Feast of details: Renowned chef Loïc Malfait’s tips for the kitchen
“Food is the basis of everything; it is how we connect and how we communicate. We have become very solitary as people, food offers the opportunity to enjoy and share experiences with each other.”
So says Loïc Malfait, academic director of Le Cordon Bleu, who is in Cork as part of the Cork French Film Festival, and is talking me through the menu for his demonstration at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) last night.
“I grew up eating salmon that my mother poached beautifully, so last night I prepared salmon poached in a different way, but a way that celebrated her and the fish,” he says.
Family, and a bounty of beautiful ingredients prepared simply, is at the core of Malfait’s food philosophy. “Food comes full circle,” he explains. “I may have prepared a fancier salmon at CIT, but it is a salmon that is inspired by the cooking I grew up with. My mother could make magic out of one potato. This is the kind of cooking I want people to know. ”
Born in Lille, Malfait developed a passion for food from a young age, influenced by his mother who worked as a chef. His culinary education began at Restaurant Gastronomique Strauss in Vichy, where he was influenced by the Troisgras brothers, widely lauded both because of their cooking style and their three Michelin stars.
“I loved the simple style of their cookery,” says Malfait. “They didn’t need to make a show, instead cooking local ingredients well. I also loved the fact that the restaurant passed from family member to family member — it appeals to me.”
After completing his training, Malfait moved to London in the 1980s. He climbed ladders quickly in some of the city’s most prestigious kitchens, becoming head chef at Tower Bridge before becoming head hospitality chef at prestigious law firm Cameron McKenna. Today, he plays a key role within Le Cordon Bleu, helping to shape the minds of the next generation of chefs.
So what skills can home cooks bring to their kitchens in order to reach the lofty heights of Le Cordon Bleu? You cannot cook, according to Malfait, until you have learned to work in a methodical fashion. “Before students come to Le Cordon Blue they are passionate, they love cooking, but the main objective before anything is to teach them method and the way to work in a kitchen,” he explains.
“You should be a ballet dancer in the kitchen. Some people think that banging and shouting in a kitchen is the way, but actually you have to become gentle. You have to get quiet. If you can work peacefully, you will create beauty.”
Le Cordon Bleu teaches students the skillset they need to create the dishes of their dreams. “People may have been able to poach an egg before they came to us, but after their course, they will poach it perfectly every single time. Nothing will be left to chance.”
If you have the skills, then the culinary world is your oyster, according to Malfait. “The most important thing for us is that we never forget our roots. We don’t teach a specific cuisine; we teach specific techniques that have been used in France for hundreds of years. We have students coming from all over the world, and we show them French cooking, but also the skills that they can apply to their own recipes.”
Providing a classic armour of cookery skill, says Malfait, enables students to reach into their imaginations and let their creativity run riot. “We don’t try to change their culinary personality. We tell our students to always remember where they came from, because that’s their real education.”
Conjuring up memories and translating them into food worthy of the world stage may seem out of reach for most enthusiastic home cooks, but according to Malfait, it’s all about delving into your own family history. “It’s about going back to when your mum or your grandparents were cooking,” he says. “That’s the flavour — these memories that you are able to put into your own cookery. It is our job to teach students the skills they need to bring those memories forward and transform them into magic on a plate.”
If you fancy seeing some magic on a plate then head down to the Farmgate at Cork’s English Market at 6pm today, where Loïc Malfait will host a discussion on food and wine pairing and help prepare dinner prior to a screening of ‘Babette’s Feast’. www.corkfrenchfilmfestival.com or call 021 4310677.
