MICHEL BRAS

this is a really touching video for all of michel bras fans. He is explaining how he came up with his signature dish..the famous gargouillou.  A pheasant dish of his region that consist of just potatoes, which he has transformed into a multitude of flavors n texture,s consisting of leaves n flowers n herbs that he foraged from his land. If you have the time n means, do check out L'invention de la Cuisine from Amazon and you get a few dvds on some of the worlds top chefs, plus get to spend a day in their kitchen n get to know their cooking philosophy.  This is some of the worlds best chefs n the most touching of all from the series besides Troisgros is . I tot, Michel Bras...he explains the creation of his famous gargouillou and how he transformed a simple pheasant dish into what has now been the single most  copied dish in the world...he started a trend in vegetable cooking(besides passard) , and gathering wild herbs n flowers from his surrounding land.  In the video, you will see that his cooking and his inspiration is gathered from the daily morning jogs and the formation of the his land n the architecture of the natural elements that is reflected on it. From his light n dark monkfish dish gathered from watching the shadows that is cast on to the land to spending time alone in quiet watching the different shades n colors created from the suns rays...its truly amazing how one can be so in tune to his surroundings. I guess I better get up at dawn n see what shadows are cast on the east cost beach n then head down to b bakery to forge a dish with the shapes that was gathered from the morning walks. most touching is right at the end of the interview, whereby the interviewer questioned him about the pheasant dish that he had transformed in to his gargouillou. He was asked says the interviewer: " I understand that traditionally the gargouillou always started of by sweating a piece of bacon or was it ham to add another flavor dimension to the dish". He was then questioned; " do you have that beginning ingredient in your gargouillou dish". Michel was sitting under a tree on the land that he calls the plateau during the interview, he paused for awhile and he replied, yes of course saying it with great pride for this traditional dish...it starts off with a piece of bacon at the very start, with olive oil and water, realeasing the savoury flavor of the meat..sweat it, and then, the vegetables that is totally prepared by him alone everymoring is then added to the pot containg the bacon fat n water emulsion. You see in him right at that moment, the pride he held for sticking to tradition with using bacon before every start of his gargouillou dish. My hair stood, shivers ran down my spine whne he replied:" yes, at everystart of cooking his famous vegetable dish. Respect!
He also went on to create the trend which would be the famous chocolate fondant or many wud call it molten chocolate cake in this part of the world. simply genius, simply touching.
Another chef featured from the same series  is troisgros and pascal barbot, gaing three stars in a kitchen space about the same as the one I have now at b bakery.  furthermore wit hjust only not more than five staff. serving a daily change of menu. Too damn good.  Michel wakes up at 400am in the moring , drives his almost hippie looking caravan looking thing to the market sourcing wat will be used in the days service . a self tot master chef. never before trained in any michelin star retaurant. Hats off. You re one of my favorite all time chefs.
then there is pascal barbot who changes his menu daily. small space..no stress marks on his baby face, calm n collected n very much very jovial in the kitchen. Stunning.
Then of course theres passard n his farm,  n him demonstrating some of his flavor combintions n his sauce aigre doux which is just an emulsion of vinegar, honey n lime juice. My favorite of all probably, and I've seen everyone of passards dish while working with gunther. whenever I move to a new place n do some of this slow roasting techinique....it just blows everyone away. the famous beetroot in salt crust, the dragee covered foie gras and the pigeon dish coated wiith dragee n all the sauce el naturale from the dripping into the pan. Instantaneous results for deglazing the reduce pan jus.  another  interesting technique is his demonstration of  making lemon marmalade. that has served me well in many salad dresings. truly worth getting. actually when he n his son came for the raffles food n wine event some years ago, I had the priviledge to watch them in action. very calm people I must say. N down to earth with not pretention.  Love u guys. Y tot me resoect for the lands bounty.
please watch the video, it is one of the most genuine and truthful description of ones work. he gets up at four in the moring n heads to the market...afer whcich he sits down with a cuppa nad then jogs to meditate on the dyas work demand. simply outrageous. Beside passard at the top of my list, u are definitely next michel.