erce dedication to local fresh ingredients. Fellow Lyonnais Daniel Bou - PDF document

erce dedication to local fresh ingredients. Fellow Lyonnais Daniel Boulud, who spent some time in BocuseÕs kitchen, once described him as Òa French national treasure,Ó and for Alain Ducasse, he was the Òpope of French cuisine,Ó even though it was a public ÒsecretÓ that this particular pope shared his life with not two, but three, ladies. The morning of my arrival, I phoned Martine, BocuseÕs cousin, who works as his assistant. ÒCome at eleven,Ó she ordered in an efÞ cient high pitch, directing me to arrive at LÕAuberge du Pont de Collonges, the Michelin three-star gastronomic hothouse started by BocuseÕs grandparents on the banks of the Sa™ne. In addition to this ß agship, Bocuse had opened Þ ve brasseries, and a fast-food joint in Lyon, aided by his right-hand man, Jean Fleury, a burly and solid businessman with a powerful French nose.This empire building, French style, had begun early. As a young boy in the 1940s Bocuse apprenticed with la Mre Brazier, one of the Þ rst cooks who helped write the Lyonnais tradition of great, simple cuisine and the Þ rst woman to receive three stars from the Michelin Guide. He followed with eight years at La Pyramide under the genial Fernand Point, a joyous and generous giant for whom the third Michelin star had literally been invented. ÒCollonges,Ó I told the grumpy taxi driver hailed in the center of Lyon. ÒBut heÕs not open for lunch,Ó he responded, turning around to see who could possibly Preceded by a whiff of trufß e, a puffy golden hot air balloon anchored to a ceramic soup tureen ß oated my way. I pierced the crust and plunged in my spoon. The combination of trufß es and foie gras was not innovative, but the intensity of the broth added the essential ingredientÑpleasure. As we proceeded with the Þ let de sole aux nouilles Fernand PointÑa Þ