Monsieur Pamplemousse on the Spot Read Online Free PDF Page A

accompanying shrug implied regret.
    Again his thoughts were read. ‘ Comme ci, comme ça . You win one, you lose another. Is it better? It has to be. In the old days chefs were looked down on as the lowest of the low. There were exceptions – Carême, Brillat-Savarin, Escoffier – but they were geniuses, on a par with royalty. Many of their lesser brethren deserved to be treated the way they were.
    ‘Nowadays, chefs are like film stars. People ask for their autographs. We have to be diplomats one moment, businessmen the next. We have to know about turnover and profit margins and cash flows. Cooking is only one of the arts we have to master.
    ‘I tell you, inside every chef these days there is an accountant trying to get out. Our own turnover is over tenmillion francs a year … but this year I have already spent nearly a quarter of a million francs on truffles alone. Fifty thousand has gone on flowers, two hundred thousand on laundry. Think of that! If my old grandmother knew I make more profit out of selling a signed copy of the menu than I do out of selling one of Jean-Claude’s soufflés she would turn in her grave. As for the helicopter landing-pad – she would see that as a sign of the devil.
    ‘ Alors ! One must move with the times. When I was small I spent all my spare moments in the kitchens. I could not have wished for better training. By the time I was fourteen I had done everything. Then I was lucky enough to be apprenticed to Fernand Point at Vienne. It was he who first inspired me to aim for the heights. For him nothing less would do; nothing was so perfect that it couldn’t be improved.
    ‘I married. My wife bore me four sons and we were blissfully happy. Then one day … pouf! … We were involved in a car crash.’ He reached down and tapped his leg. ‘I was lucky. I suffered nothing worse than this. But my wife was killed outright. Now I had to bring up the children. I was determined they should not only be as good as me, but better. When the time came for them to go out into the world I made sure that they, too, served their apprenticeship with a master.
    ‘We live in an age of specialisation. If I want to buy a house I go to one lawyer. If I want to make sure when I write a cook book that I am infringing no one else’s copyright, I go to another. So I sent my first son, Alain, to Barrier, where he learnt humility. It is not possible to have true greatness without a touch of humility. He is now the saucier. Edouard went to Bocuse, who was taught as I was, at the hands of Point. Edouard became the rôtisseur. Gilbert was taught by Chapel to use his imagination … he is now the poissonnier …’
    ‘And Jean-Claude?’
    ‘Ah! Jean-Claude!’ Monsieur Parfait raised his eyes heavenwards. ‘In life there is always an exception. Jean-Claude went his own way. He is the odd one out. He inherited his grandmother’s stubbornness and, like hismother, he was born with “the gift”. In his own way he is a genius, although I would not dream of telling him so – it would not be good for him. His brothers are exceptionally talented, but they have got where they are by dedication and hard work. With Jean-Claude it has always been there. He is a true “one-off” – a genuine creator. Without him we would have our three stars in Michelin, our toques and our Stock Pots … but with him … who knows? His strength is that when our guests are nearing the end of their meal and feel that nothing can surprise them any more, he surpasses all that has gone before.
    ‘One day he will take over – once he has settled down; he has the necessary qualities.
    ‘In many ways eating at a restaurant like Les Cinq Parfaits has to be like going to a concert or reading a great novel. The opening should catch your attention and make you want to carry on. The middle must give you a feeling of inner satisfaction. After that it is necessary to have an ending which not only leaves you feeling it was all worth while, but