He was modest about his accomplishments in the kitchen but grandiose in his dreams.
French chef Paul Bocuse attends the "Bocuse d'Or" (Golden Bocuse) trophy,at the 14th World Cuisine contest, in Lyon, France on Jan. 30 2013. (Laurent Cipriani / AP)
Paul Bocuse credited his long reign as France's master chef to everything but himself: good produce fresh from the garden, a superb kitchen staff and happy diners.
But the three-star Michelin rating held since 1965 by his
restaurant outside the French city of Lyon wasn't enough. Bocuse parlayed his
business and cooking skills into a globe-spanning empire, along the way
transforming chefs from kitchen artists toiling in the shadows into
international celebrities.
Bocuse died at 91 on Saturday at Collonges-au-Mont-d'or, the place
where he was born and had his restaurant, French President Emmanuel Macron said
in a statement. He had undergone a triple heart bypass in 2005 and also
suffered from Parkinson's disease.
"French gastronomy loses a mythical figure," Macron
said. "The chefs cry in their kitchens, at the Elysee (presidential
palace) and everywhere in France."
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb tweeted that "Mister Paul
was France. Simplicity and generosity. Excellence and art de vivre."
"He has been a leader. He took the cook out of the
kitchen," said celebrity French chef Alain Ducasse, speaking at a 2013
gathering to honor Bocuse, one of more than 100 chefs from around the world who
traveled to Lyon for the occasion.
"Monsieur Paul" — as he was affectionately known —
cultivated a larger-than-life image. The public Bocuse was all white starch,
most often portrayed in his tall chef's hat, or "toque," arms folded
over his crisp apron.
He was a tireless pioneer, the first chef to blend the art of
cooking with savvy business tactics — branding his cuisine and his image to
create an empire of restaurants around the globe whose offerings range from
haute cuisine to fast food.
But the man dubbed by critics as the "pope of French
cuisine" never forgot his humble beginnings learning the ropes in his
family kitchen along the Saone River in southeast France. He turned that family
house into a temple of gastronomy — L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges — and still
lived upstairs, sleeping in the same room where he was born, he told The
Associated Press in a 2011 interview.
"One must never forget how one reached the top of the
pedestal," he is quoted as saying in a 2005 biography.
The restaurant has held three stars — without interruption — since
1965 in the Michelin guide, the bible of gastronomes. Bocuse greets arriving
guests in a "tromp l'oeuil" painting on an outside wall and peers at
them from a large portrait inside the cozy but elegant Auberge. Renowned chefs,
some of whom he worked with, are portrayed in a giant mural.
Bocuse's cuisine was simple yet his personality complex. Three
women, his wife Raymonde and two other female companions, accompanied his
ascension, playing pivotal roles while remaining mostly behind the scenes.
In 1982, Bocuse opened a restaurant in the France Pavilion in Walt
Disney World's Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida, headed by his son Jerome, also
a chef.
But while excelling in the business of cooking, Bocuse never
flagged in his devotion to his first love, creating a top class,
quintessentially French meal. He eschewed the fads and experiments that have
captivated many other top chefs.
"In cooking, there are those who are rap and those who are
concerto," he told the French newsmagazine L'Express — adding that he
tended toward the concerto — a solo artist backed by an orchestra of talented
kitchen staff.
In traditional cooking, there is no room for guesswork he said,
declaring "one must be immutable, unattackable, monumental."
Born on Feb. 11, 1926, to a family of cooks that he dates to the
1700s, Bocuse entered his first apprenticeship at 16. He worked at the famed La
Mere Brazier in Lyon, then spent eight years with one of his culinary idols,
Fernand Point, whose cooking was a precursor to France's nouvelle cuisine
movement with lighter sauces and lightly cooked fresh vegetables.
Bocuse's career in the kitchen traversed the ages. He went from
apprenticeships and cooking "brigades" at a time when stoves were
coal-fired and chefs also served as scullery workers to the ultra-modern
kitchen of his Auberge.
"There was rigor," Bocuse told the AP. "(At La Mere
Brazier) you had to wake up early and milk the cows, feed the pigs, do the
laundry and cook .... It was a very tough school of hard knocks."
"Today, the profession has changed enormously. There's no
more coal. You push a button and you have heat," he said.
Bocuse adapted seamlessly to the changing times, making his mark
with a first coveted Michelin star in 1958, a second in 1960 and a third in
1965. In 1989, he was named Cook of the Century by Gault & Millau, a noted
guidebook. In 2011, the Culinary Institute of America named him Chef of the
Century, opening a restaurant for students in his name.
Despite the accolades, he maintained a special pride in the blue,
white and red stripes on his chef's collar holding a large medal, attesting to
his selection in 1961 as a "Meilleur Ouvrier de France," a
sought-after distinction for chefs and other artisans.
The gastronomic offerings at Bocuse's L'Auberge du Pont de
Collonges are rooted in the French culinary tradition: simple, authentic food
that was "identifiable" in its nature.
Emblematic of that is the crock of truffle soup he created in 1975
for then-French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing — a soup that is still
served to this day. Another Bocuse classic is fricassee of Bresse chicken —
from France's Bresse region, which is famed for its poultry — served in cream
with morilles, a type of spring mushroom.
And his favorite ingredient? Butter.
"(It's a) magical product," he said during a visit to
the Culinary Institute of America. "Nothing replaces butter."
Three other cooking must-haves, according to the chef, are fresh
produce (his from his own garden), a solid, trusted kitchen staff and happy
diners.
"It's the client who runs the house," Bocuse told the
AP.
He disparaged the notion that his culinary offerings amounted to
nouvelle cuisine, although he incorporated aspects of it. And he scoffed at
critics who contended that his food was stuck in a bygone age. Georges Auguste
Escoffier, who gave classic French cuisine a world profile, remained a solid
inspiration at Bocuse's table.
"Escoffier was the master of us all," Bocuse once said.
World War II interrupted his kitchen duties. He fought in the
First Division of the Free French Forces, was wounded and cared for at a U.S.
field hospital.
"I always say I have American blood in my veins because ... I
had transfusions of American blood," he said in the AP interview. An
American flag still flies outside his restaurant.
The war had a lasting impact on the chef.
"(It) forges the character," he said. "You no
longer have the same idea of life."
Bocuse might have settled for being a renowned French chef worthy
of a pilgrimage by food lovers with deep pockets. Instead, he parlayed his
culinary skills into a worldwide food conglomerate.
He opened two brasseries in Lyon in 1995 and 1997. He added three
other eateries in the city and even a hotel. He planted restaurants in the
south of France, in Geneva and hopped across the world to Japan, where eight
Bocuse brasseries, cafes and other establishments were opened.
He also aimed to transmit his savoir-faire to a young generation
through the Foundation Paul Bocuse, established in Lyon in 2004 to initiate
youth into the cooking profession. His Bocuse d'Or, or gold award — an
international competition for young chefs — has grown into a major culinary showcase
since its inception in 1987.
While Bocuse's kitchens were meticulously in order, his personal
life was unorthodox as he quietly shared his life with three women.
"I think cuisine and sex have lots of common points,"
Bocuse told the L'Express before publication of his biography "Paul
Bocuse: The Sacred Fire." ''Even if it seems a bit macho, I love
women."
The chef put an upbeat spin on his private life: "If I
calculate the number of years I've been faithful to the three women who count
in my life, I get 145 years," he is quoted as saying in "The Sacred
Fire."
The biography was written by Eve-Marie Zizza-Lalu, daughter of the
most recent woman in Bocuse's life, Patricia Zizza, whom he met in 1972.
Yet it is his wife Raymonde, with whom Bocuse had a daughter,
Francoise, who helps watch over his main restaurant. That is no small task —
Bocuse saw the reservation book as the real measure of any chef's cuisine.
"If the restaurant works, if it's full of clients ...
whatever the cuisine, he (the chef) is right," he said.
In addition to his wife, Bocuse is survived by his daughter
Francoise and his son Jerome.
By Chicago Tribune