Emmanuel Renaut : " A book is above all about transmission "
In his restaurant Flocons de Sel***, nestled in the beautiful setting of Megève, Emmanuel Renaut elaborates, at altitude, mountain cuisine as close as possible to his 3 stars won in 2012. After several months of renovation work, the restaurant reopens its doors this fall. It was an opportunity for the chef to look back, to evoke his passion for cooking, and the Savoyard terroir in particular. A passion that has led him to write several books, almost exclusively dedicated to mountain recipes and Alpine products.
By Jean-Pierre Montanay
(c) DR
In his restaurant Flocons de Sel***, nestled in the beautiful setting of Megève, Emmanuel Renaut elaborates, at altitude, mountain cuisine as close as possible to his 3 stars won in 2012. After several months of renovation work, the restaurant reopens its doors this fall. It was an opportunity for the chef to look back, to evoke his passion for cooking, and the Savoyard terroir in particular. A passion that has led him to write several books, almost exclusively dedicated to mountain recipes and Alpine products.
By Jean-Pierre Montanay
(c) DR
What is your motivation for writing cookbooks?
" I don't publish books to please myself, but to leave a mark. I am driven by the terroir, a book is above all about transmission: transmitting a state of mind, recipes that some will enjoy leafing through tomorrow when we are no longer here. If I had only one wish to make, I would like my books to inspire a few young people and convince them to start cooking, that would be enough for my happiness. I myself have been inspired in my career by important books such as "Nature on the Plate" by Georges Blanc. We would look at these books with a different eye today, we might say that it's completely has-been, but it's these books that inspired my cooking. »
Your latest book is still about the mountains, but this time it's about the high-altitude vineyards that you admire?
"It's a terroir that moves a lot and I find these winemakers very endearing; however, no one had written anything before about these men who worked the vines of the Mont-Blanc region. There was no book to pay tribute to their know-how. From now on, each winemaker is entitled to a few pages to tell his story as he wishes. I also wrote this book out of passion for wine, we start with a mono-product and we manage to do such different things in terms of final rendering... In wine, there is a terroir, of course, but also and above all the hand of the man or woman who works it. »
Do you ever read the works of your fellow chefs?
"Not much, I must admit! I own a lot of them but I'm more attracted to old books than to new ones. These old books are photos of the kitchen at a certain point in time. If you look at mountain cuisine, for example, 50 years ago, it was completely different, there has been a real and beautiful evolution in which I think I have participated, and which we transmit through books. The works of my contemporaries tend to be very similar; what I rather like are the cookbooks published by inspiring chefs like Pierre Gagnaire or Alain Passard who have strong signatures. »
Time to read
"When I'm on vacation, I take the time to read mainly "easy" books like crime novels. I love classic detective novels and I have a soft spot for some well-known authors like Harlan Coben.
Cult book
"If I could only keep one, I would surely start with Escoffier's work in the broadest sense. But it's more about Bibles, rather than cult books. I love his writings, because you learn a lot about how to cook in the past. At the time, gargantuan meals were prepared with limitless means, incredible with a multitude of ingredients and a plethora of staff, but all this no longer seems possible today. »
Highlander
"Of course, I read a lot of books on mountaineering! At one time in my life, I devoured all the classics of Roger Frison-Roche as "Premier de cordée". These readings go back a little while, but I can still come across a mountaineering book on a shelf and reread it with a certain pleasure.
