The culinary perfection of chef joël robuchon
From truffles to potatoes, chef’s cuisine was arranged like a still life on the plate
Less than seven months after the death of chef Paul Bocuse came the news Monday that Joël Robuchon had passed away. He was 73 years old. The cause was pancreatic cancer.
Robuchon, Bocuse and the Swiss chef Frédy Girardet formed a trio the Gault & Millau guide named “chefs of the century” in 1990. Robuchon held the coveted titles of Meilleur Ouvrier de France and Compagnon du Tour de France, before racking up more than 30 Michelin stars. His international empire counts restaurants in a dozen cities, including an Atelier de Joël Robuchon in the Montreal Casino.
Born in Poitiers, France, in 1945, Robuchon began his apprenticeship at the age of 15 after he discovered a love for cooking while working alongside nuns at the seminary where he studied. Robuchon made his name in the early 1980s when he opened his Parisian restaurant, Jamin, at the age of 36. Within a year, he won a Michelin star. By 40, he had three. Over his career, Robuchon would amass 32 such stars — including five three-star restaurants — the most of any chef since the guide was created.
Inspired by best-of-the-best ingredients, ranging from luxurious truffles to the humble potato, Robuchon’s cuisine was arranged like a still life on the plate. His perfectionism was legendary. I dined at the Joël Robuchon restaurant in Las Vegas in 2011 and interviewed the pastry chef after the service. He opened the oven, and I noticed dozens of chocolate soufflés at the back. I asked if he still had a group to serve. “No,” he answered. “For every soufflé order, we make three and choose the best.”
Robuchon will be remembered for several signature dishes, including his langoustine and truffle ravioli, his slow-cooked pigeon with foie gras and his lobster salad surrounded by hundreds of his signature little dots. Yet it is his purée de pommes de terre — yes, mashed potatoes — that best epitomizes his style for using the best ingredients combined with all the techniques in a chef ’s arsenal to make a classic dish divine.
Robuchon described his cuisine as simple, based on pure flavours and made with no more than three or four ingredients in most dishes. Yet, in practice, they were incredibly complex. “Even the simplest dishes, such as a lobster salad, had as many as 20 steps,” wrote New York chef Éric Ripert in his memoir, 32 Yolks, which details the time he worked under Robuchon in the Jamin years.
Though Ripert describes Robuchon as a tyrant whose standards were unattainable, (“The fear of not meeting Robuchon’s demands was all it took to terrorize everyone into submission”), Ripert acknowledges he would not be the star chef he is today if he had not learned under the uncompromising perfectionist that was Robuchon. “I believe that Joël Robuchon is one of the defining chefs of not only my generation, but of the 20th century,” he writes. “In terms of excellence, there are no standouts who can compete with what he did and the influence he wielded.”
At age 51, Robuchon announced his retirement. “You have to know when it’s time to quit,” he told The Associated Press in 1996. Yet in 2003, he made a comeback, opening a new concept called “Atelier” in Paris and Tokyo. Inspired by the conviviality of Spanish tapas bars, Atelier featured an open kitchen, bar seating, a sleek black-and-red decor and pared-down plates inspired by European and Asian cuisine. Atelier was a hit, becoming a luxury chain of sorts with outlets in Asia, Europe and the United States.
In early 2017, an Atelier Joël Robuchon was opened in the Montreal Casino, funded by Loto- Québec. The restaurant sparked controversy, not because of the chef whose name was on the door, but because an undisclosed amount of public funds had been used to subsidize a French brand over local talent, while also creating competition for the city’s high-end establishments. An unfazed Robuchon visited once for the opening.
Food lovers are mourning this year’s loss of several people who shaped the modern culinary scene, including Bocuse and, more recently, Anthony Bourdain and Pulitzer-Prize winning restaurant critic Jonathan Gold. These stars are irreplaceable — Bocuse for legitimizing the profession of chef, Bourdain for giving a voice to the legions of anonymous line cooks working in the shadows of second-rate kitchens, and Gold for elevating his city through profiles of its lesser-known multicultural restaurants.
And what will be Robuchon’s legacy? My guess is his unwavering quest for excellence. Said Bocuse of his young confrère when interviewed by Paris Match in 1984: “Joël Robuchon, for me, is perfection. His three stars were attributed to him for his discipline, rigour and his love of work well done.”
Ripert remembered the chef fondly on Twitter Monday, posting: “Shocked and very sad by the loss of my Mentor Joël Robuchon, the most rigorous, precise, demanding ultra gifted King of all Chefs. RIP Monsieur Robuchon.”
Another of his famous apprentices, Gordon Ramsay posted: “We’ve Lost The God Father of Michelin the most decorated Chef in the World, he kept all of us on our toes! Even when we were sleeping! Merci Chef, God Bless.”
Robuchon described his cuisine as simple, based on pure flavours and made with no more than three or four ingredients in most dishes. Yet, in practice, they were incredibly complex.