“One, two, three… eleven. We use the fire to the full”: while preparing a translucent scallop, chef Giuliano Sperandio counts the pans where the sauces are cooked at his star-studded Parisian restaurant Taillevent, which must also show inventiveness to save Energy .
The Italian chef arrived in the kitchen of this institution of traditional French cuisine, awarded with two Michelin stars, more than a year ago to modernize the dish by bringing raw, crunchier vegetables and reducing the portions.
An approach that has already contributed to the energetic sobriety that is essential today everywhere in haute cuisine. Cutting off the gas at night, finishing cooking in ovens that are turned off, making smaller pieces, favoring lower-energy recipes, even giving up meat: so many avenues that great chefs explore.
The luxury in question
Last week, a customer complained that she was cold at dinner in her skimpy evening dress. “She was almost naked, we can dress a little more knowing that we are asking everyone to make an effort,” exclaims the chef.
For him, the matter goes beyond the kitchen, although, paying attention to his gestures, it is possible to do better without “taking shortcuts” in the essential: sauces and juices that require between two and six hours of preparation.
Among these gestures, letting the meringues dry overnight in the ovens that are turned off, not boiling the water each time -“we cook 2-3 lobsters in the same water, 3-4 ravioli”-, serve the beef tenderloin at 150 grams compared to the previous 220: “The piece is smaller, cooking is faster”…
We are entering the royal hare season that requires hours of cooking. So this year, Giuliano Sperandio will leave room for you to cook it during the day when the stoves are on and not at night as was done before.
Lamb at 7 o’clock?
Guy Martin, chef of the Grand Véfour, the oldest restaurant in Paris dating back to 1784, which overlooks the garden of the Palais Royal, has another technique.
The properties of the cast-iron casserole, which help to retain heat, will mean that slow-cooked dishes such as beef bourguignon or pot-au-feu “never go away”, he says.
Manon Fleury, who runs a pop-up restaurant in trendy Paris Perchoir Ménilmontant, doesn’t serve meat there.
For your aubergines with figs dish, marinate the aubergines with salt: this way it will be ready in the oven in just 10 minutes. The “ripe” figs do not need cooking, and the pulp of their skin marinated in vinegar will serve as a sauce.
Source: BFM TV
