Diners will devour this book in one sitting.
Acclaimed pastry chef Jordi Roca redefined the term “cookbook” after concocting an over $350 confection that’s infused with the flavor of a dusty old tome. He detailed this “lit” dessert in a video cooking tutorial with over 635,000 views on TikTok.
Roca, 46, is the pastry chef and co-owner of Spain’s three Michelin-starred restaurant El Celler de Can Roca but has become known for creating desserts that blur the line between art and life.
One of his most unique creations, which she shared for his over 435,000 followers on the platform, involved extracting the essence of an old book and transferring it into liquid. Roca said that he dreamt up the concept after being fascinated by the smell of old books that you might find in a library, Italian culinary magazine Identità Golose reported.
“Select books that smell like mature paper,” the pastry whiz explained in the caption alongside footage showcasing the unconventional technique, Jam Press reported. “Spread the pages with deodorised butter and let it rest overnight so that it is impregnated with the smell of an old book.”
In the clip, the sweet savant is seen ripping the pages of an old book from its spine, buttering them, and soaking the pages in a pot full of liquid to imbue it with the book’s scent.
Once the fat has been thoroughly saturated in the ghost of literature past, “remove the butter with a spatula to dissolve in alcohol,” Roca explained while demonstrating this culinary exorcism. “The alcohol will evaporate and we will have the perfume of an old book.”
The Spaniard, who was named World’s Best Pastry Chef in 2014, explained that the official technique is enfleurage, an ancient method of extracting fragrances from flower petals by transferring them into a solvent, generally solid fat.
Originally used in the perfume industry, Roca thought this hack could apply to gastronomy as well.
After being smelled by the diner, this literary “liquor” is then used to anoint the confection — in this case a pudding of sorts — which is also adorned with the petals of the torn pages of the book to complete the effect.
The dish, which reportedly runs diners $362, was concocted as a pre-dessert primer that’s eaten before tucking into the grand finale.
Roca concludes the clip by feasting on his Willy Wonka-esque concoction before flashing the camera the “ok” symbol.
Viewers were awestruck over Roca’s ability to turn lit into culinary gold.
“You are my inspiration, sir,” gushed one.
“I would do this to my math book then maybe I will absorb the knowledge from it,” joked one wit.
Another compared it to the culinary thriller “The Menu.”
This isn’t the first time Roca has seasoned desserts with the specter of inedible objects.
In one of his wackier enfleurage experiments, Roca distilled the aroma of sheep’s wool (ewe de perfume?) and used it as an accompaniment to sheep’s milk confections.