Chef Pascal Barbot – The Quirky Chef Who Loves Milk
Chef Pascal Barbot The Quirky Chef Who Loves Milk
Unpretentious, unassuming, humble, genius those are the words that Chef Pascal Barbot's colleagues would use to describe L'Astrance chef. They are not far off the mark. Chef Barbot possesses exactly those characteristics and more. He is driven by his insatiable curiosity for culinary arts and his innate desire to offer something new everytime.
With this kind of drive, it is not surprising that he has managed to create a name for L'Astrance as one of the best restaurnats in France. If asked though to comment on his achievements, Chef Barbot would just like shrug his shoulders. He wouldn't regale you with his accomplishments. He wouldn't even likely tell you that his restaurant secured the 11th spot in this year's El Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants list.
You wouldn't know if you would just talk to him that his restaurant is one of the hottest dining establishments in Paris. It'll take you a month before you could get a table reseravation and this was before the restaurant earned its Michelin stars. It is even much harder to get a reservation these days with the restaurant earning Michelin stars and Barbot winning Chef of the Year.
The Milk and Barbot
Barbot loves his milk. He loves to use it in practically every dish that he prepares. This is the one ingredients that has flirted with every other ingredients in Chef Barbot's cooking. It's amazing what he can create from milk and other ingredients. This is not really surprising if you know where he hails from. He is actually from Auvergine. In this part of France, people are fond of using milk in their cooking. In fact, they use milk in practically everything! Chef Barbot grew up drinking, eating and using milk. Naturally, he also learned how to use it in his cooking. You should definitely try his carrot puree. It is one of his most wonderful milk dishes.
The Magic of Barbot's Cooking
Aside from using milk, Chef Barbot also insists on using the freshest local ingredients. He personally scours food markets in order to look for the finest ingredients. He likes foraging for unique items that he can use. He likes exotic or in-season ingredients. This is why you wouldn't find menu in L'Astrance. The selections vary depending on the available ingredients for the day. His daily outing consists of personally visiting several local markets. He buys vegetables in Rungis. He searches for fruits in the markets of Iena. He gets his meats from Marche. He often buys by the bulk. For Chef Pascal Barbot, cooking is the finest form of art. This is why you can only expect the best from him.
Image Source: lo-mejor-de-la-gastro