Behind the culinary revolution

Press, 5 November 1983, Page 12

Behind the culinary revolution

I Food & Fable

by

David Burton

Of the 10,500-odd hotels and restaurants in France evaluated each year by inspectors of the prestigious Guide Michelin, only 18 have the top three-star rating, meaning “Here one will find the best cooking in France, worthy of a special journey.” While nearly all of these three-star restaurants are rather starchy formal places, there is one in Roanne, Central France, which has been at pains to preserve a warm, family atmosphere. For this reason Les Freres Troisgros has been called the most natural of all the great French restaurants. It is also natural in the sense that the owner-chefs, Pierre and Jean Troisgros, have built their reputations on a style of cooking which is almost grandiose in its simplicity. “Why ruin and cover up the taste of a good piece of meat, the flavour of a fish or shellfish, and the springlike freshness of tiny vegetables?” the brothers ask in their recipe book. “Cook them with great care, accompany them with delicate austere sauces, but let the ingredients speak for themselves: this is what we are trying to do.” Nowadays this philosophy has been codified into a style of cookery known as the nouvelle cuisine, of which the Troisgros brothers are acknowledged masters, but as late as 1975 Pierre Troisgros was quoted as saying:

“Nouvelle cuisine — I don’t know what it is — some invention of the press.” The Troisgros brothers modestly maintain they are merely following a dictum laid down by their father, Jean-Baptiste Troisgros, that cooking should be a carefully balanced reflection of all the good things of the earth.

Troisgros senior began life not as a great chef, but as the owner of a small cafe in Chalon. In 1930 he moved and purchased a small hotel in Roanne, which to this day remains the Troisgros family home. In many ways his humble beginnings influenced his attitude towards his craft. For a start, father Troisgros disliked the basic stocks, glazes and . flour-based sauces of the grand cuisine, and unnecessary garnishes which clutter up a plate without adding anything to the dish.

He especially disliked the finishing olf oi a recipe at the table by a waiter, such as ostentatious flambeeing, designed to impress the customer without actually doing too much harm to the dish.

Jean-Baptiste Troisgros did away with flour-based sauces and complex presentation, and made his sons do the same. He was the first restaurateur to arrange food on individual plates in the kitchen, rather than have the waiter serve it out from an elaborately decorated

platter. Often he used an oversized plate to form a sort of frame around the food. He was also among the first to serve young red wines cool.

Today such practices are part and parcel of the nouvelle cuisine, but back in the 19305, while French cooking still suffered under the iron rule of Escoffier, these ideas were heresy. Father Troisgros obviously had ambitions for his sons, for early on in their career he sent them to Lucas-Carton in Paris, where they received a grounding in the classical French cuisine, and later, in the early 19505, to the world-famous restaurant, La Pyramide, at Vienne.

The owner-chef of this restaurant, Fernand Point, who died in 1955, must be considered another forerunner of the nouvelle cuisine, both in his creativity and in his concern with the produce he was to cook.

“You can’t think of money

or you are beaten from the start,” he used to say. “You have to go out yourself, and get the best, the freshest ingredients — and from the best places.” Point also created a large repertoire of original dishes, amounting to what Pierre Troisgros called a “personal cuisine.”

In the mid-fifties the Troisgros brothers returned to Roanne, and shortly afterwards their father retired and handed his business over to them, with the advice that they should immediately plunge themselves into debt to upgrade the hotel. This they did, and within two years they were awarded their first Michelin star. The second star ‘followed in 1965, and the third in 1968.

They have gone from strength to strength ever since, finding themselves at the centre of a culinary revolution they probably never consciously set about to create.

Raw beef with

digoinaise sauce (Boeuf cru sauce digoinaise) Use only the best fillet steak for this recipe. The Troisgros brothers say the beef should have been aged at least 15 days. Properly chilled and salted and accompanied with the sauce, this dish is delicious, but to those who find the idea of raw beef too bizarre, I would suggest substituting rare roast topside, sliced thinly and served cold. 500 g piece fillet steak salt handful of watercress leaves SAUCE: 2 egg yolks 1 tsp Dijon or mud French mustard 3 tbs lemon juice 1 shallot, chopped (in season) OR 1 tsp grated onion 6 to 8 drops tabasco sauce 2 tbs shredded watercress leaves In a restaurant the beef would be sliced on an electric ham slicer. At home, use a long, very sharp knife and slice as thinly and neatly as possible. Arrange on four bread-and-butter plates, sprinkle lightly with salt and place in the refrigerator. Make the sauce like mayonnaise — beat the egg yolks, half the lemon juice and the mustard with a hand or electric beater, and add the oil splash by splash until it is half used up, beating all the time to stop it separating. You can add the other half rather more quickly. Finally, stir in the remaining lemon juice, the chopped shallot or onion, tabasco sauce and shredded watercress leaves.

Before serving, sprinkle some watercress leaves over the raw beef on each

plate, and with a tablespoon, dribble some sauce around the edge of each plate in a ribbon. Serves four. Salad of young spinach leaves (Salade d’epinards nouveaux) 250 g young spinach leaves 2 eggs 3 tbs lemon juice 1 tsp Dijon or mild French mustard Vi cup olive oil salt and pepper 125 g smoked streaky bacon U 4 tbs white wine vinegar Go to a self-service greengrocer and pick over the pile of spinach, choosing only the young tender plants with bright green leaves, rather than those with large, dark green leaves. You will need about 350 grams to allow for wastage— the stalks you break off and discard. Place the leaves in a sink ■ of cold water and wash well to get rid of all sandy grit. Pat dry with a paper or linen towel. Meanwhile have the eggs hard-boiling; they ‘ will need 10 minutes. Halve the eggs and mix the yolks with lemon juice and mustard. Vigorously stir in the olive oil little by little, then add salt and <- pepper to taste. Z About 6 minutes before i serving, place the bacon on ' a rack under the griller (the Troisgros brothers tell you to fry it, but I find it nicer « — and healthier — when ; grilled). Chop up the bacon and ; the hard-boiled egg whites and add just before serving. If you have fried the bacon, ’ drain off the fat and add the » white wine vinegar to the ’ pan, stirring to dissolve .any bacon residue. Stir the vinegar into the dressing and toss with the salad. Serves ; four.