season, every chance to get hold of this or that ingredient gives me a fresh opportunity to create and to combine.
Each time I write a menu, the same process applies: 
- Choose the main ingredient
- Decide what to pair it with
- Work out which third element will amplify the pairing of the first two
- Finally, the work around textures and cooking

Cooking is, in essence, an act of sharing with the people who will taste each dish. 
Keeping the recipient in mind is vital, so as not to get lost in needless complication. Getting to the heart of the matter really does count, and the idea of sharing must come before anything else in any culinary endeavour.