THE HISTORY OF BLANCPAIN
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THE HISTORY OF BLANCPAIN

THE HISTORY OF BLANCPAIN THE HISTORY OF BLANCPAIN

blancpain
09.02.2013 Views

ART DE VI VRE

Right: Les framboises de Machilly flambées à l’eau de vie et crème de cassis, meringue à la crème double, sorbet aux fruits rouges. cent, that exact point where flavour and texture peak. Sparkling fresh and sweet, the lobster was set off both by the earthiness of the girolles and most of all by an abundance of chive and tarragon in the shell based stock. This truly was one of the finest lobster preparations that I have sampled, at once intense and assertive in its flavours and at the same time wonderfully light and balanced. A degree of worry set in. The lobster achieved such a level of perfection, it seemed inevitable that whatever would follow would suffer in comparsion. No worries. Chevrier produced a wild salmon preparation, Le saumon sauvage d’Ecosse “mi cuit”, coulis d’oignons rouges et queue de boeuf au gingembre, jus de viande aux échalotes et vinaigre balsamique. This is not an altogether obvious combination. Certainly there is a current fashion to build a red wine sauce around salmon, as it enhances the meaty character of the fish, but Chevrier took this one step further with the compote, ginger and liberal doses of black pepper. The result was a towering achievement. Each of the ingredients – salmon, oxtail, shallots, ginger, pepper, red wine – is powerful and assertive. Somehow he managed to harness them so that they worked as a unified whole with no one ingredient knocking the others off the podium. The following course brought no relaxation in the remarkable standards set by the predecessors. Le supreme de pigeon des Deux- Sèvres poêlés aux petits pois, cuisse confite et pastille d’abats à l’ail doux et à la sauge. This featured the pigeon breast cooked perfectly rare, poised upon one of its classic mates, fresh peas, the leg cooked as a confit and the abats mixed with dried fruit in the pastilla. Pigeon poses a particular challenge for a restaurateur. If the supplier is anything other than top rung, no matter how careful the preparation the dish will fail. Recognising this it has become common for the best suppliers to affix a “brand name” to their birds. Deux- Sèvres sits at the top; and the dish was magnificent. Next came the cheese course which correctly spotlighted Swiss specialties such as La tête de moine. In the best Fredy Giradet tradition, a selection of special breads was presented with the cheese trolley. With a meal this extravagant, of course two dessert courses are merited. Both were seasonal. The first was built around enormous fresh cherries, La conversation aux cerises de Bigarreaux au citron, glace parfumée à la verveine. It is remarkable how the finish in the mouth of cherries and verbena blend to produce a delightful match. But what followed stole the show, literally. It was a preparation of raspberries which drew riveting gazes from all the surrounding tables, Les framboises de Machilly flambées à l’eau de vie et crème de cassis, meringue à la crème double, sorbet aux fruits rouges. This was no less than a tableside 60 | 61 piece of performance art. Fresh raspberries were mashed into a pan, flamed with eau de vie and cassis, and cooked into compote, then assembled into an impressive tower with layers of meringue and fresh berries, which upon completion, was crowned with the sorbet. The final moment of its construction, the poising of the sorbet, drew applause from all around. For his last act, Chevrier offered a massive platter of hand crafted chocolates. With a final endorphin push, I managed to sample two which showed their Swiss pedigree well. This meal was an emphatic demonstration that Philippe Chevrier fully merits his place in what is now the Swiss triumvirate of Rabaey, Rochat and himself. Gault & Millau have for years accorded him their top score of 19 of 20, the equal of his colleagues. Only Michelin, frustratingly slow to recognise talent, is left to bestow the plainly deserved palmary third star. ■ DOMAINE DE CHÂTEAUVIEUX Chemin de Châteauvieux 16 Peney-Dessus CH-1242 Satigny – Genève Tel : +41 22 753 15 11

ART DE VI VRE

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