Creativity

What is creativity in cooking in France today? Certainly in the days of the great chefs, creativity was expressed through the making of sauces and combinations of classic herbs, spices and varieties of fat. Then, with the Nouvelle Cuisine, creativity involved making sauces out of the same ingredients one was cooking with, as well as using novel, if sometimes bizarre combinations of non-classic herbs, spices and products. Afterwards, Alice Waters Inc., the Slow Food folks and the Generation “C” chefs have all stressed the use of local products, in season and done without fancy gimmicks. It was widely believed that Bernard Loiseau of La Côte d’Or in Saulieu and the Tantes in Paris, was driven to create new things constantly and some chefs with an axe to grind, (after the fact) suggested that it wasn’t a major depression but the pressure of the Michelin and constant creation that prompted his suicide. And Herve This, Ferrán Adrian and the molecular/chemical guys have defined creativity as/with the deconstruction and recombination of ingredients. Nowadays, though, what is creative cooking in France all about? Some recent meals are illuminating: This week* I had my third meal at Le Clocher Pereire in as many months and it reconfirmed my view that chefs Jean-Philippe Lebœuf and Eric Jolibois are truly inventive guys.  As opposed to many, they’re not reluctant to introduce new ideas and products all the time and also, as opposed to guys like Gilles Choukroun and Inaki Aizpitarte of Angl’Opera and ex-Le Transversal, respectively, don’t need to show off by serving you apples with catsup or a raw carrot.  Instead, they do neat things with slightly off-center products.  For example, at the last meal, I was served cooked sea urchin tongues that looked all the world like roe with a fried croquette of raw urchin and a side of cauliflower puree, a risotto of fresh vegetables whose sauce can only have been made with fresh legumes and goose fat; followed by hare and its liver (like foie gras it was) with a venison sauce, a cabbage envelope with diced pear and a croquette of polenta, and scallops with a nut-topped, orange-flavored sauce. The finales – Ossau-Iraty cheese and a moelleux of chocolate were both top of the line, as well. To recover from this, the next day* we went to a place that sounded much simpler and less gustatorily challenging, TMK only written up by Richard Hesse in Paris Update and Philip Couderc in the Nouvel’Obs – L’Entêtée in the 14th.  Wrong, it was every bit as inventive as the day before’s meal.  As well it should be with a name such as pig-headed.  The chef here, Julie Ferrault, is only 30 and looks even younger, and despite just having delivered a baby a month or so ago, right after having opened the place, she was in full throttle.  Again the food astonished: a vanilla-infused celery soup as an amuse-bouche, a 20 € menu for me consisting of a mushroom soup (called a cappuccino) with a creamy garlic sauce, a big piece of biche with a wine sauce and a fondant of chocolate; and a 30 € menu for Colette with a “tarte tatin” of endives with goat cheese, farm-chicken tenders with a coriander sauce and rice (ris au lait) made with coconut milk and an apple tart with a “mousse” of caramel of salted butter.  Wow. So what’s creative these days in France or at least in Paris?  I’d say the answer derives from working in one or more great kitchens, with/under the likes of Alain Dutournier of Le Carré des Feuillants or Roland Durans of Passiflore, respectively, understanding what all spices and herbs do, knowing where to buy good products, and letting one’s imagination go, not wild, but out of the box. *My last meals, both of which I paid for in full, were 28 and 29 December, 2007. My favorites for this essay were: Le Clocher Pereire 42, bvd Pereire 17th, (Metro: Pereire ) T: 01.44.40.04.15 Closed Saturdays and Sundays Lunch menu 17, dinner 29 and 38, a la carte 35-50 €. L’Entêtée 4, rue Danville 14th (Metro: Denfert-Rochereau) T: 01.40.47.56.81 Closed Sundays and Mondays Lunch and dinner menus 30 €; 3-course no-choice menu= 20 €; and an endlessly served soup for 12 €. ©2007 John A. Talbott