02.28.08
Classic french=>Perfection=>Bordelaise=>Laurels
Writing about the fabled “Canard Presse” (below) got my juices flowing about classic cuisine……not necessarily Haute Cuisine, but….classic. There are hundreds of years, thousands of regions in Europe pre-borders, and thousands upon thousands of individualised interpretations of what we call “classic” food.
Now, I’m not talking about fluted mushrooms, tomato roses, and potatoes carved into cepes…..every genre of cuisine has their downfalls. (ie, Escoffier’s breaded and fried cock’s comb dish…….we tried for WEEKS to recreate that dish, verbatim, and wound up splattering ourselves with hot fat and rendered capon cartilage…..needless to say, we had to finesse it a little bit…in the end, we won.)
When is the last time you had a perfect Roast Chicken Moutarde?? Or a Veal Tongue Blanquette? Or rognon blanc? Or calves brains with bechamel in puff pastry? (you have to like that stuff, of course)
The point i have come to realize, is that classic French food and service has been frowned upon, basically because what is coined “Classic” is usually associated with bitter, snotty french guys in tattered black and whites, stale service, and a feeling that you are somehow “lucky to be there”. You simply have no choice but to let them look down on you for ordering a bottle of wine under $75….or for spilling a drop of bordelaise on the linens, or for licking the plate with a resonating “slurp” because that bordelaise is Just Exactly Perfect.
The notion of perfection (a topic that has become sort of cliche within the realm of talking about crafting food….everyone wants to be a CHEF, but nobody wants to learn how to COOK.)….the notion of perfection drives us as cooks to enter our kitchen every day with the intention of doing it BETTER. Not necessarily a different conceptualisation, but a need to bring the previous night’s service, and the previous day’s prep a few strides forward. You stumbled over the shallot custard? How EXACTLY did it go wrong? The turbot was roasted PERFECTLY? Do it better.
Take, for example, the bordelaise sauce mentioned above. Essentially, it is veal bones, cleaned, blanched, and simmered with aromatics for a certain amount of time. The resulting liquid is then reduced to a 20th it volume, carefully skimmed, strained and strained again. THEN, red wine is reduced with aromatics au sec, and the reduced veal stock is then simmered with the wine enriched aromatics. Then, it is strained 10 times, and reduced AGAIN. Strained 10 times AGAIN. On pick up, it is enriched with butter and marrow, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and vinegar.
Now, if any component of that sauce is compromised, the final sauce is not so good. If the fat from the stock wasnt skimmed perfectly, the vinegar was off, too much salt, not strained enough…or, if the wine used for cooking was shit, you have a bad end product. Fundamentals.
The progression of Evangeline will begin with the basics, done well. Before we even open, the brigade will be in the kitchen, working on these basics. The opening menu, in and of itself, will reflect my opinion of where I am in my career. It will reflect the food I love, and will provide a great growth platform for what is to come. As a group of cooks and restaurant professionals, we will take our performances every night and optimize our strengths, and discard our weaknesses. Reinforcing each dish every day, adding finesse to something that needed it, and enlightening the guest with a level of hospitality I look for.
These points of finesse I expect from my staff should translate into a comfortable dining experience for the guest. Spill wine. Slurp the bordelaise off the plate. Get loud. Celebrate. Start an impromptu game of twister. Put your meal on hold, take a nap….whatever. The point, is that our command is your wish.
Whatever level of cuisine or service we achieve, I can guarantee we will revisit each technique in hindsight, to ensure a pleasurable and enlightened experience for you the next time. Resting on one’s laurels is not in our future…..the worst thing any chef can do is rest on their laurels.
E
