The world of cooking is pretty basic - a life of hard work entangled with creativity. I love my work, I spend a great deal of time thinking about food, cooking and restaurants in general. In my experience, it is a subject that is all-consuming in a mental, physical and almost spiritual way. I find precious little time for analysing and philosophising - something I should, perhaps, spend more time doing.
Pierre Gagnaire is clearly a supremely bright man with a wealth of experience in both cooking and life. His new book, Reflections on Culinary Artistry, is a baffling piece of work. I am a straightforward human being; I am neither particularly antagonistic nor overtly opinionated, but this book "presses the buttons".
It may be quite simply that I don't get it. I have no problem with the fact that it is devoid of recipes; on the contrary, it is all the more refreshing for it. In addition, I have always believed that every dish in a cookbook should be accompanied by a photograph, and in this one it is. To have a visual goal of where one is trying to get to with a dish is infinitely superior to any number of words. Beautiful pictures - we all enjoy them. Food is sensual, and this is perfectly portrayed with photography.
There are two sections in the book, one sweet, one savoury. They sandwich a "Discussion on the Cuisine of Pierre Gagnaire". In both sections there are some utterly delicious creations: the chocolate cake on page 36; the rum baba on page 62; and a truffle, habugo-type feuillet‚ on page 175. There are also plenty that go straight over me and my world of cooking - they, too, may be delicious, but the jury is still out. What are extraordinary are the snippets of "philosophy" with the photographs on the adjacent pages. I have to say they grate enormously.
Take a slice of raw artichoke tucked inside a crisp praline tuile, add a chocolate chip cookie and a puddle of praline sauce, call it "The virtues of travel" and discuss, as follows: "Well, I've almost forgotten this cookie and its chocolate chips. Meanwhile I've been somewhere else. I've forgotten everything, including this creation. Today, I'm looking for something else. There are these little spiky artichokes. Now, take away the praline flavour; move the artichoke into olive oil... Let it marinate in its future." There must be a hundred such interactions.
The "discussion" at the heart of the book contains an account of Gagnaire's culinary life. More philosophical stuff is punctuated with attempts to give an insight into the master chef's thinking. It is a great read: fascinating, frustrating and infuriating at times. He is an extreme man with extreme ideas and has taken the decision to abandon the worn paths of classical cookery and stay entirely "off piste".
Absolutely fine, and, I'm sure, extremely liberating. It is the extent of the analysis of his every thought, decision and action that I question. The resulting discussion is so complex it begs the ultimate question: who is this cookbook intended for? Jury's still out on that one, too.
Philip Howard, chef-proprietor, the Square, London
Reflections on Culinary Artistry
Pierre Gagnaire
Stewart,
Tabori & Chang,
$50
ISBN 1-58479-316-3