-
(Jacques) Good morning!
-
(Applause)
-
(Jacques) Good morning, everybody!
-
(Audience) Good morning!
-
Claudine and I are delighted
to be with you this morning
-
to be the first one.
-
I left home when I was 13
to go to apprenticeship,
-
that was in 1949.
-
Actually, home was the restaurant
where my mother was the chef,
-
I was already in that business.
-
In fact, there was 12 restaurants
through the years in my family
-
and 12 of them owned by women,
-
I'm the first male to enter
that business in my family.
-
I went into apprenticeship from Lyon,
where my mother had her little restaurant
-
to Bourg-en-Bresse, where
I was born a few miles away.
-
Prior to that, when we were
about 8-9 years old,
-
my mother had that little restaurant
-
so, my brother and I,
before going to school,
-
would walk with my mother to the market
-
- the St. Antoine market
along the Saône river -
-
and she would walk the market one way,
about 1/2 a mile, and buy on her way back.
-
Buying a case of mushrooms
which was getting dark,
-
maybe for a third of the price or less.
-
We carried, of course,
we didn't have a car at the time.
-
She'd get home and start doing
her vegetables, peeling for the day.
-
She did not have
a refrigerator at that time.
-
She had an ice box, that is
a block of ice into a little cabinet,
-
so she'd have chicken of the day, meat,
-
fish, usually, whiting or mackerel
or skate -- inexpensive fish,
-
and that she has to use it that day.
-
And the day after,
we start all over again.
-
Everything was organic,
everything was local.
-
The word organic did not really exist,
-
chemical fertilizers did not exist either,
-
or fungicides, insecticides, pesticides,
all that stuff did not exist,
-
so everything was, local and organic.
-
I went into apprenticeship,
I was 13 years old and, at that time,
-
it was very structured,
well, still is to certain extend,
-
you got to be there on time,
you got to be clean,
-
you have to be willing,
-
it's discipline, it's structure,
that's the way a kitchen can work.
-
We learn through a type of osmosis.
-
The chef never really explained anything,
he'd just say, "Do that".
-
And if you say, "Why?",
and he'd say, "Because I just told you".
-
That was about the end
of the apprenticeship.
-
Probably, just as good
for someone who's 13-14 years old.
-
So, we worked, repeating, and repeating,
and repeating those techniques ad nauseam;
-
we were not allowed
to go to the stove for a year.
-
So, during that year,
I plucked a lot of chicken,
-
eviscerated a lot of chicken,
scaled fish, chopped parsley,
-
all of that type of things,
and then the chef called me --
-
My name was "You" at the time
-
then, by the time I went to the stove,
they called me Jacques, so I got the name.
-
He said, "You start tomorrow".
-
"I start tomorrow?"
I didn't know how to do it,
-
but when I went to the stove,
I knew how to do it.
-
It was through that type of osmosis,
things that you show,
-
I've got a book called, "La technique",
that I published in 1975
-
so, it's 40-year old, and I don't cook
the way I did 40 years ago.
-
But the way I did an egg white,
or sharpen a knife, or bone out a chicken,
-
to [inaudible]... it is that kind
of permanence, that kind of continuity
-
that you'll learn in the kitchen.
-
To be first a craftman.
-
And very often it's very difficult
to explain in words
-
something that you can show --
-
It's easier to show --
-
than to explain in words --
-
You can do that to chocolate as well --
-
You'd do that at exactly
the right temperature --
-
and we used to --
-
put the butter in
a little container and that on top,
-
and now you can charge 20 bucks for it --
-
(Laughter)
-
Put that in water that's cold --
-
(Applause)
-
Thank you, Titine.
-
For me, first you have to be a craftsman.
-
You have to be a craftsman, and
it's that repeat, and repeat, and repeat,
-
that is very important.
-
Just like --
-
you spend a 1-2 years
in a studio in art school
-
and learn the law of perspective
-- it is perfectly fine,
-
and you learn how to mix
yellow and blue to make green,
-
what to do with your sand,
with your spatula, with the brush --
-
then you can come out and
do one painting after another.
-
So that makes you a chef? Not really.
-
But you're by then, a good craftsman,
and that's very important.
-
You have to first know your trade,
-
whether you are a shoemaker,
or a cabinet maker, like my father,
-
first, you know your trade.
-
So, those things that we boned out
I learned as a child --
-
Then, I learned this from...
I don't remember where I learn that but
-
when you learn something
you learn it a certain way
-
and after a while, you don't remember
where it comes from,
-
and you do it your way, eventually.
-
To do a type of lollipop like that
as we used to do that you --
-
So, those techniques, as I said,
first make you a craftsman,
-
and if you are a good craftsman
then you can run a restaurant.
-
There are about
20,000 restaurants in New York
-
and 100 are well known, maybe 200,
maybe 300, maybe 400 even,
-
but what happen to the 19,500
is that they are run by artisans,
-
people who know how to work properly,
-
and this is the only way if you become,
in my opinion, a good craftsman,
-
if you have that type of knowledge
then you can express yourself.
-
This is half of yourself,
the other half has to do with talent.
-
If you happen to have talent like,
if you have taste, a bit of a vision,
-
if you have a little bit of creativity,
-
then you can express yourself,
-
you now have the means
to express yourself,
-
if you've gone through those techniques.
-
You have to repeat those techniques,
as I said, long enough
-
so you can afford to forget it after.
-
Here we are,
half of this, now the filet --
-
(Claudine) If you have any questions
you should shout them out,
-
it's a good opportunity.
-
There's going to be a test.
-
(Laughter)
-
(Jacques) This way --
-
There's my carcass.
-
Now, [inaudible] filet,
you remove it here --
-
This one here --
-
So, you free your hand
by learning those techniques
-
and as I said, you can think in term
of texture and other things
-
because, as I said, you free your hand
by repeating and repeating.
-
Now, this is one part of yourself,
-
half of yourself is there,
it's the craftsman,
-
and the other part of yourself
-
will depend on whether
you have talent or not,
-
and even if you have
a little bit of talent, not too much,
-
you can still run a little restaurant
by being a good technician.
-
If you have a lot of talent,
then you can take it further,
-
but not all the chefs are René Redzepi,
or David Chang, or José Andrés --
-
Here we are --
-
(Applause)
-
(Jacques) At that point
you really don't want to cut the bone
-
because the skin will shrink
all over the place so, we break it.
-
And you know, the interesting part,
if you carve in the dining room,
-
or if you do a quail
or a pheasant or a goose,
-
the morphology is the same.
-
If you cut a chicken
in pieces to do a skew,
-
you cut exactly in the sample place,
at the shoulder joint, at the hip joint.
-
Okay.
-
Now, you have to be very proud
of what you're doing
-
but you also have to be humble
to a certain extend
-
because there's always someone
-
who can think with
more creativity than you,
-
or who can think harder than you do.
-
We're all limited
by the extent of our taste
-
and they are different,
-
and sometimes you have a food critic
who really doesn't know how to cook
-
but maybe can taste better than you do.
-
We follow on that
and sometimes it's difficult to take
-
but that's the way it is.
-
For me, a young chef should work
with a good chef, in a good place,
-
and at that point your [inaudible] is
to try to visualize what that chef does,
-
if he or she works with you
then you try to see --
-
Yeah, where there's no bones --
-
a little bit here --
-
you try to see the food through
his or her sense of aesthetic,
-
their sense of taste,
-
and even if it doesn't coincide with you,
-
most of the time
-
it won't coincide with your sense of taste
or your sense of aesthetic,
-
but it doesn't really matter
at that point,
-
you have to look at it through that,
-
and you do it for a year or two,
-
then you work with another chef
for a year or two,
-
and again looking at things
from a different point of view,
-
different sense of aesthetic,
-
and then maybe with a third one
a few more times,
-
then at some point
you're going to give it back.
-
You're going to give it back,
-
and now you're going to filter it
through your sense of taste,
-
through your sense of aesthetic,
-
that's how it works
-
because ultimately, at some point,
you cannot escape yourself,
-
you are who you are, and that's the way
how you are going to do it.
-
It's always a bit of a paradox for me
-
because I work with young chefs
at Boston University
-
and everyone wants to do
something special and different.
-
I do a class which I call a perfect meal,
-
which is a roast chicken,
a bol of potatoes and a salad.
-
It used to be this way --
-
they all go to the stove
to do the same type of things
-
and I say, "Don't try to blew my mind
because I know that I have 12 people here
-
and I'm going to have
12 different chicken."
-
That's the way it is so --
-
you don't really have to
torture yourself to be different,
-
you are different,
-
there's no way that you can do
-
exactly the same thing
than the person next to you.
-
This is a good beef stuffing but --
-
just to give you an idea.
-
Okay, Titine --
-
We have our galantine,
that is if we poach it,
-
and our ballotine if we roast it.
-
Thank you.
-
So, we put it this way --
-
(Claudine) No questions?
-
(Jacques) Okay.
-
- (Jacques) Very quiet here --
- (Claudine) I know --
-
(Claudine) Do you want some wine?
-
(Jacques) Ah, my daughter knows me --
(Laughter)
-
(Jacques) Our galantine, so --
-
(Applause and cheering)
-
(Jacques) Up to that point --
(Claudine) You have five minutes --
-
(Jacques) Oh yeah... okay.
-
the technique to do something
remain fairly constant --
-
but at that point
this is what it'll change,
-
when you're happy with the way
how you cook it, what you do with it,
-
the seasoning and all of that
become your own.
-
Okay --
(Eggs cracking)
-
- (Jacques) Pepper, Titine?
- (Claudine) Yep --
-
- (Jacques) That's your salt --
- (Pepper mill grinding)
-
(Claudine) Everyone needs one of me
in the kitchen, you all need me --
-
(Laughter)
-
(Jacques) Now I cook with
my granddaughter as well.
-
(Claudine) She's twelve.
-
(Jacques) Yes, when I did a TV show
with Claudine many years ago --
-
(Jacques) Why did you
give me two of those?
-
(Claudine) I get... I offer
whatever you want it --
-
(Jacques) Okay, good.
-
(Jacques) I learned to make
three different types of omelettes.
-
A flat omelette, à la piperade
or omelette basquaise and so forth --
-
Western omelette or in the US,
-
and then we did an omelette
that my mother would do
-
with very large curd, brown,
-
and then we did a more
classic omelette - like this one -
-
and loose, we want to make
very small curds like scramble egg --
-
Now there are three different
types of omelettes that I would do,
-
one is not better than the other,
it's just different
-
A few weeks ago I did that for television,
-
they came to my house and wanted me
to do the three types of omelettes,
-
which I did --
-
and then they realized they only have
a minute and a half when they edited,
-
so they just took some stuff
from one omelette to the other,
-
to the other, and mix
the whole thing together --
-
(Laughter)
-
(Jacques) What a waste!
-
Here you bring it back here
-
which you're rolling
really like a carpet --
-
so you're just bringing one lid --
-
one lid here and a half moon --
-
nice half moon...
bring that here --
-
bring the other lid on top --
-
this is the time
when you want to stuff it,
-
change hands,
-
and that omelette should be --
-
to the edge --
-
Ooooh!
-
- The chefs in my kitchen --
- (Applause)
-
The chef in my kitchen
would have seen the pleads on top
-
and he would have done some reference
to the behind of his grandmother --
-
(Laughter)
-
As you can see it should be pale
right on top, very creamy,
-
very soft inside, like scramble eggs,
-
and that's what a classic omelette is.
-
(Jacques) Yes, Claudine?
(Claudine) Yes, papa!
-
(Jacques) Ok, will you drink to that?
(Claudine) I will!
-
(Applause)
-
(Claudine) Whatever
you take away from here, I hope --
-
and it's so wonderful that
you're taking the time to be here,
-
I hope you share
your knowledge with everyone
-
because that's how the craft continues,
-
that's how our trade continues,
that's how it gets better.
-
(Jacques) Yeah, I realized quite well,
all of you know those techniques,
-
some better than me,
yet I thank you for coming
-
and listening to me, but for me
the permanence is there,
-
to teach, to explain and to show
at least the basic structure,
-
and at that point, when you have
that type of manual dexterity
-
or technical knowledge,
-
then you can run a kitchen quite well.
-
As I said, if you happen to have talent,
-
then you bring it to a another level
-
and, like the person who works
in a studio for a couple of years,
-
as I said, after that, you know
how to mix all your paintings
-
and know what you can do with a brush,
-
then you step outside you do
one painting after another --
-
Does that make you an artist?
-
Not really, at that point
you're a good craftsman.
-
If, however, you have talent,
-
now you have the means
to express that talent
-
and take it somewhere.
-
As I said, you do
have to transcend that level
-
in which you have to concentrate
on the manual task that you're at.
-
You see a beginner coming around
and you said: "Do you have any parsley?"
-
and he sayd: "Don't disturb me"
- someone is slicing something -
-
So you have to transcend that level
you don't have to think about it,
-
things are there so you can think
in terms of texture,
-
combination of ingredients,
or things like that.
-
- Right, Titine?
-
(Claudine) Right.
Do you have any questions?
-
(Jacques) I think I was there at
one and a half minute,
-
now I'm back to seven minutes?
-
(Laughter)
-
(Claudine) Oh, okay.
-
(Jacques) Yes, any questions?
No questions... Yes, sir?
-
(inaudible speaking from the audience)
-
(Claudine) Oh, yeah --
(Jacques) Do I know that man here?
-
(Claudine) I gave him 20 bucks before
to say that. Thank you, Michelle!
-
(Claudine blowing a kiss)
-
(Jacques) Thank you, Michelle.
-
Yes, I know that there are
great, fantastic chefs here --
-
we had an extraordinary,
extraordinary meal at Noma,
-
I'm gratified to be here,
-
I know I'm the oldest of the group
-
and now that I'm passed 80 years old
I'm supposed to be wise --
-
I don't think that I'm wiser
than when I was 30 years old
-
but this is what happens when you get old.
-
You think I'm wise, Claudine?
-
(Claudine) Yes, yes, yes...
of course, you are!
-
(Jacques) Ok, that's a good daughter.
-
(Laughter)
-
(Jacques) Now I'm doing a show
with my granddaughter, Shorey,
-
which we called "Lesson of a grandfather".
-
So, little things,
even how to set up a table,
-
eat properly at the table or --
-
but no, not enjoying wine yet --
-
(Claudine) No, no, no wine yet,
it's just to give us show, so --
-
(Laughter)
-
(Claudine) Yes, sir?
-
(inaudible speaking from the audience)
-
It's a very interesting question...
Do you want to repeat the question?
-
(Claudine) The question is how
are the kitchens today different than
-
the kitchens my father
was an apprentice in.
-
Pretty dramatic?
-
- Yes, well, no... but, yes!
- (Laughter)
-
There is a permanence there,
the point is that
-
you still have to come on time,
-
you still have to be ready to work,
-
you still work in a place which is
very structured, very disciplined,
-
like in the army,
-
you don't say, "Yes, captain!",
but you say, "Yes, chef!",
-
it's about the same thing
and you have to --
-
you have to so that
the kitchen works properly.
-
You're a member of a team,
-
and if you're late or you don't show up
to be part of that team,
-
you're going to destroy the structure,
-
so that remains the same.
-
That being said, when I was a kid,
-
when we cut a tomato
we only cut it in one direction,
-
we never alternate to the other side
when I worked at the Plaza and in Paris,
-
or whatever in the fifties.
-
Now, there's a much greater deal
-
and innovation is part of yourself too.
-
And, of course,
we, up to 20-30 years ago --
-
I've been in the kitchen 65-67 years --
-
the cook were at the bottom
of the social scale.
-
Any good mother would have wanted
her child to marry a doctor, an architect,
-
certainly not a cook.
-
Now we are genius! I don't know
exactly what happened but --
-
(Laughter
-
this is great, this is terrific, so --
-
(Claudine) Papa, he has a question.
-
(René) I have a question for you.
(Jacques) Yes.
-
(René) You said
you're more than 80, right?
-
(Jacques) Yes.
(René) Yes.
-
(René) So, I'm 39
and I think a lot of cooks
-
that deal with this...
what can I say, like, guilt, sometimes --
-
they feel like they should be yearning
for something in the past,
-
that in the past
things were better, kind of --
-
Can you please tell us
how it used to be in the kitchen
-
in whether you think
the life in the kitchen is better today,
-
and actually, do you think
that food has become better
-
and is becoming better?
-
Or, is it better back in the old days?
-
(Jacques) No, it is better (but)
there's a cycle also;
-
certainly as I said, my mother used
only organic products too
-
but that's what we have,
we didn't have anything else,
-
and we're going back to that,
which is a great thing, of course,
-
to be in communion with the Earth,
-
to be in communion with where you work
-
and be local, and so forth.
-
Yes, absolutely.
-
The cooks now that the same structure
that we used to have
-
but you have much more freedom
than we ever had before.
-
Certainly, I got kicked in the rear end
a few times by my chefs,
-
I mean it was the type of things
that it was supposed at that time --
-
it was supposed to be difficult,
-
you were supposed to go
to a rite of passage and all of that,
-
which is not really necessary,
-
you don't need to be yelled at --
-
I've seen a lot of show on television,
certainly, reality show,
-
and the kitchen is like mayhem and
the chef is yelling all over the place.
-
This is not conducive
to good work, certainly.
-
There's a great deal of love, a great deal
of yourself that you put in that food,
-
and the yelling
and other people's lack of respect,
-
those things are not conducive,
in my opinion, to learning well
-
and teaching people how to cook.
-
At a certain age, when I was 12-13,
the best way of learning
-
was probably through
that kind of osmotic way:
-
you look, you repeat,
you look, you repeat, and so forth.
-
We passed that level now.
-
Chefs come from cooking schools,
-
they come out from college
to their older time,
-
they want to know how to do it,
they want us to explain,
-
so it's a different way of teaching
than what we're used to;
-
and people are much more in a hurry
than how we were too;
-
we had at least three other apprenticeship
without paid or anything,
-
so, you know, there are six other
apprentices in front of you --
-
so, this is much better now.
-
A much greater respect for the chef,
for what we do for our tradition,
-
and this is why, I mean,
we're here today --
-
- Yes?
- (Claudine) Wrap it up.
-
(Jacques) Wrap it up. Yes, ma'm, okay.
But I still see one minute --
-
- (Claudine) Trust me.
- (Laughter)
-
(Jacques) I don't know whether
that's the right answer to your question,
-
or if it's specific enough but --
-
(René) Can you just say in a yes or no?
-
(Laughter)
-
(Claudine) You'll be the first one
to ever get that answer, if it's possible.
-
If you look back when you were 30
-
and you look at kitchens
and chefs and cooking now,
-
do you believe that is better now?
-
(Jacques) Oh yes, absolutely,
no question at all --
-
(René) Thank you!
-
(Applause)
-
(Jacques) No question at all.
-
(Claudine) Thank you, of course,
to the MAD team for working there,
-
took us all to the extend
that I find extraordinary
-
and rather inspiring so,
-
I hope that everyone feels really good
about the work here,
-
but, of course, thanks to all of you
for caring so much about what we do
-
and about what you do
and bringing it to the next level
-
We hope you have a wonderful,
wonderful couple of days.
-
- Thank you!
- (Jacques) We are!
-
And drink a lot of wine!
-
(Cheering and Applause)
-
Thank you very much!
-
(Cheering and Applause)
-
My daughter, Claudine!
-
(Cheering and Applause)
-
(Claudine) I'm going
to bring this in the back for [inaudible]
-
(Jacques) Okay, good.
-
(Jacques) Hi Michelle!
-
(Jacque) Jose is not here?
(René) He's here --
-
(Jacques) Okay. Everything I know,
I learned from him, you know.
-
(Laughter)