avec Chef François Martin
One steadfast rule I have for my travel-blogging times is that I write everything in chronological order. Such is the nature of this pea-sized-linear-minded memory-banking person at the helm here. It would seem that everything arrives and then needs to unfold in the exact order in which it occurred. Today, I shall break that rule (I guess all rules are meant to be broken) and finish the post I began last week (note to self: composing on an iPad doesn’t work), before my aged brain cells blur any more memories of those delightful hours……..
My Thought for that day: “When you step into someone’s kitchen with your antenna up, you will receive a multitude of insights into their entire sensory framework.” It is with this in mind, that I stepped in to meet Chef François Martin of Domaine de la Baume. (I will be writing another, more full-scale post on Domaine de la Baume.)
And so, it began:
I literally couldn’t stop smiling last Thursday. I was in a haze of giddiness……..
Last week, I spent an hour and a half at the knee of Chef François Martin who is the Executive Chef at Domaine de la Baume in Tourtour, France. Let me just introduce you to Domaine de la Baume, even if it is in this most awkward and incomplete way. http://en.domaine-delabaume.com (You see, this is where the illogical flow gets me all bolloxed up.) Domaine de la Baume is part of a small group called Maisons & Hotels Sibuet – https://www.experience-sibuet.com/#!experiences/automne/voyages-luxe – more on this in another post. One word sums this place up – enchanting, but does not even begin to do it justice.
This is an oasis out in a remote part of Provence where actually a few quite knowledgeable people who we mentioned the town of Tourtour to, had never even heard of it. Normally, this would send me signals of warning, but in this case it was just the opposite. Staying here for 4 days was by far the culinary and sensory highlight of our visit to Provence. If you ever get the chance to visit, don’t miss it – I mean it.
As a prelude to my formal visit to Chef Martin’s kitchen, I had three and a half days of experience eating his food – all the while anticipating and imagining what must be going on behind that little service window. I could tell from the first moments at dinner on Monday just how masterful and skillful things in his kitchen are. It all began with an emulsion……..
Let me just step back for a second to say that I am always in awe of restaurant chefs. Their lives are a mix of grueling hours, self-sacrifice and the unyielding demands of perfection-oriented execution. If real talent is in this mix, as it is here, then you know that deep love and respect are also an integral part of the equation. Knowing all this and being the self-reflector that I am, in my heart, I know it is really a blessing that I didn’t peak out into the real world of professional cooking until I was 58 years old – if that’s what you call an internship in a local bakery after ICE cooking school. Let’s just say I am in full acceptance of my limitations in this regard and was wise enough to stay in my little cocoon of my own home kitchen and writing and photographing. I don’t have the thick skin or the temperament for the real world of the restaurant chef, and, as I learned in pastry school, I’m just way too slow.
Chef Martin’s kitchen here is just three years old and so he has the benefit of state of the art equipment and kitchen design. I paid a short visit there earlier in the week and did a quick size-up – and mostly was amazed that they have only one oven. Let’s just say that anywhere that the first thing you get to size up is a hanging ham, well, I’m game. (now, that’s funny – ham, game, get it?).
Chef was ready for me and I had a kind interpreter, Gefrey, who is a chef de partie here. Not only was I given the liberty to peak inside this highly accomplished chef’s world, but I felt fully welcomed. I’ll tell you, even with all of my cooking “experience”, such as it is, the thought of stepping into this kitchen was a little bit intimidating.
I was welcomed with an apron, notebook and pen, but I made sure to bring my camera and ask if it was ok to take pictures. It took me a few minutes to orient myself to Chefs’s mis-en-place and then try to do the sponge thing i.e., soak up every morsel of info, technique and subtlety I could in the precious time I had to spend with these nice people.
I will tell you that whatever people say about the French in any such derogatory way is oh so not present here. Everyone was kind, welcoming and inviting.
It was explained to me that we would be making Quail and Provençal vegetables. I took in a good direct glance at those two little quail, still with their heads and head feathers intact, hesitated for one instant, and then knew I’d be ok – I was not about to pass one crumb of this experience by -even if I had never even witnessed butchering a bird in person, especially this tiny and delicate creature.
We began with the most gorgeous small-variety of artichokes and I watched with high regard all the work and quick knife skills that it takes to break down an artichoke for use, the usual questions from watching chefs do this all the time pushing into my psyche – “are these big and little thistles really worth all of the work they take to prepare?” Instantly, I pushed this aside. These were particularly lovely in their original form and I got a few nice shots in before Chef’s quick knife went to work.
What I noticed first about Chef Martin’s cuisine, three days before I even met him, was the extraordinary depth and layering of flavors that he executes. This, combined with what can only be described as a brilliantly-intuitive palate, results in what has to be characterized as by far the most impressive and consistently-executed cuisine I’ve ever experienced. I knew full-well, I was in the presence of a master, and I may never have such a valuable experience again.
One thing any home cook will quickly realize when observing this skill and talent level is the deficit from which they themselves operate. Luckily, this is just a motivator for me to learn at this point in my “bring it on before it’s too late” mentality – my favorite hashtag now is “timemakeminememorable”.
As a pastry school grad, I constantly feel the absence of the culinary program, the butchering/knife skills and, particularly in this case, the absence of a grand and deep immersion into the “saucier mod” (mod, being the term used to refer to each segment of the curriculum) that more fully expand every students’s range. Let’s just say that these 4 days gave me a heretofore unrealized great respect for the huge importance of the sauce mod in french savory cooking, which, in actuality can be years of working in the role of an intern in, if you are really lucky, the kitchens of many highly talented chefs.
The irreplaceable and oh-so-undervalued talents of a great saucier:
Well, anyway, we progressed along through the steps of melding and deepening the bases of the two dishes – the importance of which can not be overstated – for the vegetable mélange and the sauce for the quail.
Expert and nimble butchering of the quail was demonstrated and they went onto searing and roasting. Think this is simple? Think again!
Butchering, searing, roasting of the quail:
The terrine of Provençal vegetables was a lovely masterpiece in and of itself. Here Chef Martin layered the simplest of individual ingredients into a small cast iron dutch oven and bathed it in his reduced vegetable stock – those lovely artichokes, carrots, onion, tomatoes and herbs, oh my!
a picture is worth a thousand words
All in all, my hour and a half of reducing, searing, roasting, arranging and resting whizzed by and before I knew it, Chef Martin was ready for plating.
The vegetable tian, once assembled, rested for a while off the heat, allowing the delicate flavors to meld in a light application of nothing more than its own steam – not to be under-estimated – this is akin to a magical potion developing over a carefully calculated time……
As an aside, let me just say that one thing I love about visiting France is how French words just begin to swirl around in your head. And, if you are like me and are not fluent (seriously, why did I not finish what I started in 5th grade?), you begin to try to conjure up all of your thoughts in French words. You begin with arrondissement and progress from there. In this case, “arrangement” or “composer” come to mind, among lots of others.
you are the beautiful expression (I am hearing that tune from Funny Girl)
It was then onto the table. George astonishingly appeared in the nick of time from his run and, never one to miss out on a priceless meal himself, sat down at the table to join me. This is where one tries to conjure up all of those great French adjectives. Formidable is just one of them.
I can not let this post conclude without confessing that all the while that I was in the savory kitchen with Chef François and his staff, I had one eye up and to the left, into the space you would call the pastry kitchen, where Chef François’ wife, Elodie works. I, of course, being capable of utter unshameable spying into anyone’s pastry kitchen, was of course intrigued beyond myself. Having already seen and sampled several of her creations, which I will cover in another post, I knew from whom I was benefitting.
After George and I sat down to our delectable luncheon (had I ever had such an elegant lunch in such an enchanting place?) I was asked if I would like dessert. For someone like me, this could be one of the most loaded questions in the universe……. How does one ever answer such a question?
My first instinct and reply was, something in the vein of “oh, no, I couldn’t” and then came, “not even a little lemon tart?” In the quickest of synapse-loaded instants, I went through the “well a little lemon tart couldn’t hurt”……..
Let’s just say that when this arrived in front of me it was an unimaginable crescendo to a most perfect luncheon. Can perfection be improved upon? Seriously, this is artwork on a host of levels. You will note Chef Elodie’s handiwork with her citrus-syrup reductions and loveliest leaves of verbena. Can I make sure that these images are all fully burned into my brain?
All I can say is this luncheon gave new meaning to the phrase, “perfect pairing”, and by this I mean, I raise my glass to Chefs François and Elodie! I don’t know the story of how these two began working together, but I do hope they never stop.
So, go ahead and pinch me, pinch me!
To say the very least, this was a deliciously-rewarding experience that will never be forgotten! I can not thank these wonderful people enough. I am not sure when, if ever, I will again be in this close proximity to this caliber of talent.
I don’t think anyone who knows me would accuse me of being given to gratuitous praise. In this case, I am certain I was the luckiest person ever to have arrived at this venue (thank you, Taylor Methfessel of SmartFlyer.com!) and been fortunate enough to have had this experience quite serendipitously suggested to me at dinner. I had read in their magazine that they did cooking classes on Sundays and, being that I had already missed Sunday, I thought I was out of luck.
As the next few weeks go on in my own little kitchen, I will try very hard to replicate the lessons learned here, of deepening and layering of flavors and the transformation of simple ingredients into delectable offerings.
Thank you, Chefs! Honestly, thank you! This experience will remain in my heart for the rest of my days as an apprentice-chef – long may they be, God-willing. For honestly, whenever does one finish being an apprentice?