Alexandre Dumaine and the Soul of Cooking

In my opinion—and it is that of countless other gourmets— Alexandre Dumaine, the celebrated proprietor of the H6tel de la C6te d'Or, at Saulieu, is the greatest chef in France today.

In the course of my gastronomic peregrinations, I have made the acquaintance of most of the well-known chefs in Paris and throughout France. But none I know of are as impas­sioned with their culinary pursuit as Dumaine. During the numerous discussions we have had together, concerning both simple and classic French cooking, he has reiterated, with a solemnity that commands respect, that for him "there exists no finer profession."

Aside from the unique experience of enjoying to the full his fabulous wine and food, you do not have to wait to get to know Dumaine well before realizing the significance of this statement. Any gourmet is bound on first meeting Dumaine to feel himself in the presence of a great expert whose whole life is consecrated to the fine art of gastronomy. In speaking of what he terms "a civilized art," Dumaine relates his many and varied culinary experiences with an earnestness that never fails to impress. Anyone who might doubt his sincerity has only to question his charming and most hospitable wife, Jeanne Dumaine, who attends to the administration and re­ceives the clientele at the Hôtel de la C6te d'Or (180 miles south of Paris, on Route Nationale No. 6) with a kindness and psychological understanding that go to make it a haven of comfort for exacting epicures.

According to Madame Dumaine, Alexandra lives in a world of non-stop cuisine. When he is not working in the kitchen, then he is experimenting with his recipes. He never stops think­ing of la cuisine; he even dreams of it and, if at night he cannot sleep, then he sits up and studies new and different ways of preparing his spécialites de la maison. He cannot even let up when he and Madame Dumaine go off together for an annual fortnight's respite, in order to give the staff a holiday. All the comfort and relaxation that the beautiful Riviera can offer mean less to him than the confines of his small kitchen in Saulieu, where he prepares masterpieces for knowledgeable gastronomes who come from near and far to relish them.

Dumaine's Livre d'Or is priceless for the signatures it con­tains. The names of the famous that figure in it are too many for me to list here. Other documents on display, in the en­trance to the restaurant, that are the envy of many a visiting chef, are the endless diplomas and medals that Dumaine has won as culinary prizes. He probably tops the list as the most decorated of French chefs. Here again, I will not attempt to enumerate them beyond saying that his most recent award, which is considered to be one of the highest that a chef can receive, is his nomination as Member of Honor of the Club des Cent, the most select and distinguished of gastronomic clubs in France.

How did Dumaine attain this enviable position? The answer, quite simply, is fifty years of sheer hard work and a passionate devotion to his profession. Every single one of the great chefs I have talked with has given me a similar account of an extremely hard apprenticeship which meant rising at dawn, if not before, and being the last to be left in the kitchen to clean up.

Dumaine was born at Digoin, in the Soane-et-Loire Dé-partement, in 1895. He started to learn his profession at the age of twelve when he became an apprentice in the local pastry shop. From there, he moved into the kitchens of the H6tel de la Poste, at Paray-le-Monial. Later, he studied under the famous Aletti, at the H6tel Carlton, in Vichy; and in Paris, under Leopold Mourier, at the Cafe de Paris which, to the profound regret of many a gourmet, closed its doors in 1955-

Dumaine started his Livre d'Or during the first world war with the names of two very prominent figures who were to herald his eventual triumphal success. They were Clemenceau and General Franchet d'Espérey, for whom he cooked an impromptu meal up on the front. After the war, Dumaine was nominated chef de cuisine in several of the leading hotels in spas throughout the country. Eventually he was given the important job as director of the chain of hotels of the Sahara, owned by the Compagnie Transatlantique. In 1931 he retired from this post and acquired the H6tel de la C6te d'Or, in Saulieu.

What made Dumaine wish to become a chef in the first place? It was a natural inclination to work in the kitchen ever since the days when, as a youngster, he used to watch his mother at home cooking the plain and excellent regional dishes of Lower Burgundy. The family was poor, but Dumaine's mother always succeeded in producing delicious food based on the simplest of recipes. It was from her that he learned the art of preparing simple dishes with studious care. And that is the very theme of this cookbook. By referring to Dumaine at some length, I have wished to stress the fact that the greatest living French chef, whose repertoire of dishes of la haute cuisine frangaise is phenomenal, advocates the art of cooking simple food with diligent application.

On the back of the very impressive wine list of the H6tel de la C6te d'Or (there are over four hundred different wines in the cellar) you will find a printed notice which reads:

Dear Client, The quality of the products that we employ and all the care that we take in their preparation will always assure you an agreeable and classic meal. Nevertheless, if you have given us sufficient warning, at least the day before, you can taste, on your arrival, according to the season and to your taste: l'oreiller de la belle-aurore

Un feuillete de queues d'Screvisses, un pdt4 de brocket, une matelote d'anguille, une truite au Chambord, un bisque d'ecrevisses, un creme Saint Hubert, un jambon du pays aux quatres purees, ou un mille-feuille de jambon) fourre au foie-gras, un ris de veau Nantua, un boeuf d la cuillere, un aspic de crites et de rognons de coq, un pdtS de canard ou de gibier, un lievre a la royale, un porcelet rdti et farci de boudins blancs et noirs, une poularde des Dues de Bourgogne, un coq en pate, un dindonneau Louis XIV ou e'est-d-dire une des belles preparations de la grande cuisine frangaise.

There is nothing in the traditions of la haute cuisine fran­gaise that Dumaine does not know how to prepare to per­fection. The Oreiller de la Belle-Aurore, a masterpiece of culinary achievement, is an excellent example. This most magnificent of all pates is named after Brillat-Savarin's mother, Claudine-Aurore Recamier. The Oreiller, so called because it is shaped like a pillow, contains pheasant, woodcock, hare, pork, veal, foie-gras, truffles, and chicken livers. This fabulous dish is not one that can be prepared in a private kitchen. As Dumaine rightly says, one should not attempt to copy at home what the restaurateurs only can succeed in cooking in their own kitchens. "It is much better," says Dumaine, "that the housewife contents herself in perfecting unpretentious dishes. And that in itself is not always easy."

One of Dumaine's closest friends was Fernand Point, whose death in 1954 was a great loss to epicures throughout the world. Point was universally acclaimed as the greatest restaurateur in France, and certainly no connoisseur of wine and food who was fortunate enough to know Point during his lifetime and to have sampled his superb cuisine will disclaim this. Dumaine and his fellow chefs held Point in the high­est esteem: they affectionately and respectfully called him "L'Empereur."

Point and Dumaine were two great artists who had much in common. They both agreed absolutely on precision and per­fection in cooking. "We don't invent," Dumaine once told me, when speaking of Point who was then still alive, "we aim to perfect. At the same time, you must admit that nothing is ever perfect."

Herein lies the secret of the success of these two master chefs. Like all great artists, they were never satisfied with their efforts. Dumaine once declared that he had been mak­ing a certain not very complicated sauce for over thirty years and it was only now that he thought he had succeeded in getting the "right balance."

When we last called on Monsieur and Madame Dumaine, we were invited to partake of a "simple" lunch. By general standards this was far from simple fare, yet the main dish, a Poularde au Vapeur du Pot-au-Feu, in its actual preparation, was certainly not complicated and can be prepared by any cook who has the time and the patience to do so. As I myself have discovered to my own benefit, time and patience in the kitchen are the forerunners of the precision and perfection that Dumaine states to be the ultimate attainment of French cuisine.

"In its own way, there is no more perfect dish than my Poularde au Vapeur, the discovery of a magistrate of Bugey and a compatriot of the great Brillat-Savarin," said Dumaine. "It should be cooked in a large earthenware pot of twelve quarts capacity. You start by preparing a Pot-au-Feu* with beef, ox-tail, chicken giblets, and all the usual vegetables and herbs. After this has simmered for four hours, you place in the pot a tripod holding a dish on which is lying your chicken, which has had very thin slices of truffles inserted under its skin and which has had a wineglass of Marsala poured into the carcass. In this way the chicken does not touch the liquid and is cooked au vapeur from one to one and a quarter hours, according to the size of the chicken. You close the pot hermeti­cally by twisting tightly a damp cloth round the lid. In this way the chicken absorbs the aroma from the meat, vegetables, and herbs, and is tender a souhait.

"Exactness in cooking," Dumaine reminded us after this memorable meal, "is difficult to achieve. Generally speaking, you will find that those who don't know how to cook try to make complicated dishes, and vice versa." And then Dumaine came out with the profound remark, "La grandeur, I'dme de la cuisine, est la simplicité [the greatness, the soul of cooking, is simplicity]."

"People nowadays," said Dumaine glumly, "seem to be losing the art of simple cooking." I suggested that this was doubtless due to the fact that it requires both patience and experience in perfecting even the humble dishes, such as a Puree de Pommes de Terre.*

"How right you are," he replied, "and when I think of the wonderful things my mother could do with potatoes. What a mess people can make of vegetables. If only they would take a little more interest in what they were doing in the kitchen then the result would be altogether a happier one. Happy, indeed, is the man who owns a small garden where he can pick, fresh, all the herbs he requires for a Court Bouillon.* And that, of course, goes for vegetables too.

"In principle, I am against the use of modern kitchen gadg­ets. As far as I myself am concerned, nothing today can re­place the old-fashioned sieve for making mashed potatoes.* Because they claim they have not time enough for cooking, many prefer laborsaving devices. But my answer is that cooking is not just a matter of pressing buttons. One should for­get the gadgets and the tricks and concentrate on

The Fingers for Working

The Brain for Judging

The Eyes for Seeing

The Nose for Smelling

The Palate for Tasting . . .”

Here are six recipes given to me by Dumaine. Three of them are of vegetable dishes and could not be simpler:

Soup: Veloute de Grouse Saint-Hubert (serves 6).

Entree: Pommes de Terre au Lard (serves 4).

Vegetable Dishes: Puree de Pommes de Terre (serves 4).

Petits Pois Paysanne (serves 4).

Haricots Verts Fins a l'Anglaise (serves 4).

Fowl: Poulet de Ferme Etuve a la Digoinaise (serves 4).

VELOUTE DE GROUSE SAINT-HUBERT(cream of grouse soup)

Serves 6

1 plump grouse

8 cups water

3 broad strips bacon rind

8 tablespoons butter

1 cup lentils

½ cup rice

Salt, pepper

Mirepoix:

2 carrots

2 shallots

2 tablespoons celery

¼ cup bacon, blanched

Sprig thyme

¼ bay leaf

Cookbooks are inclined to go into complicated details for the preparation of velouté soups, especially if game is in­volved. But here Dumaine shows again that a wonderful re-suit can be obtained by using a simplified cooking process.

Roast the grouse in a very hot oven for about 18 minutes. Remove at once and allow to get cold, then carve carefully all the white meat from the bird, also the meat from the legs (which will be undercooked). Cut up the rest of the bird and make a game stock with the carcass and the bones and the rest of the meat in 8 cups of water (which, in cooking, will reduce to about 6 cups) with the bacon rind and 4 tablespoons of butter; salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, prepare a mirepoix by cutting up the vege­tables and the bacon (blanched) into small dice and cooking them gently, with the herbs, in a small open casserole in 2 tablespoons of butter until the vegetables are soft. Remove the mirepoix and place in a pot large enough to hold the game stock. Add the lentils (which should have been soaked in water for two hours) and the rice; also the meat from the legs of the bird. Pour in the stock and simmer gently for one hour, after which time pass the contents of the pot through a fine sieve. Reheat and rectify the seasoning. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and, just before serving, the white meat from the grouse cut up into thin julienne strips.

POMMES DE TERRE AU LARD(potatoes with bacon)

Serves 4

¾ pound bacon strips

¼ cup butter

16 baby onions

1 tablespoon flour

1½ cups warm water

2 pounds potatoes, sliced

Bouquet garni

Salt, pepper

8 chipolata sausages

Parsley

Brown the bacon strips (which should not be too salty) in the butter in a casserole, preferably an earthenware one. Remove and keep warm. Do likewise with the onions. Make a roux with the flour. Pour in the water. Mix well. Add the potatoes, the bacon, the onions, the bouquet garni, and salt and pepper. Cook for about 35 to 40 minutes. Grill the sausages and keep warm. When the potatoes are cooked, re­move the bouquet garni, and arrange them on a hot serving dish with the bacon, the onions and sausages, and sprinkle with parsley.

PUREE DE POMMES DE TERRE(mashed potatoes)

Serves 4

2 pounds potatoes

¼ cup butter

¾ cup scalded milk

1 tablespoon fresh cream

Salt, pepper

If the potatoes are large ones, then cut them in half, or in quarters. Cook them in salted water; the water should cover them and little more. They must not boil too rapidly, and as soon as they are cooked, after 20 to 25 minutes, remove and drain them at once. Replace over a low flame so as to evaporate the surplus water. Pass the potatoes through a sieve. It is important that they should be mashed vertically. Dumaine insists that they should never be put through a vegetable mill, or mashed in a machine with a rotary movement, for this will tend to give the potatoes a stringy and elastic consistency.

Add the softened butter, piece by piece, to the potatoes, beating vigorously all the time with a wooden spoon. Then gradually add the milk, stirring all the time. Finally add the cream. Salt and pepper to taste and serve at once.

Mashed potatoes is a dish that does NOT improve on being reheated. If these potatoes are to be served to someone with a delicate stomach, then Dumaine recommends that, instead of adding milk to the purse, a mixture of half hot milk and half the hot water in which the potatoes have cooked, should be beaten into the potatoes which will be every bit as pleasant to taste.

PETITS POIS PAYSANNE(fresh green peas)

Serves 4

4 pounds fresh, unshelled peas

4 small spring onions

4 tablespoons water

Butter “as large as an egg”

½ teaspoon powdered sugar

Bouquet garni

Salt

Shell the peas, which, says Dumaine, "should be gathered in the garden at eleven o'clock to be eaten at lunchtime."

Place them along with the other ingredients in a casserole, preferably an enamel or an earthenware one. Cover with a soup plate filled with water. Cook gently for 15 to 20 minutes.

HARICOTS VERTS FINS A L'ANGLAISE(FRENCH BEANS A L'ANGLAISE)

Serves 4

1½ pounds French beans

Salt, pepper

1 tablespoon butter

Parsley

Plunge the beans into a pan containing a large quantity of boiling salted water. As soon as the beans are cooked, which will take about 15 minutes, and are still quite firm (croquants, they say in French), remove at once and drain them. Place in a hot serving dish, season with salt and pepper, and place a tablespoon of fresh butter in the middle of them. Sprinkle over them a little fresh parsley cut with scissors and serve immediately.

The secret of succeeding with French beans is that they should be absolutely fresh, picked only an hour or two before cooking, if possible. Dumaine also stresses the importance of the cooking time. They should remain firm, being just cooked and no more. The butter used must be of a superior quality. And the parsley must be cut with scissors, not chopped with a knife. Do not throw away the water in which the beans have cooked as it is excellent for adding to vegetable soups.

POULET DE FERME ETUVE A LA DIGOINAISE(CHICKEN A LA DIGOINAISE)

Serves 4

¾ cup butter

1 farmyard chicken of 2¼ pounds

1 small fresh-water eel of ½ pound

Salt, pepper

1½ tablespoons flour

¾ cup dry white wine

1 cup water

Bouquet garni

2 cloves garlic

Dumaine describes this regional dish, from Lower Burgundy, as "a traditional dish of the generation of our fathers." "Nous le ddgustons avec Smotion, assez friquemment," he says. The eel binds and gives a surprising smoothness to the sauce.

Melt the butter in a sautoir. Gut the chicken up into 6 or 8 portions and slice the eel. Place eel and chicken in the sautoir, season with salt and pepper, cover securely and cook gently for 10 minutes. Turn the pieces of chicken and eel, cover and cook again, gently, for another 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken and the eel and keep hot. Add the flour to the juice in the pan, to make a roux, over a low flame. Stir well. Do not allow to color. Add the wine and the water, binding the sauce with a whisk. Replace the chicken and the eel in the sautoir. Add the bouquet garni and the garlic. Cover and simmer for about 50 minutes over a low flame.

Brown a few pieces of bread, preferably the coarser, country bread, in a frying pan. Place the pieces of chicken and eel on top of the bread in a hot serving dish. Pour over the sauce from the sautoir and serve very hot.

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