Learning from the best chefs in the world - Part 2

Part 1

Paul Bocuse - Second visit

Back in Lyon, because my clothes seemed to be shrinking, I was trying - in vain - to stay away from the sausages; in my efforts to find distractions from food, I went to extremes: a visit to the zoo seemed like a way to have some wholesome fun, but, after four hours of picturing the roasted loins and sauteed breasts of the fresh game on display, I decided to go to the movies.

Watching "Kramer vs. Kramer", "10" and two other American films dubbed into French, plus about four European movies, kept me away from restaurants enough so that, on the morning I was back in a bus headed for Paul Bocuse's, I was starving - which came in handy when I decided to taste about ten different kinds of goat cheese after my six main courses but before the pastries. No problem, since Nouvelle Cuisine is "lighter", right?

Madame Bocuse had greeted me again and introduced me to her husband, who, after giving me the grand tour of the whole restaurant, put me in the hands of his Chef de Cuisine, Roger Jaloux, who went out of his way, in the middle of his busy service, to answer my questions and show me as much as possible.

Here is an interesting bit of information about the Bocuse kitchen. When I did not see any copper pans and asked about this unusual fact, I found out that M. Bocuse had recently replaced all the copper with pans made of solid nickel - when I looked closer, I wanted to have a couple of the most beautiful cooking utensils made anywhere. Why the replacement?. Nickel costs more than double what copper costs, and is less efficient than copper as a heat conductor; but its conductivity is good enough to cook anything without sticking if you are careful, they heat up faster, do not discolor your foods and never need re-lining. Money is no object to the great chefs when it comes to preserving the integrity of their produce.

At Bocuse's, concern for the satisfaction of the guests is obvious. Madame herself keeps an eye on the dining room to make sure no one is neglected and Bocuse himself is constantly moving from kitchen to dining room and back.

M. Bocuse was kind enough to refer me to the manufacturer of the nickel pans, which now meant I had to squeeze in a visit to Alsace somehow.

Jacques Pic

I arrived in Valence on a sunny afternoon; after checking into the usual hotel near the train station, the first thing on my mind was to find out how to get to Jacques Pic's restaurant, where I was scheduled to be at eight o'clock the next morning. On the map in the Michelin guide it looked like a short walk; I did find it, and three hours later I was in a bus on the way back to my hotel to take my shoes off and put my feet up.

The next morning, a lady with a bunch of flowers in one hand and a broom in the other, opened the door, asked me to sit down and wait for her husband. While I waited for Jacques Pic at the door of the most modern of the great kitchens, I read a poster called "The Rules of the Chef", whose translation follows:

1. THE CHEF IS RIGHT.
2. THE CHEF IS ALWAYS RIGHT.
3. EVEN IF AN UNDERLING IS RIGHT, ARTICLE 1 APPLIES.
4. THE CHEF DOES NOT EAT; HE NOURISHES HIMSELF.
5. THE CHEF DOES NOT DRINK; HE TASTES.
6. THE CHEF DOES NOT SLEEP; HE RESTS.
7. THE CHEF IS NEVER LATE; HE IS DETAINED.
8. THE CHEF NEVER LEAVES DURING SERVICE; HE IS SUMMONED.
9. THE CHEF DOES NOT HAVE RELATIONS WITH HIS SECRETARY; HE EDUCATES HER.
10. THE CHEF NEVER READS THE NEWSPAPER DURING SERVICE; HE STUDIES IT.
11. ONE ENTERS THE CHEF'S OFFICE WITH ONE'S OWN IDEAS AND COMES OUT WITH THE CHEF'S IDEAS.
12. THE CHEF IS STILL THE CHEF, EVEN IN HIS UNDERPANTS.
13. THE MORE ONE CRITIZICES THE CHEF, THE FEWER BONUSES ONE GETS.
14. IT IS THE CHEF'S DUTY TO THINK FOR THE OTHERS.

Of course, you would know the poster was a joke, especially if you met Monsieur Pic and watched him at work with his staff. I met seven of the great chefs at work, and found they all have one thing in common: they personally check all the food before it leaves the kitchen, to the last detail. But Pic goes even farther: he actually participates in the preparation and serving with the rest of the cooks - I saw him peeling asparagus, fileting fish and doing other chores that are usually left to the apprentices. In the middle of his busy service, he made sure that all my questions were answered and that the answers were completely clear, and continually encouraged me to move around the kitchen ("Circulez, monsieur, circulez") and get as much information as possible. And I felt that he sincerely wanted to help me.

Lest you believe that restaurants of the same caliber - let's say, same prices, similar items on the menu, all rated three stars by Michelin, etc. - do their cuisine the same way, I shall relate a little incident at Pic's that made me realize this is not so.

I was being shown the preparation of Sauce Americaine (usually served with lobster, thickened with the coral and liver), did not see saffron added, but thought I missed that step. When the finished sauce turned out to have a color I was not used to, I questioned M. Pic, who confirmed to me the intentional omission of saffron because he did not think the sauce needed it. I do not recall seeing a recipe for this sauce that does not list saffron as one of the spices, yet I could not think Pic was wrong, especially after tasting his sauce - an example of my earlier statement to the effect that, as long as the integrity of the food is preserved, one dish cannot be labeled as "better" or "worse" than another, just "different".

Anyway, my intention had been to take a break after the daytime service, then come back and order dinner, but he insisted that I should have a little snack in the middle of a long day. He proceeded to instruct the maitre d' to find me "a little table" in the dining room and asked me what I would like to eat. My reply: "Anything that you think is representative of the Pic cuisine". I sat down for my "little snack" at one thirty, and I was promptly served a delicate filet of sole covered with a thin layer of Beluga caviar, accompanied by half bottle of one of the fine white wines of the region. Then came another fish course: four filets of different kinds of fish arranged to form a cross, with four sauces of different colors filling the empty spaces on the plate.

Then came meat and game courses and a bottle of an excellent red wine, a total of seven dishes, followed by cheese and four different desserts, a cigar I selected from a humidor a little smaller than my suitcase, cognac and coffee. When I rose from the table after my "little snack", it was almost five o'clock. Needless to say, I canceled my dinner plans.

There was no way I could persuade him to bill me for the meal. When I asked him why, he said he believed in supporting and helping anyone who displayed a sincere interest in good cooking. I will never forget my little snack a la Jacques Pic, nor this gentleman's kindness and generosity.

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Being in France during the latter part of Spring is in itself a good excuse for making a detour to visit Cannes, I thought, as I wandered all over this beautiful city, high on an entire day of visual "gourmandise" - the exclusive boutiques, the invisible two piece bathing suits, the deep blue Mediterranean sea, and only one pair of eyes.

But I had two other excuses to be there; their names, Louis Outhier and Roger Verge, my visits to them scheduled for my third and fourth days on the coast.

Louis Outhier

My projected two hour visit to a casino in Cannes for a little relaxation turned into a nine hour session - for circumstances beyond my control, of course - and the following morning I missed the first three buses to La Napoule. One must roll with the punches, so I chose to miss my kitchen tour at L'Oasis and just have dinner there.

Monsieur Outhier was very understanding and, with my permission, took the liberty of "substituting" a few items in my four course order, which is all I was billed for. His daughter Francoise herself served me eight or nine creations that were artistic beyond any degree I had ever imagined.

M. Outhier's cuisine reveals an incredible amount of attention to detail - and I am talking about the taste as well as the presentation. I still vividly remember a little casserole of scallops, probably not bigger than the usual cup of coffee; I had enjoyed about half of it very slowly, trying to stretch whatever was happening to my taste buds, when, BOOM! - a totally unexpected explosion of flavor, two or three little pieces of orange roe. I do not know what was in that exquisite blend of obviously very fresh ingredients, nor in some of his other dishes in which there were similar surprises. Not surprisingly, one of the menu items was the "Truffe en Surprise": a saucer with a single black truffle glazed with aspic in the middle, which turns out to be a big nugget of foie gras coated with truffle peelings.

I do know that the man is a master at accentuating the natural attributes of food and at using contrast to achieve this. And his presentation is beautiful, but simple, clean. In a way, I do not regret having missed my kitchen session a L'Oasis. I would have missed the surprises!

Roger Vergé

Roger Verge has a restaurant in Brasil, either owns part, or is affiliated with, a San Francisco Restaurant (Sutter 500) and has two restaurants in Mougins, appearing in the Michelin guide (two and three stars). In addition, there are many food products bearing his name sold in gourmet stores here and abroad - and there may be more that I don't know about.

One always pictures someone involved in that many enterprises in an ivory tower, impossible to contact and too busy for the personal touch. So, even though Madame Bise had contacted him about my visit, I was doubtful about him even being in town and was prepared to just have another super meal before leaving for Madrid the following day.

Well, surprise! He was there and came out to greet me less less than three minutes after I was announced and spent about half an hour with me before turning me over to his chef de cuisine.

M. Verge does leave town often on business, but, from my conversation with his cooks, I gathered that he is never absent for long periods. I saw him inspect the food as it left the kitchen and walk through the dining room several times to make sure the guests were happy, the same way Bocuse did. The food at Le Moulin de Mougins was, as I expected, beautifully presented and tasty, and my overall experience there enhanced by coffee and cognac in the garden, plus M. Verge's affability.

One dish I had there still makes me salivate when I think about it; curiously, it made an impression on me for exactly the opposite reason as Outhier's cuisine: lack of contrast - but not in a dull way. Perhaps "total harmony" would make a more appropriate qualifier. It was a roasted breast of pigeon garnished with what looked like a mini tamal - it turned out to be a mousse made from the pigeon's legs, wrapped in a lettuce leaf. You see, contrast is good, lack of contrast is good - isn't cuisine wonderful? You can create excellent dishes with practically any attribute you can think of, as long as you do not harm the integrity of your ingredients. Just do not be too avant garde, especially before you know all the basics and acquire some experience or your contrast will become clash, your lack of it sterility.

I would have liked to prolong my stay near Mougins and try M. Verge's other restaurant, but time was running somewhat short.

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The few days I spent in Madrid were not part of my culinary research program, but I would like to mention that I had the best fish soup I have tasted in my life there, in a restaurant called Alkalde.

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Paul Haeberlin

The gorgeous country, Gewurztraminer and the maker of Bocuse's pure nickel pans were enough to make a detour through Alsace attractive, on the way back to London for my flight back to San Francisco. I did savr a few brands of the spicy wine and am still cooking in the two sample pans I managed to get on credit (being referred by Paul Bocuse did not hurt there), but my most treasured souvenir of the region is the original art reproduced here.

The drawing was done at the dinner table while I had a most interesting and enlightening conversation about cuisine with the artist, Jean Pierre Haeberlin, who, with his brother Paul, owns and operates the best restaurant in Alsace, L'Auberge de L'Ill.

This drawing depicting the inn on the shore of the river is M. Haeberlin's autograph in my copy of Great Chefs of France. Painting takes up his time when he is not busy attending to the business aspects of the inn and overseeing the dining room. I did not get to see the kitchen at L'Auberge de L'Ill, nor to meet Paul, but from the food I was served, I cannot help thinking of him as an artist also.

The dining room was very busy, yet M. Haeberlin spent over thirty minutes chatting with me. His ideas about the similarities between cuisine and painting turned out to be analogous to mine as to cuisine and music - the subject of the conversation over the fantastic food made my last fancy meal in France even better Oh, yes! It was refreshing to see women other than the owner's wife working in a three star dining room and being served by one of them.

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My culinary adventure with the great chefs confirmed my belief that, to be a great cook, one must develop love and respect for God's greatest gift to us, food. It was worth bringing back twenty two pounds more than I took, and I am not referring to baggage.