a "Master Class" with a famous chef in history

[auntdot]

Escoffier for sauces.

I am sure he would call me a ten times fool ten times a day, but the lessons would be worth it.

[Susan G]

Slight correction if you will permit me .. on Ho Chi Min:

Parker House Hotel, 60 School St. at Tremont

Forget Faneuil Hall or Old North Church. They're ancient history. Modern revolutionaries work at the Parker House. Ho Chi Minh was a busboy; Malcolm X a waiter[/quote

I'm referring to A. Bourdain's "A Cook's Tour"............I seem to have loaned it out, so I can't give a direct quote (sigh). I believe the reference was made in the introduction, if not the chapter on Cambodia. While Ho Chi Min might have started as a busboy (we've all started at the bottom), when he left he was sous-chef.

In his autobiography Malcolm X said he was a Pullman porter - a little higher up in status than waiter.

[Susan G]

Whoops! I misread your quote..........I don't recall *anything* about the Parker house!

[kitwilliams]

point, father of 20th century cooking.

Great choice! Why would you choose him? What would you ask him to teach you??

I know you're waiting for Russ' reply, but I'd want to learn Fernand Point's original Marjolaine recipe.

I still love hearing my brother tell the tale of the dinner he and his wife had at La Pyramide on their honeymoon twenty-six years ago. Madame Point took great care with them and even after all this time, it still takes my brother about half an hour to describe the meal!

[Gifted Gourmet]

I'm never going to make a Marjolaine. I know that now. I lack the requisite time and patience. What I also appreciate is my good luck in being invited to share a cake made by two home cooks whose skills mimic Point's own. Point was a man who started and ended every day with champagne. In the kitchen in heaven where we imagine he presides, it's nice to think of him raising his glass in salute to faithful disciples.

Gateau Marjolaine

Praline Powder

This may be made in advance and stored in the freezer. It makes 3/4 cup, enough for three Marjolaines.

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 cup blanched almonds

In a saucepan combine the four ingredients. Cook without stirring until mixture is color of dark molasses. Pour onto oiled cookie sheet and let cool.

Detach praline from sheet with pancake turner and break into pieces.

Blend in food processor until ground to a fine powder. Store in freezer in a tightly closed container.

Meringue-Nut Layers

1 1/2 cups blanched whole almonds

1 full cup skinned hazelnuts

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 stick butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put almonds and hazelnuts in separate pans. Bake in hot oven, one pan at a time (nuts may require different roasting times) for about 10 minutes, or until brown and toasted through, shaking pans occasionally. Remove from oven and cool. Process almonds and hazelnuts, separately, in a food processor. Empty into a bowl. Whisk ground nuts with sugar.

Reduce oven to 250 degrees.

Set out two 17-by-11 1/2 -inch jellyroll pans. While nuts toast, prepare first pan for meringue. Melt 1 stick butter. Using half the butter, brush the bottom and sides of pan. (Surface must be well buttered or parchment paper will not lift out easily, and meringue may crack.) Line baking sheet with parchment paper, pushing tightly into corners, and brush paper thoroughly with remaining melted butter. Set aside.

Meringue

8 stiff egg whites (yolks reserved)

Pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar.

Beat egg whites (reserve yolks for butter cream), salt and cream of tartar until stiff. Gradually fold in the sugar-nut mixture.

Spread prepared pan evenly with the meringue-nut mixture. Bake in the slow oven for about 60 minutes, checking regularly, until crusty on top, but still pliable. Invert onto back of second 17-by-11 1/2-inch pan, and carefully remove parchment paper. Cool. Measuring carefully and with a sharp knife, cut meringue in half and then in half again to make four panels, 11 1/2 inches long and approximately 4 inches wide. Set aside.

Butter Cream

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

8 egg yolks, beaten

1 3/4 cups softened sweet butter, cut in cubes

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup praline powder

4 ounces semisweet chocolate pieces

In a saucepan, combine sugar, water and cream of tartar. Bring to a boil, and boil rapidly to 240 degrees on a candy thermometer, or until syrup spins a long thread. Gradually beat the hot syrup into 8 beaten egg yolks, and continue to beat until the mixture is cool and thick.

Beat in, bit by bit, the softened sweet butter, cut in cubes. (If you add too much butter at one time, the mixture will curdle.) This makes a little over one quart butter cream

Measure 1 cup butter cream and flavor it with vanilla.

Measure a second cup and flavor it with 1/4 cup praline powder.

Melt semisweet chocolate pieces with 1 tablespoon water and stir into remaining butter cream. Measure out 1 cup. (Save remainder for frosting.) Chill all creams until firm enough to spread.

Presentation: Place a meringue band on a serving plate and spread with vanilla cream. Top with second meringue band and spread with one cup of chocolate cream. Top with a third meringue band and spread with praline cream. Top with fourth meringue band. Frost sides with remaining chocolate cream and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Voila!

close enough???

the website this comes from

Edited July 5, 2004 by Gifted Gourmet (log)

[kitwilliams]

Thank you for that recipe and link, GG. However do you have a link to a place where you can have the virtual experience of making a marjolaine at the side of Fernand Point?

[Jon Tseng]

Vatel on managed your suppliers?

J

[Gifted Gourmet]

Thank you for that recipe and link, GG. However do you have a link to a place where you can have the virtual experience of making a marjolaine at the side of Fernand Point?

If I did, would I be here at eG posting? Rather suppose I would be spending my days and nights with Fernand Point, cleaning up the virtual kitchen after making these virtual gateaux ....

[Gifted Gourmet]

Vatel on managed your suppliers? 

J

I had forgotten about Francois Vatel until you mentioned his name ... and your reference to his suppliers is positively brilliant, Jon!

I think he would have been amazingly creative to take a "Master Class" with in his day!

about Vatel

[FaustianBargain]

Is there a patron saint for cooks?

master chef? Any Italian Mama, of course...even the French would agree that without Catherine de Medici,(I have permission to say so because our theory paper on History of French Cooking mentions it as clear as day!..so bite me!) French cooking wouldnt be what we know of it today..the world owes the French a debt for codifying every single technique, method and ingredient...for aesthetics of food...and all that...but even the French know that they owe it to the Italians...

[Stigand]

Is there a patron saint for cooks?

This site gives a selection.

Unfortunately not all of them would make good mentors. For example, St Lawrence is the patron saint of grill cooks, but his main experience of grilling was, alarmingly, his own execution. I imagine requests for rotisserie tips wouldn't go down too well.

[fchrisgrimm]

Racha Bassoul, from Anise in Montreal.

Remarkable French fusion informed by middle-eastern spices. Makes more popular French-Asian chefs (like, gulp(!), J-G V.) seem ham-fisted by comparison. Racha is also a remarkable pastry chef - and I'd always thought of cooking and baking as being left brain / right brain - hard for one person to do both well.

I'd want to learn her ability to both cook and bake, her subtlety with fragrance, and her precision.

I know she is contemporary, but everyone builds on the past.

[bleudauvergne]

I don't know about a chef. But I have been reading something that has me wishing I could have spent an autumn at Jane Grigson's house when she was alive. It seems like she really cared about the food. There were some things she knew very well. I would like to have walked through an herb garden with her, and prepared fresh game with her at her hearth.

[Julia'sChild]

I would go with Bartolomeo Scappi because his cookbook "Opera" is filled with amazing drawings of the ideal kitchen and all sorts of equipment for the expert cook. And you can't go wrong with the High Renaissance.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I would go with Bartolomeo Scappi because his cookbook "Opera" is filled with amazing drawings of the ideal kitchen and all sorts of equipment for the expert cook. And you can't go wrong with the High Renaissance.

Thanks for mentioning Bartolomeo Scappi, Julia's Child! In wanting to learn more about him, I happened upon this interesting piece of culinary history:

Gastronomical Services to the Conclave

Had no particular idea about any of this until now ... fascinating, to me at least!

[Special K]

Alas, now we can invite Emile Paynaud to the party. Not a chef, but if we want to learn about wine, he's the go-to guy.

K

[balmagowry]

careme although word has it that he didn't have a ounce of kindness.

Sorry to respond to this so late - been out of touch for a while - but if you're still paying attention, I'd love to know your sources for "word has it." Carême was no St. Francis of Assisi, but he was very considerate, and I know of no evidence to suggest he was unkind. He didn't suffer mediocrity gladly, but who does? And he certainly had plenty of very good friends, people who cared about him for more than his work.

If "word" is that fraud Ian Kelly....

Oh, the hell with it.

[balmagowry]

I had forgotten about Francois Vatel until you mentioned his name ... and your reference to his suppliers is positively brilliant, Jon!

I think he would have been amazingly creative to take a "Master Class" with in his day!

about Vatel

Yes, but... yes, but... didn't we discuss this upthread, way back when? Vatel was not a cook.

And BTW, I hate to keep raining on parades, but the linked page leaves a thing or two to be desired. First of all, that is not the only letter Mme. de Sévigné wrote about the Vatel suicide - the two letters complement each other somewhat, and it seems a shame to put up one of them without the other. Second, the translation is not entirely accurate (though to be fair it's closer than some I've seen). Third and most important, the remark about "throwing one's bonnet over the mill" is not only mistranslated and misinterpreted, it's just so out of place and so wrong it couldn't be much out-of-place-er or wronger (the only mitigating factor being that at least the guy doesn't accept it as proof that the story is apocryphal). OK, that phrase does occasionally appear in children's stories, but it has nothing to do with their being fiction. To throw one's cap (NOT one's bonnet) over the windmill means to throw caution to the winds, to act on impulse without bothering about consequences. In this context, what Mme de S means is merely that she is repeating the story as it was told to her and sending it off immediately, even though it may subsequently be proved redundant or incomplete.

Edited July 24, 2004 by balmagowry (log)

[balmagowry]

even the French would agree that without Catherine de Medici,(I have permission to say so because our theory paper on History of French Cooking mentions it as clear as day!..so bite me!) French cooking wouldnt be what we know of it today..the world owes the French a debt for codifying every single technique, method and ingredient...for aesthetics of food...and all that...but even the French know that they owe it to the Italians...

Some of 'em do. Some of 'em disagree. We've just been having a big argument about this on another list I belong to. There's no actual proof either way, and though I myself incline to the belief that under the circumstances it would have been impossible, over time, for Catherine de Medici not to have had an effect on French cookery; still, if you argue the point with Alain Sailhac, Barbara Wheaton, or Andy Smith, you may find they'll give that school of thought a hell of a run for its money based on hard evidence... or rather, the lack thereof. I did a lecture on this once at Long Island University and I thought it was rather convincing, but in retrospect it's kind of comforting to know that I couched it all in terms of what was likely to have happened at that juncture, rather than claiming to have the straight dope. I do think the truth falls somewhere between the two camps, and could give you political and cultural (if not strictly culinary) chapter and verse as to why... but I'll spare you.

[Special K]

Alas, we may now invite Emile Peynaud to this party (died last Sunday at the age of 92). I know, not a chef, but if you want to learn about wine, he's your man.

K

[CtznCane]

My choice would be George Mardikian who was the owner of Omar Khayyam's in San Francisco. Our family would always go there for Chrsitmas dinner and on other special occasions. Why choose him? Not for the type of cuisine but for the sheer passion he had for good food and for sharing that food with others. I've never met anyone with the passion and intensity that he had for food. He was such a joy to be around. His restaurant also had great food.

[ladybugseattle]

for more practical organisational skills and business savvy (things occasionally necessary in a restaurant), has anyone thougth of Alexis Soyer or Charles Ranhofer. Their little 19th century martial contributions and business empires tell me a lot could be learned from them.

[artisanbaker]

i just rediscovered this and i will attempt to recover the source but it may take me a few decades. i read much less about cooks than i used to.

[Gifted Gourmet]

i just rediscovered this and i will attempt to recover the source but it may take me a few decades. i read much less about cooks than i used to.

←

Thank you for this re-discovery, artisan baker! I enjoyed the thread tremendously!