...Into the Fire

The photographer runs past a fire-damaged building, crouching to protect his camera from the rain, a bag of equipment slung over each shoulder. Now hurrying along a service alley stacked with empty crates, boxes, ladders and stacks of firewood he ducks into the entrance of what had been a royal retreat before the troubles.

Suddenly the scene explodes; it is immensely hot, there are fires everywhere, a brigade scurries this way and that, orders are shouted, orders are acknowledged.

With no hesitation the photographer drops his equipment bags, raises his camera to his face and begins shooting the chaotic scene. Within seconds his shirt is soaked with sweat and sticks to his skin but he continues shooting.

Slowly he begins to realize that, despite the heat, despite the frenetic activity, despite the number of people scurrying around in/crammed into the small space, it is not really chaos. He begins to discern a pattern, he sees there is a system.

More orders arrive from the front and are shouted out. “Un carré d’agneau, un homard.”

”Oui, Chef.”

La Grande Cascade, Paris

Our entrance into the kitchen of La Grande Cascade seemed, at the moment anyway, as dramatic as a scene from the movie Stalingrad. After parking our car we were gestured around the back of the building by the maitre d’, under the construction scaffolding set up to repair damage from a fire a few weeks ago, and in through the service door. It was raining, we were wet, and when we hit the heat and hubbub of the kitchen we were momentarily stunned.

Here there are a dozen chefs, sous chefs, commis and cleaners hard at work on lunch service. Chef Frédéric Robert is at the helm, standing at the counter assembling one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, Carré d’agneau de Lozère frotté au piment d’Espelette. (Rack of lamb from Lozère, in southern France, rubbed with a chill pepper grown in the Basque country of southwestern France.) On the stainless steel work surface he places a clean white plate. Picking up a plastic bottle from a tray of prepared sauces and condiments he squeezes out a small dot of pistou one, two, three, four, five times to form an arc of dots on one side of the plate...

[an excerpt from Chasing Stars: Behind the Scenes in the One-Star Kitchens of France]