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Chef Claude Troisgros
The Man Behind the Blue Door
By Carole Kotkin
The new revolution in food is now occurring in the United
States, not in France," proclaims Chef Claude Troisgros, scion
of the famed Troisgros family of Roanne, France. Surprising
words from a chef born and trained in France.
Troisgros is the chef/owner of the acclaimed Claude Troisgros
in Rio de Janeiro and consulting chef at the Blue Door
restaurant in Miami Beach. "In cities like Miami or New York,
people are far more familiar with all kinds of food – French,
Thai, Chinese, Brazilian – and are inclined to try something
new. In French cuisine, you will find the finest technique in
the world, but the French have narrow minds when it comes to
food, and refuse to do anything but French cuisine," he
continues. "The best chefs in the world are Americans – and
why not? They go to France to learn," he adds with a touch of
irony. Claude does complain, however, that American creativity
sometimes goes too far. He is most comfortable following the
lead of his celebrated French culinary ancestors who refused
to be trapped by tradition.
The Troisgros family has provided France with some of its most
creative, adventurous and famous masters of French cuisine.
Claude's grandfather, Jean-Baptiste, created a furor in
gastronomic circles when he first paired fish with red wine
four decades ago. His father, Pierre, and his late uncle,
Jean, turned their family's modest restaurant in Roanne into
the celebrated three-star Michelin restaurant, Troisgros.
The Troisgros brothers and their close friend and fellow
chef, Paul Bocuse, revolutionized French cooking in the 1960s
as champions of nouvelle cuisine, a style of cooking that set
the tone in restaurants the world over for more than a decade.
Sixty-eight-year-old Pierre is still cooking today, while yet
another son, Michel, is adding new energy to the
third-generation restaurant and hotel. Pierre's daughter, Anne
Marie, is carrying on the tradition at Yves Gravelier in
Bordeaux.
To publicly acknowledge the Troisgros family for putting their
town on the culinary map, the city council painted Roanne's
train station salmon pink and green in honor of Troisgros'
signature dish – sautéed salmon fillet served with sorrel
cream sauce.
Born into this family's unique kitchen, Claude was making
beurre blanc sauce when other children were playing with
blocks. At age 16, he apprenticed with Bocuse. From there, he
took positions in some of the best kitchens in Europe,
including Taillevent in Paris, The Connaught in London and
Tantris in Munich. In 1979, when he was still in his early 20s
and again back in Roanne, his father walked into the kitchen
one day and asked, "Does anyone want to go to Rio?" Claude
jumped at the opportunity, eager to work for famed Pastry Chef
Gaston Lenôtre at his Rio de Janeiro restaurant Pré Catelan.
"When I first started working in Brazil, the European chefs
were importing everything, most of it frozen and very
expensive," he recalls. "I wondered why. There were wonderful
Brazilian products in the market, so I began to work with the
fresh, native produce, and I developed a style of tropical
French cooking that became my signature." He intended to stay
in Brazil for an adventuresome two-year stint, but he became
captivated by the country's tropical flavors and climate and
has remained there for almost 20 years.
He soon opened a small restaurant in Rio called Roanne,
located across the street from an open-air market. "It was an
opportunity to experiment with Brazil's tropical fruits,
vegetables, quality beef and exceptional seafood," he fondly
remembers. Word of his imaginative flavor combinations and
pristine presentations spread rapidly, and eventually led to
the opening of Rio's lively and elegant Claude Troisgros
restaurant. It immediately attracted the attention of the
city's trendsetters and power brokers, while earning accolades
from ecstatic critics. Today, the restaurant remains one of
Rio's premier dining establishments.
A third Troisgros restaurant, Terramater, specializing in
traditional Brazilian cooking, soon followed, while yet
another Roanne opened in São Paulo.
The author of the bestselling cookbook From the Head to the
Saucepan, Claude also runs a prestigious catering business
that boasts an impressive client list. Heads of state
frequently call on his talents, among them the president of
Brazil. He is particularly proud to note that President and
Mrs. Clinton asked him to cook for them on their recent summit
trip to Brazil.
In 1994, Claude's desire for a new challenge, coupled with the
economic instability of the Brazilian economy, led him, along
with his Brazilian wife, Marlene, and two children, to
Manhattan to open C.T., his renowned restaurant that wowed New
Yorkers with intriguing flavor combinations and French
finesse. "I never wanted to be strictly French or totally
tropical, but rather French with tropical touches," he
explains.
The surest proof of the essentially French nature of his
cooking is how well his food can be paired with wine. "America
is a country that produces wine, and a country that produces
wine in general makes the greatest cuisine," he says. "Of
course, I'm a Burgundian, so my personal taste is for the
chardonnay and pinot noir grapes, although some of the spicy
flavors in my food go well with Alsatian wines like
Gewürztraminer."
With the sale of C.T. in 1996, he returned to Brazil. Having
barely unpacked his bags, he was lured north yet again, this
time landing in Miami Beach at the ultra-hip Delano Hotel's
Blue Door.
A sensation from the moment it opened in 1995, the restaurant
has finally entered the culinary fast lane with the arrival of
Troisgros, who has been dazzling Miamians with his consummate
skill and daring cuisine.
The menu reflects the tropical serenity and cutting-edge style
of hotelier Ian Schrager's Delano. In the hands of French
designer Philippe Starck, the decor – gauzy, white billowing
curtains, oversized eclectic furniture and soaring ceilings
supported by massive columns – is itself ethereal.
Together with Executive Chef Luke Rinaman of China Grill
Management, Claude blends the disciplines of French technique
with the enticing flavors of Brazil, the Caribbean and South
Florida. Because many of South Florida's native products are
also found in Brazil, designing a menu for the Blue Door felt
like a natural progression to him.
He draws from Brazil's major regions, each of which has a
different history and geography upon which its methods and
ingredients of cooking is based. Common to each area is the
use of high-quality, extremely fresh ingredients – a signature
of the Brazilian kitchen. "Brazilian food is not just heavy
stews like feijoada and mariscada," Claude explains. "On the
east side of the country, you have the most African influence,
lots of coconut, coriander and palm. The north and the Amazon
are more tropical with more fruits, vegetables and fish. I
incorporate all of these ingredients into my cooking, but at
the heart, it's still French cuisine."
At first glance, the menu at the Blue Door – spiked with
unusual creations such as Loup Cajou, a pan-seared fillet of
Chilean sea bass with cashews, garlic, lime and sautéed fresh
hearts of palm in a brown butter sauce, or Thon-Thon, a
black-and-blue tuna encrusted with sesame seeds atop
translucent slices of daikon marinated in lime juice, ginger
and sesame oil – might appear to fall in with trendy cuisine.
But every dish is clearly conceived, and nothing is combined
on impulse or left to chance. Presentations are artful, but
not flashy. Color comes from the natural ingredients found in
the tropics.
A heavenly example of his style of French/Brazilian fusion is
a signature dish known as the Big Raviole, a luscious
mousseline of taro root encased in a jumbo raviole and
swimming in a silken sauce of cream and white truffle oil.
Following in the family tradition, Claude doesn't shy away
from butter or cream when it is necessary to a dish.
(It has been reported that his Uncle Jean, who toured the
United States in the 1970s, spoke only two English phrases: "I
love you" and "More butter, please.")
Chef Troisgros addresses both seafood and meat with the same
degree of finesse. Boeuf au Manioc (fillet of beef dipped in
ground yuca flour), crusty on the outside and beautifully
tender and rare on the inside, is presented on a yuca biscuit
and served in a Cabernet sauce. The dish speaks eloquently to
the confluence of Brazilian flavors and French technique.
His food, he says, pays homage to his grandfather, who always
insisted that "cooking should be a harmony of the treasures of
the earth."
Food Editor Carole Kotkin is a Miami-based writer, cooking
instructor and consultant. She recently co-authored Mmmiami –
Tempting Tropical Tastes for Home Cooks Everywhere. Wine News
BuyLine Panelist Fred Tasker writes a weekly syndicated wine
column for The Miami Herald.
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Big Raviole
Loup Cajou
Light, Light Mango
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