Gaston Lenôtre

Gaston Lenôtre (20 May 1920 – 8 January 2009) was a French pastry chef and caterer.

樂諾特賀（Gaston Lenôtre）從小就展露對於甜點的興趣與天分，二十七歲那一年給自己的 生日禮物即是在家鄉開設了第一家甜點專賣店。十年之後，與妻子聯手在巴黎第十六區 ... 劇院蛋糕是六O年代由Gaston Lenôtre發明，這位1920年生於諾曼地的天才甜點師，1947年 設立第一家甜點店後，隨後於1950年頂下位於巴黎Auteuil街44號的蛋糕店，並一舉成名 ...

Inside Europe | 31.01.2009 | 07:05

The Legacy of France's Culinary Maestro

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Gaston Lenotre's legacy lives on

One of the great French chefs of the late 20th century, Gaston Lenotre, died earlier this month at the age of 88. He was best known as the man who transformed French pastry-making.

It was once said of him that his name on a cake was as important as that of Christian Dior on a dress. President Sarkozy paid tribute to him, saying Lenotre raised patisserie to the rank of an art. The chef built up a large catering and restaurant empire, as well as a successful cookery school outside Paris.

Gaston Lenôtre, Who Built a Culinary Brand, Is Dead at 88

By BASIL KATZ

Published: January 9, 2009

PARIS — Gaston Lenôtre, founder of the restaurant, catering, retail and cooking school empire Lenôtre, which embodies French savoir-vivre and savoir-faire, especially in the art of pastry, died Thursday at his home in Sennely, in the Sologne region south of Paris. He was 88.

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C. Bosio/France Match for The New York Times

Gaston Lenôtre in 1974. He exported French flair and decorum.

His death was announced by his company. The cause was cancer, said Marie-Jo Dalibard, a spokeswoman for Mr. Lenôtre’s first wife, Colette, with whom he started his first Paris pastry shop.

Mr. Lenôtre was the exacting patriarch of French pâtisserie. He rejuvenated pastry making in the early 1960s and then created a worldwide group of 60 boutiques in 12 countries, which can cater to every whim, from truffled pâté for 25,000 guests, to a banquet for the queen of England, all with French flair, service and decorum.

Pierre Hermé, one of France’s leading pastry chefs, who became an apprentice at Lenôtre at 14, recalled in a telephone interview Thursday that Mr. Lenôtre “dusted, lightened and modernized the heavy pastries of the 1950s.” He added, “He made them lighter, more pleasureful, more desirable, and that’s fundamental in the world of pâtisserie.”

Gaston-Albert-Celestin Lenôtre was born May 28, 1920, on a small farm in Normandy. Both of his parents worked in restaurants in Paris, and after his father’s illness forced them back to Normandy, he struggled to find a place in a restaurant kitchen. Before World War II broke out, he peddled homemade chocolates in Paris on his bicycle for pocket money.

After the war, Mr. Lenôtre opened his first bakery in the small Normandy town of Bernay. Success there led him to buy a small, struggling bakery in the fashionable and quiet 16th Arrondissement in Paris in 1957, with Colette.

Mr. Lenôtre was immediately successful. His cakes, pastries and chocolate creations presaged the arrival of nouvelle cuisine of the early 1970s, which demanded a return to simple preparations and the freshest ingredients. He cut the cream, lightened the mousses and focused on quality ingredients, like good butter.

In 1964 Mr. Lenôtre started the catering service, which, thanks to new techniques in freezing during production and the inclusion of gelatin to stabilize mousses, quickly mushroomed from weddings and small events to serving thousands at a time.

In 1971, Mr. Lenôtre opened a cooking school in Plaisir, west of Paris, to train professional pastry chefs. The legion of cooks who passed through his schools or his kitchens have helped preserve and transform the rest of the industry. “He really understood that without transmission, his profession had no future,” Jean-Claude Ribaut, the food critic for the newspaper Le Monde, said in an interview.

David Bouley, a chef who runs several restaurants in New York and who attended the Lenôtre school, recalled four intense days under Mr. Lenôtre devoted solely to egg whites.

“I remember those days so well, and how clear and articulate he was,” Mr. Bouley said in a telephone interview. “He was a master at building production. He was the first one to use gelatin in his buttercreams, and to make such extensive use of the freezer.”

In April 1974, Mr. Lenôtre sent Michel Richard, who was his apprentice at 20 and who now runs several successful restaurants in the United States, to open Chateau France on East 59th Street in New York City. An 80-seat restaurant and pâtisserie, it was meant to showcase the Lenôtre style.

“It closed a year later,” Mr. Richard said. “Americans weren’t ready for his pastries. They could only feed one person, whereas American cakes were much richer.”

Not discouraged, Mr. Lenôtre opened a store in Berlin in 1975, quickly extending to Japan and the Middle East.

In 1985 Lenôtre was taken over by Accor, a major French hotel group. In 2008, Lenôtre’s revenues were $162 million. Lenôtre, which has 18 boutiques in France alone, has also owned the three-star Paris restaurant Le Pré Catelan since 1976.

“Lenôtre is a luxury brand like Chanel, this lightness in the cakes that comes from only working with quality,” Patrick Scicard, who has been director and general manager of Lenôtre since Mr. Lenôtre’s retirement, said in a telephone interview.

Mr. Lenôtre’s survivors include his second wife, Catherine; and three children, Alain, Sylvie and Annie; his younger brother, Marcel; 8 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. His nephew Patrick is a chef in Paris, and his grandson Serge Gilles-Naves has a restaurant in the South of France. Many of the pastries elaborated by Mr. Lenôtre are still sold in the boutiques. The Opéra, an almond bread with coffee cream and chocolate frosting; the Succès, an almond meringue cake with nougatine and almond praline; and the Feuille d’Automne, a cake composed of almond and vanilla meringue with dark chocolate mousse — are all original Lenôtre recipes.

“When you’ve been at Lenôtre, it’s like a drug,” Mr. Richard said. “You’ve been injected with his recipes that you have to carry your whole life.”

香餅 牛舌薄餅(明新)南棗核桃糕 (DAWNCAKE)

20090215
http://www.dawncake.com.tw/
南棗核桃糕(CD裝)


Justing 送
2009 春節
芋頭酥 鳳梨酥


*****
2008 7 27
香餅

牛舌薄餅
MILKY PANCAKES
創新工法 南疆風味 薄薄脆脆 令人回味
--明新食品企業 台南市安平
2008年 Justing 送嚐


〈商品編號：M01561198〉

台南》明新餅店 香餅很滋補

2006/03/09

【記者黃彩絹／報導】 香餅是古早台南婦女做月子時吃的點心，和蛋煎麻油補身。（記者黃彩絹／攝影） 台南府城歷史淵源流長，蘊育豐富文化禮俗，人生大事從彌月、周歲、嫁娶到節慶都不可缺的糕餅，也成了台南重要的食品文化，創辦近半世紀的台南明新餅店，不會讓人失望。 明新食品本店是許唐誠父親所創，早年因應當時的市場需求，主要製作祭祀及節慶用的紅龜糕、花生龜餅等，民國78年左右，隨著經濟發展，國人飲食習慣改變， 後因其所在地點毗鄰成功大學及台南一中，，附近民眾及學生對麵包需求高，他的父親專程北上在南港烘焙學校（現中華穀類研究所）學習烘焙，並逐漸轉型經營西 點麵包專賣店，至今共開了十家門市，主力生產麵包、蛋糕、中式喜餅及府城名產外，最近還經營起番茄咖啡館及番茄廚房。 許唐誠指出，台南最古早的三種糕餅中，香餅純以麵粉和糖做成扁圓球型，中間挖個洞打個蛋煎麻油，是台南人給做月子產婦的滋補點心，此餅只有 台南有，現在明新也會做些讓台南人回味。另外蒜香枝又叫麻花、索仔股或腳車藤，其中以蒜調味的最受歡迎。麵粉酥則是不黏牙的道地點心，古代訂婚或廟會乞龜 時，都會用麵粉酥做成喜餅或麵粉龜分送親友祈福。 許唐誠指出，台南共有七座一級古蹟：赤崁樓、安平古堡、億載金城、大天后宮、祀典武廟、孔子廟及五妃廟，該店延聘畫家畫下這七座古蹟，做為各種糕餅的包裝盒，別有創意。 因應時代需求，明新最近開發了無糖健康系列蛋糕，適合糖尿病人、高血壓病人等食用，另外道地的中西式喜餅，香菇魯肉口味大餅及芝麻喜餅等都很有名，而國人愛吃的燒餅，該店也以新鮮奶油及葵花子油調製，特別健康可口。

Obama's Tastes

YouTube - Chef Rick Bayless Discusses the Obama's Tastes

「美」食文化 名廚望新總統推動

【聯合報╱編譯高國珍／美聯社華盛頓24日電】 2009.01.25 02:21 am

美國新總統歐巴馬懂得享受美食，也喜嘗鮮，美國名廚寄望他能帶動國民提升吃的品味，進而重視食物來源、及對良好農場環境的永續經營。 歐巴馬11月到他最愛的芝加哥一間餐廳時，一位女侍興奮地問他，要不要來一杯本餐廳特製的瑪格麗特雞尾酒，由上等材料製成，不加冰塊，在桌邊現場搖製。 歐巴馬開玩笑答道：「你知道我就是這樣喝的。」 餐廳主廚貝雷斯（Rick Bayless）說，歐巴馬用餐舒適自得，讓身體輕鬆靠著椅子，享受食物。前總統布希則很少上館子，也鮮少談及口味。 貝雷斯形容歐巴馬，「他是那種喜歡嘗鮮的饕客。」「我希望他可以讓美國人發展出真正的食文化。」 「食文化」、「產地直送」聽起來也許像高檔餐廳用語，美國名廚是希望人們食用當地種植、重視環境永續經營的營養食物。 他們也要求來他們餐廳的用餐者食用自己種植的食物，在農場自設的市場購買食物，並對食物來源留心。 常批評美國食文化的紐約熱門餐廳藍丘（Blue Hill）主廚巴伯（Dan Barber）表示，新總統伉儷一些小小的動作，就可以讓主廚們多年來的願望得以實現。巴伯認為，只要先做到公布歐巴馬每日菜單，就可以促進民眾提升食文 化意識，「因為大家都想要吃得像歐巴馬」。 許多頂尖名廚也和巴伯一樣，認為美國大部分食物經太多道手續、也不關心種植環境，但得到太多補助，讓想賣自然營養食物的小農難以謀生。

網評》歐巴馬吃的是哪一種熱狗餐？

看傅培梅燒菜╱愛亞/那些舊時味

那些舊時味

【聯合報╱愛亞】 2009.01.25 02:35 am

懂吃又做一手好菜的作家愛亞，不但吃美味，還要吃健康。 （本報資料照片） 我在碗裡盛了飯，用飯匙壓平壓扁那些漂亮的糙米飯粒。 我用湯瓢在小鍋裡舀了一大瓢絞肉燒的仆菜，仆菜被醬油和肉汁和它自身染成代表鹹香的黃褐色。 我取一雙箸，一手執碗，我怎麼覺得我是重複在做以前做過的動作？飯壓平壓扁後即使澆了湯也很難扒動，我把箸筷使力插入飯中挖出一團粘得緊實的飯，所有的記憶都回來。 幾棵紅辣椒半壟青蔥這樣長那樣長 我在新竹的童時，當我去小伴家，那四年級五年級即已當家作主的小女孩們在肚餓或嘴饞的時候，會給她自己和我各盛一碗飯。不是糙米飯而是少少白米雜了大量曬乾的番薯簽，那種偶吃很香頓頓吃會覺喉嚨乾苦的飯。 飯盛好小伴會使力用飯匙壓壓壓……那時淋上的是筍湯、是菜脯滷、是南瓜燉、是白菜炒辣、是醃蔭瓜，更多時是各種料理方式燒出來的仆菜，都好吃，真的好吃， 雖然每一道料理都是素菜。當時鄉間的困窘是食無肉，甚至連油都沒有。我們用箸筷使力挖掘飯坨，口中叭噠叭噠，吃它個痛快。 鄉裡不論誰人家，或許家中沒有稻田，但不可能不種菜。家家有菜園，那菜園規模小小，東一片嫩青綠的小白菜，西一片吊著紫花的茄子，搭著細竹架的是爭擠著長葉長莖長曲彎鬚子的長豇豆和秋扁豆，幾棵紅辣椒半壟青蔥這樣長那樣長，爬在房頂瓦上閒閒生著的是絲瓜、瓠仔和苦瓜。 我就是這樣幸福地和豬一起吃牠的糧 什麼季節吃什麼菜，小伴永遠在恰當的時候去拔長得剛好的菜。有時她會說豬沒有番薯吃了，我便和她一起去她家田裡撩開硬老的番薯藤蔓拔番薯。番薯土壟土鬆，一拉藤蔓不夠胖壯的番薯便隨藤出土了，地不肥，什麼都長不好。 竹籃、布袋裝了番薯，兩個國小兒童根本拎也不成揹也不成，我們把布袋竹籃在地上拖行，一路走一路拖拉，反正總有辦法回家。回家的路上先把番薯拖到小河溝去，在河溝裡大洗一頓，待河溝水成渾就差不多了。 大番薯用剉叉叉成粗條狀，立時送到屋前的三合土夯的泥地上鋪上稻草席曬。小伴累了就換我上陣，得小心別剉傷手，番薯簽沾了血還怎麼樣吃哪！小番薯就扔到灶上大鼎鍋裡，再把番薯藤放在大木砧板上用砍柴的舊刀剁成碎，和小番薯一起煮給豬吃。 我最愛小伴由燙鍋裡撈出幾個冒著大汽的小番薯給我，我就是這樣幸福地和豬一起吃牠的糧，是到現在都沒忘記香滋味的幸福的豬糧。 蔭瓜收成的季節，鄉間隨地可見曬著剖兩半的蔭瓜。小伴切瓜我用手將瓜瓤掏乾淨，瓜瓤帶著甜味，把瓜子甩掉就可以嘗上一點香，我邊掏瓤邊吃瓤，十分喜歡那工 作。上學的路上路過小伴家也不忘大方地捏一片小些的醃了鹽的蔭瓜一路吃到學校，路過河溝洗去一些鹹鹽，一邊口中嘀咕：「這是我掏的瓜瓤我當然可以吃，這不 算偷。」 更早的吃食回憶在…… 第一次在街頭小攤吃番茄沾醬油我確實有些吃驚，番茄可以燉湯，可以炒蛋、炒豆腐，兒時也有雙手抱一只紅番茄大啃的印象，但沾醬油？有些不按理出牌。 番茄沾糖是吃火燙鍋子之後的清涼劑 初早母親在鄉間菜場就發現了番茄的便宜，她說：「以後多吃西紅柿，本地人不吃，好便宜。」父親將他幼時的吃番茄方法傳授給我：先用小鍋燒半鍋水，將番茄放 入燙，剝掉皮，取刀在碗中切番茄成小塊，加白糖攪拌就是好吃的番茄蜜。這種吃番茄的方法我食用了一生。但心中一直有個記憶：番茄應是沾糖吃的。 兩岸通了之後我曾去北京探我的小姑，晚餐吃羊肉火鍋和小姑親手包的茴香餃子，但那切片擺盤的生紅番茄要做什麼？姑丈說：「西紅柿上頭沾了白糖就這麼吃，我們從來都這麼吃。」 我們從來都這麼吃？那麼，我覺得番茄該沾糖吃是印象？是我三歲之前在大陸的印象？竟然，我能夠記得那樣古舊的事，番茄沾糖是吃火燙鍋子之後的清涼劑！ 哎，番茄沾醬油，番茄沾糖……

看傅培梅燒菜

【聯合報╱愛亞（作家）】 2009.01.25 02:35 am

烹飪名師傅培梅教無數家庭主婦、主夫，燒出美味家常菜。 （本報資料照片） 送 走低壓籠罩的鬱卒鼠年，迎接務實打拚的嶄新牛年；除夕闔家團圓年菜上桌，喜慶氣氛中，《讀書人》邀請懂吃、愛吃，寫吃別有美好滋味的作家愛亞，回味記憶中 難忘的吃經驗：看家喻戶曉的烹飪節目主持人傅培梅現場燒菜、想念童幼時貪饞的菜根香。用食物寫記憶，祝願來年每個人都有值得回味的美麗時光。（編者） 民國51年我高中畢業，大學沒考上，依報紙小廣告四處找工作。一天小廣告指引我在台北市一個老舊的公寓裡口試播音工作，還在擔心是不是要我去街頭賣藥，錄取信就叫去練習廣播劇了。 我們有三個還是四個？都是女生都十八、九，練了一陣，口試的先生便帶我們正式上陣，什麼？竟是去電視公司！那位先生是當時有名的製作人葉明龍。 電視公司是當時唯一的一家也是台灣第一家電視公司，就是台視啦。那時只有現場節目和影片的播出，還沒有錄影的技術，我們去給現場播出的布袋戲配上國語台詞，真真緊張！只要出錯便錯播錯看，毫無挽救的可能。 布袋戲之前是烹飪節目，我們必須先入攝影棚準備，所以每周都會看燒菜。節目主持人每次都是同一人，她叫傅培梅。 邊燒邊講解，顧油鍋顧刀工顧助理不出錯 這節目我在家時一定看，但電視是黑白的，哪有現場全部彩色又有油氣菜香來得誘人，因此當天我都提前到現場。在現場看才知什麼是「分秒必爭」，主持人現場燒 菜，邊切邊講解邊燒邊講解，要顧油鍋要顧刀工要顧助理不出錯要顧鏡頭在哪要顧時間分配還要顧現場指導的指示。以前的人都一板一眼，不可出錯不能表情不對也 不時興耍寶，正經八百地燒菜，我每次看都替主持人緊張得要命。 那是當時唯一的烹飪節目，傅培梅已嶄露頭角，萬一鍋鏟掉地鍋蓋鏘鏘劃火柴點瓦斯爐不著刀又切到手怎麼辦？而且現場指導動不動就用食指在空中畫圈圈，意思是 叫她加快動作；可剛加快樓上導播又從耳機給下了令，現場指導就又用兩手由中間向左右兩旁慢慢拉開表示慢一點、慢一點。有時主持人眼睛一飄口裡一支吾，就知 道現場有變化了，但一般來說傅培梅都穩穩當當，真服了她。 因為是現場節目，有些菜不可能花一個鐘頭兩個鐘頭去燒，傅培梅得在家預先燒好一個完成的菜。現場不論進行到何處，時間到就把燒好的菜端出來在鏡頭前，所以 節目結束大家就有好菜吃。那時沒有紙碗塑膠碗，每次傅培梅幾個竹編菜籃裡一定有一籃瓷飯碗，甚至她會事先燒兩份菜，為的就是節目完成給現場的工作人員嘗 香。 我們幾個等時間的小鬼只有我會挨近了看她燒菜，有一次她盛了一碗拿了筷親自端來給我，對我說：「下次站過來一點，上回我看到妳菜已經沒有了。」後來她又 說：「妳下次就自己來找我，不然妳上節目會來不及。」當然我不好意思真的去找她「討東西吃」，但我自覺，這樣多年來我在自己的工作領域裡也有一點小小成績 而我一直沒有養成「架子」的壞習氣，應該有受到她的影響。 會燒紅燒肉會包餃子，都是傅培梅的弟子 傅培梅的美麗傅培梅的旗袍傅培梅的從不重複的各式圍裙傅培梅把醬油讀作「薑油」都留給我深深的印象，但印象最深刻的仍是她的《培梅食譜》。她出版的食譜有 舊本、重印本及新印本，包括《培梅食譜》、《電視食譜》、《家常菜》、《傅培梅時間》……數十種之多，許多書都有十版、二十版的紀錄，《培梅家常菜》甚至 出了「出版二十萬冊紀念版」。 一本書就有二十萬冊？真有那樣多人買嗎？傅培梅僅是《傅培梅時間》電視節目就做了一千四百多集，燒了四千多道菜，她是二十世紀台灣名人中少數全民皆知的人 物。有誰能又做電視烹飪節目又出烹飪書不中斷不休息長達四十年！她在電視主持烹飪節目由台灣做到日本又做到美國，當時到外國留學的留學生行李中必備一為大 同電鍋一為傅培梅食譜，可見她對台灣人影響之大。留學生都會滷菜都會燒紅燒肉都會包餃子，其實都是傅培梅的弟子啊。2002年她身體逐漸衰弱，2004年 她因胰臟癌移轉肝肺病逝。 我曾在困窘的生活裡，買過彩色精裝價格不菲的好幾本《培梅食譜》。我在早婚的日子裡常是灶前架著一本文圖並茂的《培梅食譜》把丈夫、孩子、客人都伺候了。有時燒了一桌子菜也會悄悄問一聲：「傅老師，我，還可以嗎？」 只讀字不能看見菜，這有什麼好吃呢？ 有些人不認為食譜是正經書，我卻一直是食譜的固定讀者，我還曾經買來原文食譜，邊查字典邊「看圖會意」，也由這種途徑做過日本料理、烤過美式甜點、認識蔬 果的英文名字……食譜無彩色不香，無照片動不了食慾，或許這些也都是傅培梅極力提倡的。我成長後曾經訪問她，她說：「你得看見，燒菜不管在電視上在書本裡 聞不到味道已經很遺憾了，還只能讀字不能看見菜，人家會覺得這有什麼好吃呢？一定要有彩色照片。」 台灣人特別好吃，對食味要求也高，我們的小吃迷死人，大菜普遍燒得細緻，吃客都能把食物的好壞說得清楚，恐怕和大家都接受過電視烹飪節目和食譜的教育有關吧，而傅培梅是其中的大功臣。傅老師，妳說是不是？

新加坡Tippling Club

最有创意的餐厅

作者：伦敦Providores主厨彼得·戈登(Peter Gordon) 2009-01-21

上 一次新加坡之行是在1986，我在马来西亚搭便车去了那儿，在一个不怎么样的背包客旅店住了三天，心里反复地念叨，跟东南亚其它地方相比，新加坡是多么的 干净。今年十月我再次经过，跟一群朋友住在一起，他们带我去了Tippling Club，这是我多年来去过的最富创意的餐馆之一。

澳大利 亚鸡尾酒艺术家马特•巴克斯(Matt Bax)和英国主厨莱恩•克里夫特(Ryan Clift)在莱恩的妻子丽萨(Leesa)的帮助下加盟该饭店。丽萨负责打理店面，出资人是辛西娅•蔡(Cynthia Chua)。马特•巴克斯来自墨尔本的Der Raum酒吧。莱恩•克里夫特之前在墨尔本经营Vue de Monde。餐馆的菜单有三种形式：你可以选择5道、10道或者15道菜的套餐，每道菜配一种鸡尾酒或红酒。我们点了10道菜套餐，价格是每人310新币 （合130英镑）。

首先上来的是奶油果仁汤跟教师烈饮(Teachers Tipple)。和汤一道上的是个薄薄的可以吃的碗，碗里盛满黑巧克力果冻、起泡山羊凝乳和嫩芹菜。搭配的饮料装在圆肚细颈玻璃瓶中，瓶子则装在一本挖空 的书里，这款饮料是把14年陈的单一麦芽威士忌同胡萝卜、生姜、红辣椒、蜂蜜和柠檬混在一起。酒跟菜的搭配构思巧妙，后面的菜想来也差不到哪里去。

绿咖喱水煮鹌鹑，四周配以美味的油炸花生粒和泰式罗勒叶。酸甜甜根菜浸龙舌兰酒配鲜榨番茄汁、橙汁和怪味水。

一盘嫩蔬菜配牛肝菌泥——牛肝菌泥是一种有着湿润的森林与蘑菇气息的冻干粉。与这道菜搭配的是智利蒙特斯经典系列中的2006年莎当妮干白 (Montes Classic Series Chardonnay 2006)。细微的橡木味道令蘑菇块菌的香气愈发诱人，同时用几种鲜嫩蔬菜混在一起打底——非常聪明的搭配。

开心果拼盘配“云清”(clouds clearing)是第九道菜。半冰冻的橙片置于涂有抹茶泥的盘中，橙子果冻条与卷着开心果奶油的干冻小块绿茶蛋糕排在一块。“云清”听上去像日本的俳 句，是液氨冷冻的越橘和花柚子碎屑配以薰衣草丝，在上面淋上以巴西Sagatiba Pura朗姆酒为主的卡皮利亚(caipirinha)鸡尾酒，当卡皮利亚淋在你面前的薰衣草丝上，芳香宜人的云雾便会从玻璃杯中升起。

食物与饮料的巧妙搭配相当不俗，尽管听上去似乎有些矫饰和卖弄聪明，但好在所有惹人喜爱的巧思完全专注于味蕾与精神的享受。这些显然是饭店实验室里的创意，却用一种充满狂热的方式纵情呈现，带来一场味觉风暴，令你倍感活力与满足。

彼得•戈登(Peter Gordon)是伦敦Providores的主厨

Tippling Club，8d Dempsey Road，新加坡，249672，电话：+65 6475 2217；

www.tipplingclub.com

译者/红岭

François Simon, a food critic in Paris, protects his identity.

In Paris, a Critic Criticized

By ELAINE SCIOLINO

Published: January 13, 2009

PARIS

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Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times

HE CUTS HIS WAY François Simon, a food critic in Paris, protects his identity.

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Disney/Pixar

DOES HE BLOG? Anton Ego, the food critic in the animated film “Ratatouille,” was supposedly modeled on François Simon of Le Figaro.

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Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times

IN THE KITCHEN Le Cochon à l’Oreille, the restaurant in Paris where Mr. Simon cooked for diners who had won a meal.

WHEN the sommelier in the overpriced Paris restaurant started to refill the glass without asking, François Simon stopped his hand in midair before a drop could fall.

“I like to control the temperature of my wine,” he announced. “In a restaurant, I am horrified by having to obey. I want to be indulged.”

Mr. Simon may be the most feared and most read figure in France’s culinary world, an ordinary looking man with a fountain pen as razor-sharp as a butcher’s slaughter knife.

As food critic for the right-of-center Le Figaro newspaper for more than two decades, he has skinned, sliced, grilled and roasted his subjects, indifferent to the impact of his words on them, but can be thin-skinned when they hit back.

He once described a meal at the restaurant Guy Savoy, a Michelin favorite, as “a three-star crucifixion,” faulting Mr. Savoy for serving his signature artichoke and truffle soup out of season. Marc Veyrat, who enjoys an unheard-of perfect 20-20 score in the Gault-Millau guide, is for him a “clown” and “a fake peasant” with megalomaniacal tendencies.

He has extended his reach with books, a weekly cable television show in which he hides his face and a blog that includes his secret video recordings with a hand-held camera of some of the great and not-so-great tables of France.

Not content simply to pass judgment on others, Mr. Simon claims to be an accomplished cook himself. His blog, in both French and English, boasts that he can cook a chicken 200 ways.

Last month, though, he took a step that few of his colleagues would have dared. He closeted himself in the kitchen of the tiny, mural-tiled bistro Le Cochon à l’Oreille and cooked five nights in a row, each night for 20 or so diners who had won the free meals in a first-come-first-served Internet sign-up.

Mr. Simon’s debut as a chef occurred during the annual “Le Fooding” week, sponsored by a French gastronomic movement that he strongly supports and that promotes an egalitarian, irreverent approach to dining. He announced his kitchen stint on his blog and in his column, and by the time he was ready to cook, much of the French media world had taken note.

The meal was barely adequate, according to five diners one night. The pumpkin soup, seasoned heavily with ginger, vanilla and black sesame oil, was grainy, undercooked and so dense it stood up in stiff peaks.

“I’m disappointed,” said Julie Demarest, an administrator in a water purification company. “It’s thick — like oatmeal. I don’t like it.”

The spiced chicken with pine nuts and golden raisins filled the dinner plate, but was accompanied only by an underdressed green salad. The zabaglione with sake was frothy and thin rather than creamy; the centers of the macaroons were chewy rather than soft. When the maître d’hôtel offered seconds on the dessert, there were few takers.

“Those macaroons — they’re so hard they could choke a Christian,” said Marc Beekenkamp, a Web designer, using an expression that means the dish is hard to digest.

But his colleague and friend, Matthieu Zerafa, came to Mr. Simon’s defense. “Every day he sits in judgment, and now it’s his turn to be judged,” he said. “You have to compliment him on one thing — he has a lot of nerve.”

That point, at least, has never been in dispute. Mr. Simon prides himself on being an outsider and a provocateur. His columns describe not only a restaurant’s food, but also its service, décor and clientele, even down to the movement of the breasts of women around him.

Mr. Simon has created such a buzz around himself that some French reporters called him the model for Anton Ego, the dour, unforgiving food critic in the 2007 animated film “Ratatouille.”

Brad Bird, the film’s director, said through a spokesman that the character was a pastiche derived from many sources. No matter: Mr. Simon was quick to assume Anton Ego’s persona.

“Since ‘Ratatouille,’ it hasn’t stopped: I’ve become the darling of my nephews,” he wrote in his blog, “Simon Says.” He said that he loved it when his friends started calling him Anton Ego, writing: “This low-life Anton is a good guy. He sacrifices his reputation to celebrate the cuisine of a rat.”

Mr. Simon has little use for the Michelin and Gault-Millau grading systems that have created a rigid gastronomic hierarchy and transformed chefs into superstars.

He has charged that politics often drives Michelin to sprinkle stars on less-than-worthy chefs. He relentlessly attacks certain multistarred French chefs and regularly proclaims that France has lost its “culinary supremacy.”

Even before the British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay opened his restaurant in Versailles last spring, Mr. Simon panned it. “Dishes like his starter of cream of Jerusalem artichokes with lardons of bacon and cabbage can be found in 70 Parisian restaurants which are just as good,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “What’s more, he is British, and Parisians don’t like going to Versailles — it’s much too far.”

Mr. Simon accuses Alain Ducasse (with whom he once wrote a book on Provence) of empire-building commercialism, stratospheric prices, “photocopied cuisine” and worst of all, absenteeism from his many restaurant kitchens. He said Le Jules Verne, the Ducasse restaurant at the top of the Eiffel Tower, serves food “worthy of an airplane, first class — no, rather, business class.”

He has nothing good and everything bad to say about many of Paris’s gastronomic icons, including La Tour d’Argent, Hélène Darroze, Le Procope, Allard, Maxim’s and Brasserie Balzar.

“My real problem is that chefs are used to extremely excessive literary praise,” Mr. Simon said in an interview over a lunch in a restaurant where the appetizers averaged more than $40 apiece. “They become insufferable, divas. They can’t take the least criticism. But when you talk of them like they’re Beethovens or Mozarts, you’re lying.”

As for sommeliers, he wrote, “Perhaps we should drown them, to allow us to drink as we please.”

For Nicolas de Rabaudy, a food writer who has reviewed Mr. Simon’s books, Mr. Simon has become both mean-spirited and self-absorbed.

“His ego has surpassed him, the poor François,” Mr. de Rabaudy said. “I mean, come on, François Simon is the only person who doesn’t like Guy Savoy’s artichoke and truffle soup. It’s one of the great dishes of modern French cuisine.”

Asked about Mr. Simon and his sharp pen, Mr. Savoy said: “Frankly, what he writes or says doesn’t interest me one bit. Life’s too short.”

The most savage criticism of Mr. Simon came after the suicide of the Michelin three-star chef Bernard Loiseau in 2003.

Early that year, before Michelin announced its annual star ratings, Mr. Simon had written in two columns that Mr. Loiseau was to have lost one of his three stars, but had managed to hold onto it. Days after one column appeared, Mr. Loiseau killed himself.

The chef Jacques Pourcel, head of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Cuisine Française at the time, openly accused Mr. Simon of contributing to Mr. Loiseau’s death.

Mr. Simon defended himself, saying in the interview that it was convenient for the chefs of France and Michelin to identify “a naughty boy who did villainous things.” He added, “This misunderstanding will last forever.”

Mr. Loiseau suffered from serious depression. Asked whether Mr. Simon’s reviews played a role in her husband’s death, his widow, Dominique, who runs the restaurant, said, “It’s giving him too much importance.”

Mr. Simon also showers criticism on other French food critics, faulting them for identifying themselves in restaurants, cozying up to chefs and taking free meals and gifts. “It is much easier to turn into a courtesan, to be inside rather than outside the house of the chefs,” he said.

But other critics call his aloof approach sterile. “I want to get to know the chef, to understand what he feels, his frame of reference, his roots,” said Jean-Claude Ribaut, the longtime food critic at Le Monde. (Mr. Ribaut pays for his restaurant meals.) “I want to know if he grew up on a farm, if his father grew vegetables. If you go anonymously, you can’t ever have this kind of dialogue.”

Even though Mr. Simon books reservations under an alias and pays for his meals with alias credit cards, his face is known to many chefs, and his sideburns, flyaway hair and sartorial daring — bold tweeds, loud ties, velvet vests — sometimes give him away.

Mr. Simon portrays himself as close to his readers, soliciting their comments by printing his direct phone number at the bottom of his columns. He shamelessly boosts his favorites, including Yannick Alléno of Le Meurice, Pascal Barbot of L’Astrance and his favorite bistro, Paul Bert, in the 11th Arrondissement. Ravioli with tomato sauce prepared by the Italian chef Fulvio Pierangelini at Gambero Rosso in San Vincenzo “almost makes me cry with emotion,” he said. He called a truffle à la croque au sel with a glass of Montée de Tonnerre chablis at Lucien Vanel in Toulouse, now defunct, “better than cocaine.”

Even his admirers want him to tone down. “He’s got a strong character, his articles are fun and he doesn’t pontificate,” said Christian Millau, co-author of the Gault-Millau guide, who gave Mr. Simon his first job as a critic 30 years ago. But, he added, “Sometimes I tell him not to overdo it.”

Basil Katz contributed reporting.

法知名食評家賽蒙下廚 被批難吃

• 2009-01-15
• 中國時報
• 【鍾玉玨／紐約時報十四日報導】

　法國當今最知名的美食評論家佛蘭斯瓦．賽蒙（Francois Simon）為《費加洛報》撰寫美食評論，此君長相沒人見過，一般只知道他大約四十歲，但筆鋒極犀利，曾有一位大廚被他點名應遭《米其林評鑑》降級而自殺，可見此人在法國餐飲界的重要性。不過火力十足的賽蒙，最近也成了他人攻擊的箭靶。

　賽蒙的工作就是帶著隱形攝影機，到處品嘗美食。有次在巴黎一家高檔餐廳，一位侍酒生問也沒問，對著杯口準備倒酒時，被賽蒙用手制止，表示他想要自己掌控酒的溫度。他說：「顧客在餐廳只能任人擺佈，實在匪夷所思。我要享受，當大爺。」

　賽蒙的美食評論廣受拜讀，但不假辭色的程度也令人害怕。他的筆鋒犀利，下手毫不留情，根本不管可能造成的殺傷力，二○○三年甚至發生米其林三星主廚Bernard Loiseau看了他的報導而自殺的憾事。

　米其林評鑑的常勝軍巴黎Guy Savoy餐廳在賽蒙筆下似乎不過爾爾。他批評餐廳的菜色「讓三星背上了十字架」，因為主廚Guy Savoy的招牌菜－朝鮮薊與松露湯用的竟是非當季食材。而獲《高特米堯評鑑》（Gault Millau）廿分最高評鑑的主廚Marc Veyrat在賽蒙眼中，不過是只會耍技的「小丑」與「冒牌農夫」。

　除了幫《費加洛報》撰寫專欄，賽蒙也出書、主持電視節目、開闢部落格，但或者因為去餐館怕被認出，他從來不以真面目示人。

　許多美食專家只會說得一口好菜，卻完全不近廚房，但賽蒙宣稱，自己是道地的烹飪高手，並在部落格上誇口光是雞肉，他就發明了兩百種煮法。

　上個月，賽蒙做了一樣同業不敢輕言嘗試的大膽之舉。他在巴黎餐館「獨耳小豬」（Le Cochon a l'Oreille），連續五晚親自上陣，端出拿手菜免費招待上網報名的前廿多位幸運兒（一晚約招待五人）。

　不過這位「大師」的手藝並不叫座。一位有幸與會的民眾透露，最多只能稱得上差強人意。南瓜湯太稠又未煮熟，猶如燕麥糊，讓人失望。主菜辣 味雞稍嫌寒酸；甜點沙巴雍不夠綿密；馬卡龍杏仁小圓餅外皮太硬不夠酥脆。儘管大師勇氣可嘉，但這次卻踢到鐵板，嘗到挨轟的滋味。

　被問及為何老愛對名廚開砲，賽蒙坦言：「名廚習慣被吹捧，因此變得毫無抗壓性，一點批評都受不了。」尤其對頂著米其林與高特米堯頭銜的名廚更是不假辭色。

　由於賽蒙已是法國餐飲界炙手可熱的「達人」，一些記者認為他就是二○○七年動畫《料理鼠王》那位最有權力的美食評論家柯博先生 （Anton Ego）的翻版，為人剛愎又尖刻。一如法國美食作家Nicolas de Rabaudy對賽蒙的評語：自以為是、尖酸刻薄。

　不過賽蒙對於自己和柯博先生劃上等號，似乎不以為忤。他說：「自從料理鼠王上映後，我成了侄子們的偶像。這位柯博先生為人善良，犧牲自己的名聲與地位，竟然美言一隻老鼠所做的菜。」