Fernand Point

Fernand Point
Born	(1897-02-25)25 February 1897 Louhans, Saône-et-Loire
Died	4 March 1955(1955-03-04) (aged 58) Vienne
Culinary career
Cooking style	French
Previous restaurant(s) "La Pyramide" in Vienne

Vienne (avril 2009) 022

Fernand Point (25 February 1897, Louhans – 4 March 1955, Vienne) was a legendary French chef and restaurateur and is considered to be the father of modern French cuisine, and was called Le Roi (The King) by his peers. He simplified and purified the classic dishes of French cuisine by his sheer creativity. He founded the legendary French restaurant, La Pyramide in Lyons, the Mecca of French cuisine. He literally elevated modern French cuisine to an art form. A larger-than-life man in every way, he was his generation's master of la grande cuisine, simplifying the work of Escoffier.

Early life

He was born in Louhans, Saône-et-Loire, France. Both his parents were accomplished chefs in cordon bleu and ran a buffet place. He started cooking when he was ten and worked at some of the best restaurants of the time.

Career

He had received his training with Foyot in Paris, the Bristol Hotel, Paris, the Majestic in Cannes, and the Royal Hotel in Évian-les-Bains. He quit Royal Hotel to work at the restaurant his father bought.

La Pyramide

Main article: La Pyramide

Point opened Restaurant de la Pyramide when he was 24, a mile South of Lyon in the town Vienne. He gained three Michelin stars.

The restaurant was founded shortly after World War I. From its kitchen came the modern, lightly thickened sauce s, baby vegetables and other aspects of nouvelle cuisine. During the regime of Vichy France, Point served refugees fleeing the Nazi invasion of France. When German officers began patronizing his establishment, he stopped serving dinner. When they demanded tables for lunch, he closed his restaurant altogether.

The ovens in the restaurant were coal powered up until the 1970s, and feature the flat top that is heated from below by the coal and provides a gradient of heat (known as a "piano"). The cooking was done with copper pans.

The wine collection was also one of the best in the world with more than 40,000 bottles of wine in the 3 cellars by the 1970s. Each day the menu would be written out by hand by Fernand's wife based on the best produce available that day. While Point worked in the kitchen, his wife welcomed their guests. She continued owning the restaurant after her husband's death.

One of the regular customers was the Aga Khan III who used to eat an immense amount of food.

Signature Dishes

Foie Gras en Brioche Goose liver, marinated in port and armagnac with a whole truffle in the middle, cooked in the middle of very eggy unsweetened brioche bread. Once baked, the brioche would be sliced and each slice would have the concentric circles of truffle, foie gras, and brioche. This would be presented on a silver platter typically with the ends of the platter decorated with starched napkins in a gondola shape, flowers, and the platter encircled with aspics (jellies) made with port.

Gratin of Crayfish tails This dish took years for Fernand Point to perfect and was considered one of his greatest masterpieces. It consists of Crayfish cooked in a mirepoix and then doused with cognac and white wine. It is then covered in crayfish butter and hollandaise sauce and browned in the oven.

Pâté de Chasse en croûte A classic dish consisting of various kinds of ground game meat (depending on the season) cooked in a decorated puff pastry case.

Poularde en Vessie Marius Vettard This dish was originated by or in honor of Marius Vettard, a chef from the Lyon restaurant "Cafe Neuf". A chicken from Bresse (a region considered having some of the best chickens in the world). The chicken is stuffed with truffles and foie gras, put in a cleaned pig bladder and the bladder is boiled in chicken consommé. The bladder is designed to hermetically seal in the juices of the chicken and may be a predecessor to today's process of cooking sous vide.

Poulet de Bresse - Bresse Chicken

Gratin Dauphinois Fernand Point's version of the local potato gratin featured no cheese and the potatoes in one single layer.

Salade Delice A salad of barely cooked French string beans (haricot verts), sliced mushrooms, sliced truffles, diced duck liver and a dressing. This salad became copied worldwide in the 1970s and '80s amongst followers of Fernand Point's Nouvelle Cuisine.

Marjolaine A masterpiece dessert invented by Point, this multi-layered cake also took many years to perfect. Some call it the best dessert ever. The cake is three layers of nut-meringue iced with three different buttercreams: chocolate, vanilla and praline. The whole thing then is covered with more of the chocolate buttercream.

Saint-Marcellin Saint-Marcellin, a very runny aged local cheese was the preferred cheese served at the restaurant.

Ma Gastronomie

Main article: Ma Gastronomie

The book Ma Gastronomie was first published in French in 1969, 200 recipes are included based on Fernand Point notes. The World-famous chef Charlie Trotter described Point's Ma Gastronomie as the most important cookbook. In its latest edition, the foreword is done by noted American chef Thomas Keller.

Influence

Point was strict and unforgiving on his staff and underlings. He was the most influential chef of his generation. Before his death, Point's protégés became masters of the Nouvelle cuisine of the 1960s and 1970s. They include Paul Bocuse, Roger Vergé, Alain Chapel, Francois Bise, Louis Outhier, and Jean and Pierre Troisgros. Georges Perrier trained at La Pyramide prior to founding Le Bec-Fin. Point trained a generation of chefs who would take his ideas to new heights. They became the pioneers of the expansion of Nouvelle Cuisine into the 1970s.

Personal life

Fernand Point was married to Marie Louise. She ran La Pyramide for 30 years after his death, even earning the Michelin 3 star rating.

Quotations

• “Each morning the cuisinier must start again at zero, with nothing on the stove”
• “Success is the sum of a lot of small things correctly done”
• "Before judging a thin man, one must get some information. Perhaps he was once fat"
• And the famous - “Butter! Give me butter! Always butter!”

Publications

• Point, Fernand (2008) Ma Gastronomie, Rookery Press. ISBN 978-1-58567-961-4