[ericg]

Hi,

Wondering which French chefs are currently blazing their own trails? those who took the the old ways and made them their own? I'm talking 1980 or so to today. Thanks

 

[french fries]

Kind of a broad question. Here are a few of the more famous ones... but keep in mind there are many more lesser known French chefs that may be just as good or better!!

Anne-Sophie Pic

Yannick Aléno

George Blanc

Michel Troisgros

Christian Le Squer

Michel & Jean Michel Lorain

Bernard Pacau

Alain Ducasse

Patrick Bertron

Pierre Gagnaire

Alain Passard

Michel Bras (if you haven't seen it yet, watch the movie "Step Up To The Plate")

Christian Le Squer

Guy Savoy

Jean-Georges Klein

Pascal Barbot

Christophe Rohat

Frédéric Anton

Gérald Passédat

Éric Fréchon

Christophe Aribert

Agnès Chotin

Régis Marcon

Marc Meneau

Santi Santamaria

Michel Trama

Antoine Westermann

Harald Wohlfahrt

Jean Bardet

Jean Andre Charial

Jacques Chibois

Hélène Darroze

Gilles Goujon

Éric Pras

Emmanuel Renaut

Arnaud Donckele

Arnaud Lallement

Edouard Loubet

Thierry Marx

Jacques et Laurent Pourcel

Stephane Raimbault

Roger Verge

Éric Barbe

Nicolas Masse

Gérard Vie

 

[Iceman]

Michael Lachowicz

 

[ericg]

A broad question yes. So which few took what they learned from past generations and made it their own? can we narrow the list down to the top 10 innovators? thank

 

[french fries]

All of the ones I named (and I'm sure many many more) took what their family or their mentors had taught them and took that knowledge to new heights by innovating, making it their own. Not sure how you'd propose that 10 of them were better at it than the others. Sounds like an academic exercise ..... Is this a school assignment? What's the goal?

 

[genemachine]

No Robuchon????? Heresy!

 

[ericg]

I should have asked the question differently. Ok which French chefs are known for breaking out of the past and developing their own new style today? did all of those on that list do that? I would be surprised, there has to be about 5-7 of them that are the most notable for doing this? I'm not asking for any research paper, just to further understand the development of French food. Thanks.

 

[kuan]

Frankly, you sound like some internet journalist trying to write a listicle and asking others to do your work for you.

I mean, why don't you look them up and figure out whether you like their style or not?

 

[petalsandcoco]

Actually Kuan, he is a musician and is taking an online cooking class at Rouxbe.

EricG, take a good look at the list FF provided , these are great Chefs in their own right.  Do a little digging on your own about their history and the mark they have made in the culinary world. You will find the answers you are looking for.

Robuchon and Hubert Keller.....the list can go on.

Are those classes free ?

 

[ericg]

Wow I simply don't see the need for the harsh replies. I asked here assuming that some of you might have more insight than a Google search. Let me turn the tables, if we were on a forum and you came and asked: "Who were the key musicians that changed jazz?" I would try and help you and say: There are many, but the key people would be: King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny and Michael Brecker. I guess I'll just go search Google now. Have a nice day. 

 

[boar_d_laze]

What about Bix, Pepper, Basie, Ellington, Tatum, Waller, Joplin, Sims, Marsalis, Webb, Shaw, Goodman, Hamp, James, Krupa, Teddy Wilson, Brubeck, etc., etc., etc.? Ad infinitum, ad nauseum, ad absurdum, ad hoc, ad astra per aspera, ad campaign.

Too many good people for me to make a list of top 10 Jazz. I could probably do a top ten of white be-bob artists who worked at one time or another with Benny Goodman, but that's not what you're asking about.

Same thing with French chefs who did their own thing. If you're asking about French chefs who did their own thing and ended up creating an entire school of cuisine like Gault and Millau, the number is far smaller. Like zero if you don't count Herve This who wasn't a chef.

High end food is fashion. Fashion is trendy. Everyone steals from everyone else. Everyone worth a damn puts their own stamp on it. It's just how it is.

Individual performance and sensibility is one way cooking is different than music. A recorded tune will last forever, but a plate of food... not so much. Also, musicians are somewhat less dependent on what's in the market that morning.

The most important, modern French influences on my cooking were Bocuse, Guerard, Troisgros, and Vergé; but I suppose that with the exception of Vergé they're insufficiently contemporary.

Your thoughts?

BDL

 

[petalsandcoco]

Eric,

If you knew anything about me (as some do here) you would know that my reply was not harsh.

You gave a list of musicians , that was your answer so why should FF's answer be any different than the one you provided.

This site is not about being harsh. If you were sitting at my table right now, we would be having coffee and and going into greater detail about what I like about different Chef's who have made their mark in my life.

In fact, Give me some time, I will come up with some thoughts and I would be happy to send it to you via pm. (if you would like)

I asked you a question about your courses, for the simple reason that I was interested in knowing if these online courses have helped you hone your cooking skills. It was not a personal attack, and I think you know that. There are plenty of folks that ask about online coures, any feedback would be great.

I hope you to hear your thoughts ,

Petals.

 

[ericg]

Boar, 

Yes you are right, but the people I listed produced imitators. I guess that's what I'm asking about the French cooks. A sort of family tree of those that broke new ground.

Petals, yes Rouxbe helped, I bought a life time membership. For the clueless like me it has helped, It's great to have clear and concise videos on how to do these things. My complaint is they hardly ever release new videos but always adding recipes. Seems like they are leaning more toward vegan. I want to see some charcuterie, cheese making, french pastry, sous vide etc even though I know it's too advanced for me right now, but if you claim to be the largest online culinary school then be that. After I joined them I also joined Stella Culinary, now that guy is the real deal working every day at a restaurant. He recently released a course on structuring flavor layers which I found eye opening, it's more how to not lean on recipes. He has a no B.S professional, fast and efficient way about him that made me realize even at home I need to pick up the speed. The one thing I didn't anticipate when taking up cooking is the time involved. You simply have to take the time and plan everything through. I'm getting to the point that when my wife cooks, I have to bite my tongue and not say anything. Or when she buys the latest greatest onion chopper. Thanks.

 

[petalsandcoco]

Eric,

If your paying for these courses then I agree that they should be detailed and very clear.

You mentioned charcuterie, cheese making, and French pastry, sous vide, did you know that there is so much info on that here at ChefTalk. If you hit the search bar the information is endless. There are tutotials and and articles, discussions etc. The wealth of info is just incredible.

You spoke of Stella Culinary and a course on structuring flavor layers, have you ever read the The Flavor Bible ? If you don't have it maybe you can get it from the library, and if not , they can always borrow from another library to get it for you. Its a must have in learning the fundamentals of seasoning and learning to achieve the maximum taste and flavor.

It takes alot of time to practice too. I spend most of my weekends trying recipes, testing techniques , and perfecting recipes. Sometimes it can be a pain....but when a simple choux pastry is done over and over again, and you just know you mastered it to the point you don't even need to think about the next step, its a good feeling. Repetition.

I applaud your efforts in learning to cook. It is a world on its own. I have thoughts and opinions on your initial question which I will address at some point.

There are many great cooks/chefs here that have  immense culinary knowledge from all over the world , join in the conversations when you can. Its a whole new learning experience in itself.

Petals.

 

[ericg]

Petals,

Thanks, some times the articles are missing details. Like in the Duck fat fries tutorial they say to "brine the fries to improve flavor" but no instruction on how to brine them. I get frustrated when I see this in other recipes. They assume you know. Rouxbe is good for that, also the Jacques/Julia books are very detailed. I have the flavor bible thanks, the cooking world has really become fascinating to me. I was tempted to get into the Modernist stuff but intuition tells me learn traditional first. 

 

[petalsandcoco]

Eric,

As you know , there are two types of brine. Wet/Dry.

Wet brining simply means soaking the potatoes in a salt water solution (along with this a cook can add a variety of ther ingredients such as herbs, spices and aromatics, other liquids etc.).

I saw your post in his tutorial.

MG is a whole new playing field and I'm fascinated by it. You almost need to be a scientist at times to get the full grasp of it.

 

[ericg]

Oh so a standard salt water brine is what he is talking about. Thanks.

 

[french fries]

Wow I simply don't see the need for the harsh replies. I asked here assuming that some of you might have more insight than a Google search. Let me turn the tables, if we were on a forum and you came and asked: "Who were the key musicians that changed jazz?" I would try and help you and say: There are many, but the key people would be: King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny and Michael Brecker. I guess I'll just go search Google now. Have a nice day.

I don't believe I sounded harsh? I simply think the instant you make a limited list, you're being unfair to the ones who didn't make the list, and you're simply limiting your perspective. If you want to keep an open mind, don't limit the "Modern French Innovating Chefs" to some arbitrary number. In fact your music analogy is not fair because you specified a genre, jazz. But try and name the 5 or 6 greatest American musicians who really changed the face of music since 1980, and your list will become somewhat arbitrary - well at least that's my opinion.

It actually took me a little bit of time to come up with the list I typed in my answer to you.... so to completely dismiss it and suggest you'll do better with a google search... THAT's a little harsh, don't you think? Also you never answered my question: What's the goal?

If your goal is to get started and study some of the great French chefs, then honestly you'll do better by just picking 5 random names from my list (or the 5 first names I listed) and start there, then a bit later take 5 more names and continue, etc...

To go back to the topic and my list....

For example, Anne Sophie Pic is a third generation chef from the Pic family in Valence, France. Each one of those three chefs got his 3 michelin stars, and the lastest, Anne Sophie, took all the knowledge from her father Jacques and used it as her foundation to innovate and create her own style.

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• french fries
• May 8, 2013
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Yannick Aleno

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• french fries
• May 8, 2013

Etc, etc... in fact if I were you I'd just take some of the names I listed and search them in YouTube, you'll most likely find some videos (in French for most of them) about them, you can see which ones inspire you more than the others.

 

[french fries]

In fact, Give me some time, I will come up with some thoughts and I would be happy to send it to you via pm. (if you would like)

Why PM petals? I, for one, would be interested in what you have to write petals! And I'm sure there are dozen of lurkers who would as well. Please do share with us all!

 

[petalsandcoco]

I will gather up some thoughts and gladly share, thank you FF.

While I like what modern French chefs are doing, let us not be so exclusive. There are plenty of other great chefs that have opened our eyes to a new way of cooking and they should be included as well.

Anne- Sophie Pic has been someone I have always admired. I have always wanted to go to La Dame de Pic. She is working with Philippe Bousseton, the nose for perfumer Takasago, Pic has created three menus based upon fragrance profiles - vanille ambrée, iode & fleurs, and sous bois & épices.

When I get there, you can be sure this is one place I will not miss.