During the ski holidays, French chefs are ready to offer tourists dishes from the Alpine cuisine menu.
As RFI notes, the festival was organized on the initiative of chef Emmanuel Renaut, owner of the three-star restaurant Flocon de Sel in Megève. He spoke about local products, the need to see behind them the Alpine forests, meadows and lakes, and his vision of gastronomy.
– It often seems that Alpine cuisine is exclusively fondue, raclette and tartiflette, that is, cheese, potatoes and ham, and again cheese. It is, of course, very tasty, but it is simple peasant cuisine. Why then are there almost as many Michelin stars in the Alps and surrounding areas as in Paris?
– I have long wanted to hold a colloquium on the cuisine of mountain regions to bring together all our chefs and talk about our problems. We need to turn our difficulties into our strength – our difficult soils, our harsh climate. These low temperatures and altitude differences set us apart from all other regions. But at the same time, we also have a very touristy region, positive demographics, many young people, and beautiful nature – mountains, lakes. And, of course, we have wonderful chefs, all very different, each with their own cuisine.
– Is there a product you could never do without?
– The product I could not work without is milk. In all its forms, that is, cheese, and just milk, which I use to prepare appetizers, desserts and ice cream.
Emmanuel Renaut even smokes milk in his own smoker, resulting in something similar to the familiar baked milk and beloved condensed milk, but not sweet. From such milk, his restaurant makes filling for donuts. The milk is, of course, local – cows roam the famous Alpine meadows, resembling a folk picture, with a chime of large bells around their necks. French Alpine cheeses are known worldwide – Beaufort, Reblochon, Abondance and others. The reason for this success, the chef claims, is that they retain the smells of local flowers and meadows, of local nature.
I opened my first bistro in Megève 21 years ago, and we moved here, at an altitude of 1300 meters, ten years ago. Once a restaurant burned down here, and I bought this plot. It was a real challenge – to leave the village for nature. But I lacked space in the kitchen, and above all, I wanted to be closer to nature. Whether in season or off-season, when there are no tourists, little changes here. In Megève itself in autumn, there may be no one, but in winter, during the holidays, 30,000 people walk the streets. Here it is complete tranquility, Alpine meadows. There, in the village, you enter a restaurant, close the door behind you, and you don't feel any nature around you. But here we are in the midst of nature; in season we are completely self-sufficient in everything related to herbs and some vegetables, and now we have a few rooms for those who come here precisely for tranquility.
– In winter, the mountains are covered with snow; what local cuisine can be talked about in such conditions?
– The winter menu is denser, more filling. For example, I include risotto with wild artichoke; it is a very interesting product in terms of taste, and above all, it is a local product, Swiss. Here it is called "Plaine-Palais artichoke" after one of the districts of Geneva. There, of course, no artichokes have grown for a long time, but apparently, they learned to cook them there once. The stems are picked in winter, we wrap them in newspaper and then in black plastic, and they lie until they become completely white; this takes two to three weeks. This is a typical local winter dish. Usually it is prepared in a gratin with béchamel, and the main taste is the taste of cheese, but I try to let the bitterness of the artichoke prevail, the vegetable's own flavor.
– Are there any other local products that cannot be tasted elsewhere?
– For example, two or three years ago, we did not work with bleak, these are small lake fish. But my fisherman once told me: "I have no large lake fish this week, but I have plenty of bleak." And I said, okay, let me try bleak, we'll come up with something. This product cannot be called "noble," but our task is to make it no worse. It is much easier to work with a noble product known for its taste than with one that does not have such a brilliant reputation. The whole interest is in making it even tastier.
Our guests come here precisely to try things that are not available elsewhere. This wild artichoke and bleak, polenta, porcini mushrooms, whitefish, lake crayfish, and, if available, mountain game – all these are products inscribed in the local landscape. You wouldn't come here to try sea bream or pigeon either. But, of course, I also have clients with more classic tastes who ask for saddle of lamb or cheese soufflé. No problem, that's what our profession is for – to make people enjoy their food. It's not that difficult – soufflé and any other traditional dish. But we are lucky – we have a clientele that allows us to take taste risks. I believe we need to take risks with complex combinations that may not be liked; we need to push the horizon. That is our role.
For example, we make a beetroot broth with horseradish; it is very spicy, and the strong aroma of horseradish may not please everyone. But some find it magnificent. Or we also serve smoked chocolate; we smoke it right here, in our own smoker. Some say – I like it so much that I don't want any other dessert. But others associate the smoked taste with bacon or salmon. In any case, local cuisine is necessary. In the mountains, you need to try what cannot be tasted elsewhere.
– Your restaurant has held three Michelin stars for several years. What does a chef need to do to achieve such results?
– I don't hand out stars; you need to ask the Michelin inspectors about that. But it seems to me that three stars are given for absolutely precise execution, and also for what sets you apart from others. It must be an impeccably executed cuisine, but the chef must also be able to express their terroir. And they are also given for the team. The team must bring to life everything that was conceived. It's important to constantly question everything, rework recipes, every day. Especially since products are always different, and we must adapt to them, not the other way around.
A chef exists to put the product on a pedestal. I have a magnificent team. And they constantly study our products. Recently, I sent them to collect saffron. They visit wine estates, go fishing with our fish supplier, I take them with me to the mountains to pick mushrooms and hunt.
The name of the festival Toquicimes is a play on words. It comes from the word toque, meaning the tall chef's hat, and cimes – mountain heights. Mountain cuisine can be as high as the mountains themselves, but it never forgets its peasant roots, the participating chefs assert. So whether you try fondue in a village restaurant or the works of a master awarded the highest gastronomic honors, every plate will remind you of local traditions. And you will, of course, earn this pleasure with a ski outing.