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| MICHEL
ROUX - LIFE IS A MENU |
FOOD
& COOKING ARTICLE |
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 During
the middle of October I was fortunate enough to attend
a literary lunch held at Raymond Blanc's Cheltenham
Brasserie, le petit Blanc. The guest speakers were Sophie
Grigson, Rick Stein and Michel Roux with Raymond Blanc
as the host.
Held
as one of the events during the Cheltenham Festival
of Literature, it was an opportunity for each of the
speakers to tell us a little bit about themselves and
their books before making themselves available for book
signing.
As
part of each speakers presentation they were asked to
name the dish they most enjoyed creating. Why do I mention
this? Perhaps because I found the 'faux-pas' made by
Sophie Grigson, as the first speaker, both entertaining
and memorable. I hope she will forgive me for mentioning
it and that she has seen the funny side of it since.
What
was the great 'faux-pas'? With one of the world's greatest
Chefs and pâtissiers sitting, waiting to
speak next, she pronounced that she was an expert at
cooking 'Tarte Tatin' and that all the chefs who used
puff pastry had got it wrong!
As
Michel Roux rose to his feet he congratulated her on
her speech and as an aside mentioned that he was one
of those poor chefs who used puff pastry! The whole
episode made for a highly entertaining lunch.
The
climax for me came slightly later when having bought
a copy of Michel Roux's latest book, "Life is a
Menu", I was able to approach him for his signature.
Having reached an age where I am not so afraid of getting
embarrassed I had the effrontery to ask could I reproduce
one of the recipes from his book on the Hub-UK
website. He agreed, which is why I have related the
above story and reproduced in the Recipes section his
recipe for Tarte
des Demoiselles Tatin.
Reading
the book has been a great experience, tinged with regret
for me. It has been a great experience because unlike
a lot of autobiographies it is interesting, informative
and entertaining and, whilst it tells you a lot about
the life of the man and the chef, it leaves you wanting
more - a great appetiser. If I had not already got the
book it would certainly be a must on my Christmas list.
And
why tinged with regret? Because there are some things
in life you should have done but the opportunity has
been missed. For a good many years I lived only a few
miles from Bray, where the Waterside is, and always
promised myself that I would dine there both for the
experience and to be able to say I had eaten food created
by the Roux brothers. I never got there and now time
is running against me and I live in the wrong part of
the country. What did I miss?
 I
got a glimpse of that last night too! I have only had
permission to print one recipe so if you want to cook
the recipe from the book for Beef Stroganoff, which
I did last night, you will have to buy it. My own recipe
for this dish has been on the website for a long time
now but after following Monsieur Roux's recipe . . .
my wife thought it was sublime and said she had never
tasted anything quite so good.
I
have worked in the kitchens of Raymond Blanc in Cheltenham
- what an experience it would be to spend a day in the
kitchens of one of the world's greatest Chefs, Michel
Roux.
Ah
well, we can all dream!
- If
you want to order a copy of the book - click
here
Email
Hub-UK : info@hub-uk.com
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