Relæ: A Book of Ideas

Written as a series of interconnected essays€"with recipes€"Rel¦ provides a rare glimpse into the mind of a top chef, and the opportunity to learn the language of one of the world€s most pioneering and acclaimed restaurants.

Chef Christian F. Puglisi opened restaurant Rel¦ in 2010 on a rough, run-down stretch of one of Copenhagen€s most crime-ridden streets. His goal was simple: to serve impeccable, intelligent, sustainable, and plant-centric food of the highest quality€"in a setting that was devoid of the pretention and frills of conventional high-end restaurant dining. Rel¦ was an immediate hit, and Puglisi€s €œto the bone€ ethos€"which emphasized innovative, substantive cooking over crisp white tablecloths or legions of water-pouring, napkin-folding waiters€"became a rallying cry for chefs around the world. Today the J¦gersborggade€"where Rel¦ and its more casual sister restaurant, Manfreds, are located€"is one of Copenhagen€s most vibrant and exciting streets. And Puglisi continues to excite and surprise diners with his genre-defying, wildly inventive cooking.

Rel¦ is Puglisi€s much-anticipated debut: like his restaurants, the book is honest, unconventional, and challenges our expectations of what a cookbook should be. Rather than focusing on recipes, the core of the book is a series of interconnected €œidea essays,€ which reveal the ingredients, practical techniques, and philosophies that inform Puglisi€s cooking. Each essay is connected to one (or many) of the dishes he serves, and readers are invited to flip through the book in whatever sequence inspires them€"from idea to dish and back to idea again. The result is a deeply personal, utterly unique reading experience.