A mouth-watering
French travelogue
By Fernando Aracama
FROM THE FABULOUS city of lights, Paris, to the
grand peaks, valleys and lakes of the beautiful
mountains of the French Pyrennees and to the foie
gras and truffle rich countryside of Perigord,
it was a chef's journey of discovery, flavors,
culture, wines and that off-chance that someone
might ask you to cook a lechon for them. Stranger
things have happened, believe us.
Here are some culinary high points that Cyrille
Soenen and I experienced on our last trip to France.
Drum roll, please.
Restaurant 'Aux Lyonnais'
The
correct way to eat bread is to break it open and
with your eyes closed, inhale and take in the
aroma. This was sage advice from eight-year-old
Cassandra, daughter of Cyrille and Anna Soenen.
We were having lunch in Alain Ducasse's Restaurant
"Aux Lyonnais" in Paris. A typical bistro
featuring the specialties of Lyon by chef de cuisine
David Rathgeber, Cyrille's old friend from his
days in The Ritz Hotel and also at Le Grand InterContinental
Hotel in Paris.
The correct way to eat bread is to break it open
and with your eyes closed, inhale and take in
the aroma. This was sage advice from eight-year-old
Cassandra, daughter of Cyrille and Anna Soenen.
We were having lunch in Alain Ducasse's Restaurant
"Aux Lyonnais" in Paris. A typical bistro
featuring the specialties of Lyon by chef de cuisine
David Rathgeber, Cyrille's old friend from his
days in The Ritz Hotel and also at Le Grand InterContinental
Hotel in Paris.
Chef David's menu was small, well-chosen and
featured what was only in season. Golden chanterelle
or girolle mushrooms, a rarity in our neck of
the woods, was in a few items, the best being
an egg dish gently cooked in a bain marie with
a rich creamy sauce. Artisan sausages and pates
or charcuterie in distinct Lyon style were presented
with delicious ratte potatoes, boiled eggs and
a simple vinaigrette. I tried the rillette of
rabbit with foie gras and marinated vegetables.
Simply flavored but very rich and satisfying.
The sour dough bread toast that came with this
was excellent! Cyrille had truffled spring vegetables
that had baby radish, haricot vert, spring onions
and baby carrots served in a small pot. A typical
spring dish seasoned with fleur de sel (flower
of salt)and freshly ground pepper.
For the main course we chose roasted sea bass
with fennel and a big rib eye steak with fresh
mushrooms and baby potatoes and crayfish with
quenelles. The sea bass dish was accompanied by
both roasted and fresh fennel. The crunchiness
of the fresh fennel shavings gave texture to the
mildly flavored fish and the sweeter cooked fennel
underneath. The steak was a hefty piece good for
two served in a hot pan surrounded by girolle
mushrooms and cooking juices. A deceptively simple
dish but very hearty in flavor and substance.
The crayfish quenelles were airy and light floating
on crayfish essence. Cyrille liked it very much.
We tried the Saint-Marcellin for the cheese course
and I loved it. It had that great funky aroma
and flavor. We ate it by scooping the cheese out
of its terra cotta container with a shallot-rubbed
toasted baguette. It was very good. For our desserts
we had a sampling of what was on the menu. Cherry
clafoutis and a side of granita was a nice dual
temperature dish that we tried. I really enjoyed
the rhubarb and strawberry crisp. It's a warm
compote of fresh rhubarb and strawberries topped
with a sweet biscuit/cookie crust and some homemade
ice cream. We also had a chocolate hazelnut dessert
that was rich and nutty.
This was a classic bistro lunch. The season dictated
the menu and it made perfect sense. The flavors
were uncomplicated and honest. The vegetables
were naturally sweet and pronounced. The mushrooms
were delicate and meaty. The sausages and pates
were light and filled with tradition. The bread,
oh my god, the bread. C'est superbe! This bistro
rocks! What a pleasure to have experienced the
cuisine of chef David Rathgeber.
Ledoyen
After spending the day with my old friends Mickey,
Minnie, Donald and Goofy in Disneyland Resort
Paris where adult happy meals consist of a hotdog,
pommes frites (French fries) and a beer, we were
off to see the wizard-the wonderful wizard of
the three-star Michelin restaurant, Pavillon Ledoyen,
chef des cuisines Christian Le Squer. Chef Le
Squer was Cyrille's mentor when they worked in
the kitchens of both The Ritz and Le Grand InterContinental
Hotel.
There are only a handful of three-star Michelin
restaurants in Europe and Ledoyen in Paris is
one of the frontrunners. The restaurant is on
what Cyrille proudly calls the most beautiful
street in the world, the Champs-Elysees, I couldn't
agree more. A lush and blooming garden surrounded
the restaurant and screened the busy traffic close
by. The interiors were subdued and pleasing. It
had a quiet, modest yet elegant atmosphere around
it. Nothing ostentatious or overboard, the dining
room was classically French and well appointed.
Joining us for dinner was Cyrille's wife, Anna,
and his father, Jean Claude. We were served champagne
cocktail drinks and small bites of savory morsels
or amuse bouche. The foie gras in napoleon and
the smoked salmon rolls were exceptionally good.
Menus were offered to each one of us, but only
Cyrille's folder had prices because he was the
host of our party. It was still spring and the
repertoire was a showcase of the best of the season.
Quality over quantity was the rule here. There
was an a la carte selection and an offer that
read "The discovery of specialties-for your
great pleasure, allow chef Christian Le Squer
to be your guide through a special five-course
menu." We bought it!
All four of us took the degustation of chef Le
Squer. And we were all quietly excited.
The breads they presented were amazing in variety
and out of the ordinary. One was a deep black
bread roll made with squid ink and shrimp essence.
Another was almost like puff pastry with thousands
of leafy layers studded with smoked bacon. The
breads were fantastic!
Then dinner was served. The first course was
a mousseline of herring tamara (roe) with avocado,
tomato aspic and olive oil. It was refreshing,
lightly tart, which balanced with the bold flavor
of the fish roe. Served cold, the dish was a nice
jump-start for the taste buds. For the second
course, chef Le Squer presented a simple plate
of roasted langoustine from Brittany. The waiters
served the citrus emulsion foam a la minute to
each of our plates. As the foam is spooned over
the hot langoustine it sizzles and slowly melts
a glaze. The fresh tartness of the emulsion was
a perfect contrast to the sweet almost delicate
flavor of the langoustine. A trickle of basil
puree on the side of the plate gave an herbal
and aromatic bouquet to what I consider to be
by far one of the most delicious dishes I have
tasted. I wanted to do back flips of joy.
Spider crab was served for our third course.
This was an interesting dish. It was a deconstruction
and a reconstruction of the spider crab. Sounds
daft? Okay, let me explain. It's a spider crab
shell filled with crab meat, crab aspic (gelatin)
and caviar; topped with crab essence foam and
garnished with crab fat "chips" and
seaweed sprouts. It was both beautiful and delicious.
From a chef's point of view this is not the easiest
thing to do. The fourth course was lobster from
Brittany (like the langoustines) with sweet pea
custard and jurancon wine sauce. The flavors were
subdued and clean. The lobster was delicious.
An interesting green apple sorbet with cauliflower
foam was served next. By this time we were ready
for our sixth course, dessert! Warm plates were
served, but instead of a souffle we had a beautiful
and perfectly sliced sea bass with fresh almonds,
girolle mushrooms and a green herb jus. The fish
was almost airy, light and flaky. The sauce was
grassy and fresh in flavor. The perks of knowing
the chef has its advantages, and Cyrille knew
chef le Squer very well.
On our seventh course we weren't surprised when
chef Le Squer sent out one of Ledoyen's signature
specialties. Braised turbot on crushed ratte potatoes
and a truffle butter sauce. It was indeed special.
The turbot fillet was perfection marrying nicely
into the luxurious sauce of truffles and the roughness
of the potatoes for a subtle textural contrast.
Genius.
Somehow when the red wine was being poured into
our glasses, we knew chef Le Squer still had something
to show us. Something meaty. I said duck and Cyrille
said lamb. Cyrille won. Lamb loin from Limousin
served with a navarin jus and a meticulous pasta
gratin structure. The meat was tender and the
sauce punchy with flavor worked well with the
lamb.
Small mignardise (pre-dessert bites) were served
and desserts followed. We had two desserts to
try. One was a grapefruit sorbet served in between
layers of crisp basil croquant with hot fried
pastry puffs on the side and fresh grapefruit
segments and another was a crispy chocolate souffle
with spun sugar and chocolate tuile cigarettes.
I loved both desserts.
After a few moments we finally met the wizard,
chef Christian Le Squer. He was very happy that
we enjoyed the feast and he stayed and chatted
with us for some time.
What an excellent meal. What an excellent experience.
Christian Le Squer truly is a wizard and in a
class all on his own.
Fiesta in Perigord
A fiesta was planned by Cyrille's brother, Thierry
Soenen, in his home in Lamelette in the Perigord
region. Thierry had lived in the Philippines a
few years ago, working as a furniture designer
in Cebu. He has come to visit Cyrille and Anna
many times and knows our culture very well.
For this fiesta he really wanted to have Cebuano
style lechon together with the typical regional
fare of Perigord. Being true presentados, Cyrille
and I convinced Thierry to go for gold and make
it a true Filipino fiesta complete with a full
Filipino menu to go with the lechon. Thierry was
easily convinced and agreed.
We quickly made the menu and came up with a list
of Pinoy specials. We had to be ready for substitutes
because finding the right ingredients wouldn't
be as easy.
So for appetizers we made fresh lumpia using
Vietnamese rice paper as our wrapper. We made
kinilaw na isda using salmon and monkfish. A salad
of chopped vegetables with duck confit and spicy
toyo vinaigrette. This was inspired by the Chop
Chop Salad in Uva. For the main courses we cooked
a beef short rib adobo complete with fried kamote
as a garnish. Chicken inasal was also in the buffet
and we even made sinamak-style cider vinegar.
Sotanghon guisado was cooked with tenga ng daga
and French mushrooms and patis. Ilonggo style
garlic fried rice or kalo kalo was done using
achuete oil for that "faux" saffron
look.
The piece de resistance was of course the lechon.
It was Cyrille's first time to do a lechon. For
me, technically, I "watched" people
do lechon since I was a boy in Negros. So that
experience has made me become an "expert."
We stuffed the pig with all red onions, garlic,
green onions, lemongrass, bay leaves, black peppercorns
and plenty of rock salt. Drove a long metal spike
through and got ready to roast the pig. Jean Claude
and his friend Michel Chevalier, whom we christened
Le Chef de Lamelette, were in charge of the roasting
pit. So there under the shade of the pear and
apple trees, a French-born pig was lovingly roasted
by a French chef to be served in a Pinoy dinner
buffet. Funny. Really.
Sixty people came for dinner. Relatives from
as far as Paris drove down for the fiesta. Old
friends and new ones shared long tables filled
with beautiful wild flowers, candles and capiz
shell lanterns all done by Bernard. Like the food,
the decor and feel of the party was a true Pinoy
and French fusion.
And everybody had a grand time. For some it was
the first time they tasted Filipino food and they
loved it. Then it was time for the grand finale
of Cyrille's masterpiece lechon. There was applause,
oohs and aahs. We made three sauces for the lechon-sinamak,
a fruit chutney and whole grain mustard. Everybody
was thrilled to see and finally taste the lechon.
Cyrille, Anna, Thierry and I had a blast putting
the dinner together. Just like here at home and
everywhere else, food brings people together.
Repasts grand or simple are always far more wonderful
when shared with the company of friends and loved
ones. Cooking then becomes an ultimate pleasure.
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