Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson

Author:Marcus Samuelsson [Samuelsson, Marcus]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-440-33881-9
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2012-06-26T04:00:00+00:00

IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, I could see that Georges Blanc owned the town of Vonnas. Almost literally. He had bought up much of the real estate on the town square and, in addition to the quaint, half-timbered, luxurious hotel/restaurant I was headed for, he had created a somewhat more affordable, casual eatery called L’Ancienne Auberge. He’d also established his own vineyard some years before, just beyond town, and had transformed many in-town storefronts into specialty shops that made Vonnas into a food lover’s paradise.

I went into work the next morning with first-day jitters. I had replaced my Converse sneakers with Dr. Martens boots, my pants and jacket were fresh and crisply ironed, and I was wearing a simple dark tie. I had finally made it to Division One in the cooking world; there was no higher for me to go. Division One is an elite club. Once you’re inside, you have established yourself, but that doesn’t mean you can slack off. Everyone at Georges Blanc worked with a palpable commitment to excellence. Everyone from the boy polishing glasses to the woman arranging flowers moved at a fast clip, no time to sit down, all of them preparing for the common goal of knocking each guest off his or her feet.

We were in constant competition, with ourselves, each other, and the other three-star restaurants. We had to be on our toes at all times. It didn’t take long for me to be grateful that I hadn’t gone straight from Belle Avenue to France. When I left Göteborg, I was still a novice. At Georges Blanc, you had to fight for your place every day. It would take everything I had to hang in France.

That first day, I crossed the perfect square filled with shops, which were all redone in a medieval style, with facades of plaster and exposed wood framing. I had the feeling of being in a gourmet theme park done in the best of taste. I thought I was just passing through the square on the way to Georges Blanc, but when I got there, the HR person pulled out my file, checked it against a list, and simply said, “Boulangerie.”

Back outside I went, walking over to one of those shops on the square, a bakery that was to be my home for the foreseeable future. I wasn’t working in the actual restaurant kitchen, but I still felt a part of the team, and just as I’d found working in the garden at Victoria Jungfrau, there was plenty to learn. I’d never tasted bread like this. A croissant fresh from the oven is a beautiful thing, and now I know how they’re made, how much butter they require, and how fresh the butter has to be to give them their lightness and flake. Our shop also made small takeaway snacks and meals that sightseers could pick up on their way out into the countryside, where they’d drive through cornfields and visit vineyards and tour the farms that raised poulets de

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