Cuisine du Marche
Two chefs from Paris and Tokyo flew in to Manila last year and orchestrated a culinary demonstration featuring sustainable cooking.
According to Alain Ducasse, “the product is the only truth. Each ingredient, grown with love and respect, in its distinctive land, has an incomparable flavor. Without which, a chef is nothing.” Chefs from Le Centre de Formation d’Alain Ducasse, Christophe Larrat and Jérôme Lacressonnière, fortify this philosophy through a culinary demonstration in partner institution, Enderun Colleges.
Cuisne du Marché means cuisine of the market. Accompanied by Enderun culinary instructors, the chefs visited the market early that day to buy the local ingredients available for the masterclass. They then adjusted the recipes to emphasize the flavors of the products found in our terroir. For Ducasse, the combination of the finest ingredients and the most precise techniques make an excellent dish.
“To create a dish is to create a story,” explains Chef Jérôme pointing how important are the ingredients. From the farmer to the creation of a dish, a chef must be able to create a story. The chef started his career in the famous maisons: Georges Blanc in Vonnas close to Lyon, at the Louis XV in Monaco, where he discovered the cuisine of Alain Ducasse, and also at the Hôtel Ritz in Paris. He left France for Hong Kong to become the Chef de Cuisine of the French Consul. Working in Japan for six years, he built a reputation using French techniques in handling the most delicate Japanese ingredients while respecting the local tradition. He certainly knows the philosophy by heart. Now on his third visit in the Philippines, Chef Christophe acknowledges before cuisine there was nature. Born in Toulouse, it is in the Darroze family that he did his training. With his experiences, he left the province to meet Alain Ducasse and to participate at the opening of the restaurant of the Raymond Poincaré Avenue in Paris. Then, he enters the Troisgros House, where he served as an ambassador chef of the group for several years, and went on lots of missions abroad, particularly to Moscow and Tokyo. Today, he officiates as Executive Chef at the center in Argenteuil.
Highlighted on the first dish, Légumes en Barigoule Vanillée, are seasonal produce. It is a vegetable stew cooked Barigoule with hints of Vanilla. The Soupe de Tomate Glacée au Crabe, Granité Basilic was presented in a contemporary manner inside a clear bowl sitting on top of crushed ice. The texture of this soup literally dances of the palate while the crab and basil granita adds on to contrast. A large Lapu-Lapu was used in the Poisson Croute de Sel et d’Algues. The fish was stuffed with sprigs of dill, slices of lemon and sticks of dry fennel then covered with grey sea salt and multicolored algae. Completing this delectable dish was a creamy Sauce Aneth. For the dessert, they made Mangues Rôties au Four. The roasted dish showcased the world-famous Philippine mangoes. It was paired with an exotic sorbet of various tropical fresh fruit juices accented with a crunchy crumble and a strip of dried Pineapple. All the dishes prepared enfleshed Alain Ducasse’s philosophy of 40% techniques and 60% ingredients.
The two chefs were here in Manila to strengthen the partnership of Enderun Colleges in the Philippines and Alain Ducasse Formation in France. They conducted workshops to chef instructors to ensure that our rigorous culinary curriculum is aligned with the Alain Ducasse Formation principles. Aside from the advocacy of sustainable cooking, Alain Ducasse also emphasizes the transmission of his savoir-faire. He strongly believes that training is an essential tool to constantly improve and innovate in our field.
Watch the Cuisine du Marche video here.
