France’s chef of the year

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The 8,000 chefs represented in France’s Guide Michelin voted Anne-Sophie Pic chef of the year on Monday. In February, Pic was the first woman to earn three stars in the guide, for her restaurant Maison Pic in Valence. The restaurant was founded by Pic’s great-grandmother, Sophie, in 1891, and the kitchen has always been headed up by a Pic. The prize, created by the trade magazine Le Chef, is meant to recognize the chef in France who best represents the profession.

So what’s her menu like? Right now, if you were ordering off the menu posted on the restaurant’s website, you might start with le lapin ‘Rex du Poitu’ -- choice morsels of rabbit cooked with sage, served with crudités and saffron vinaigrette. Follow that with le homard bleu (‘blue lobster’) roasted in a cocotte, flambéed with gentian eau de vie, pressed with young vegetables, and buttered with young peas with Gascon lard. (This one may have lost something in my poor translation.) Next, le cochon de Bigorre -- a chop of famous pork from Bigorre in a salt-and-green-pepper crust, with Nourmoutier potatoes, rhubarb confite and green pepper juice. Since we’re at a three-star restaurant, you’d be silly not to follow that with a selection of cheeses, then a hot Grand Marnier soufflé with a fresh mint liquid center.

It all begs two questions: Can 8,000 French be wrong? And when’s the next flight to Valence?

-- Leslie Brenner