Following a recipe in a restaurant, regardless of the type, means reproducing a model. Changing the proportions, varying its size or the quantity of even the smallest ingredient, can completely distort the result desired by its creator.

The difference between a traditional restaurant and one offering creative cuisine is that the latter reproduces something that has recently been created. In other words, a restaurant with creative cuisine has few prior references for the reproduction of elaborations.

In the case of elBullirestaurante, a new elaboration could also evolve over time, so problems often arose in respect to quantities, proportions and sizes.

Since the same result always had to be reproduced as perfectly as possible, the level of production consistency had to be as close as possible to an ‘artisanal’ assembly line. But chefs are not machines, and there is a margin of human error that needs to be minimised.

Differences in proportions and measurements in a certain elaboration created endless debates and even conflicts, with the head chefs and the chefs de partie often disagreeing on the criteria to follow.

The size of a tomato wedge, a quenelle of ice cream or a spherical raviolo, the height and width of a jelly terrine, the volume of candy floss in a snack or the length of an asparagus tip, to give a few examples, were all causes for differences of opinion.

Photographs were tried during one season, but they were not a satisfactory solution to the problem. They did reduce disparities in dressing, but not in the actual size of each component of the final elaboration. Then one day somebody had the brilliant idea of making moulds, and it was found that plasticine was very easy to use. This very simple idea not only ensured precise reproduction, but also put an end to disputes.

The result is the collection of moulds displayed in this installation.