In the 1980s, a pimply faced me started an apprenticeship as a chef. I stumbled at the first hurdle but a year later I got my shit together and settled in at Stephanies in Nedlands (upstairs at Steve's Hotel) and began four awesome years cooking a style known as Nouvelle Cuisine.
It was very pretty food, heavy in cream and fruit sauces. It was exciting, fun and experimental. The most notable results of this movement are the greats like Marco Pierre White, Ferran Adrià and Raymond Blanc. But they like me were just learning at this time, The masters/fathers of this cuisine were Anton Mosimann, Paul Bocuse and of course the Roux Brothers.
The first recipe book I ever purchased was New Classic Cuisine by the Roux Brothers. I still have it, not that I would ever cook anything from it these days as my cholesterol is high enough already. But I took inspiration from it back in the day and these guys were my early heroes.
Sadly this week Albert died, Michel died last March and Paul Bocuse left us in 2018. They're all gone, I mean it's to be expected, we all age and we all die. But it's never nice to lose your heroes. Rest in peace chefs and thanks for the recipes.
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