Our meals author, Alexandre Lubrano, is but to complete a meal he loved at Restaurant Lalique, in Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey, close to Bordeaux.

After every week of eating in Lalique’s stunning eating room in an intimate mansion in Bordeaux’s Sauternes district, I realized that chef Jérôme Schilling had simply grow to be finance minister (Meilleur Auuvrier de FranceIt’s the highest award given by Gaul to artisans and girls). This was not shocking in any respect, as my meal was completely implausible from begin to end.

Earlier than sitting down on the desk, I had a dialog with Schilling, who has beforehand cooked for a powerful group of France’s biggest cooks, together with Joël Robuchon, Roger Verger, and Jean-Georges Klein, and defined the transient he had been given by Silvio Denz, proprietor of the luxurious group. which incorporates Lalique, the Lodge Villa Lalique, six Bordelais vineyards, and the Glenturret whiskey distillery. “It was easy, and it was additionally very complicated and difficult. In brief, Sauternes—I needed to make a kitchen that explores and celebrates Sauternes, one of many biggest wines on this planet.”

All afternoon I puzzled what this would possibly imply at dinner, as a result of Sauternes, that lush, golden candy wine, can be a really particular ingredient, and it appeared to me that it will be very tough to articulate it throughout the tasting menu.

If the luxurious first course of smoked scallops, parsnips and white truffles at Three Declinations didn’t embrace Sauternes, the well-known wine made a lot of vibrant appearances in the remainder of the meal. Confit hickory in grapeseed oil constituted of farm-grown grapes got here with shrimp tails beneath a veil of seawater and anise-infused hyssop leaves at Sauternes, whereas one of many 4 totally different preparations of ceps that made up one other course was a mousse of vieux (age) sauerkraut with sauteed sesame seeds and pecans, a beautiful mix of tastes and textures.

Of all of the dishes wherein Sauternes performed a job, maybe probably the most fascinating was pigeon breasts that had been marinated in mashed Sauternes grapes for 2 days earlier than roasting and serving with smoked beetroot and nectarines in a pigeon pot.

What amazed us right here was that the polyphenols within the bib not solely made the rooster meat extraordinarily tender, but in addition washed it away with a beautiful grape taste. The ultimate conclusion to this meal was simply that: an amazingly good meal Baba (Sponge Biscuit) Glenturette Whiskey Infused With Chestnut Cream, Smoked Chestnut Ice Cream, Verjus Condiment Made From Sauternes Grapes And Whiskey Jelly. I deeply loved this very satisfying and progressive meal, and I have been fascinated about it ever since. A part of a brand new technology of gourmand abilities, Jerome Schilling, who has already earned two Michelin stars, has grow to be one in all France’s biggest cooks, and regardless of being cheap, his menus provide implausible worth for cash in comparison with the flamboyant. The privilege of cooking it.

Leo-Date Biragoy, Pomis

Prize-fixed tariffs 115€, 150€, 165€, 195€, 205€

cellphone. +33 (0) 5 24 22 80 11

www.lafauriepeyragueylalique.com

From France Right now journal

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