I am reading Ma Gastronomie By Ferdinand Point. Essentially he took cuisine from Escoffier and made it accessible to the people. Yes, Escoffier is the father of modern cooking and the vast majority of all cooking technique that I teach comes from this master. But what is amazing about Point is that he took what Escoffier was doing lightened the sauces, elevated the staff, and made cuisine accessible to all walks of life. He also trained or had a profound effect on modern day star chefs like Paul Bocuse, Daniel Boulud, Jean and Pierre Troisgros, Alain Chapel, and Thomas Keller.
Ferdinand Point also was the first to look at the restaurant as a whole. In his eyes the Chef was not relegated just to the kitchen. He had the mind set that if it were his restaurant and his name on the door that he should be involved in every aspect of the dining experience. He in fact was the first “Chef/Owner”, a person who was concerned with the guest's overall impression. Some of the stories from this fantastic volume include the Chef indulging in two magnums of champagne before 9:00am, as well as his long running practical joke of getting new delivery drivers from the market Les Halles in Paris too drunk to drive back from their country side delivery route.
The food that Ferdinand Point created at his restaurant La Pyramide has stood the test of time and as I read the book some fifty years after his death the cuisine is at once fresh and interesting as well as being a representation of classical French cooking. I highly recommend any one with a passion for food or restaurants to read this book!
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