Under the blond cloud of hair, eyebrows furrow. “What’s in there ?, asks Hélène Darroze, chewing. Lovage? We can use it, but I’m really struggling, like melon and watermelon… ”
It’s mid-afternoon, and the Marsan, his two-star restaurant in the heart of Paris, deserted at that time, seems like a theater without spectators. Facing the elegant white marble counter in the kitchens, the chef tests the new menu items on a corner of the table, while her second, Paul Genthon, stands beside her, a little tense.
“Me, anyway, I prefer to be recognized than known”, Benoît Couvrand, pastry chef of Cyril Lignac.
Paul Genthon: the name is not yet famous and yet, this great fellow has already made sparks as sous-chef at L’Atelier de Jean-Luc Rabanel, in Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône), and at La Réserve , in Paris. “He’s been here for a month, he’s getting to know me”, smiles Hélène Darroze. When the nomad is in front of the cameras of “Top Chef”, at his Provencal table at Villa La Coste or in his London restaurant The Connaught, where another second, Marco Zampese, has been at his side for eight years, it is he. who alone runs the kitchens of the Parisian establishment: he directs the brigade, manages supplies and ensures that the identity of the house is preserved.
It is also with him that she experiments her new recipes in the capital. On this very day, she wants to combine the bitterness of a lemon marmalade with a nice slice of foie gras and seaweed. “We reworked a softer lemon pulp, and I tried something with sea lettuce and samphire”, says Paul Genthon.
Hélène Darroze tastes… and coughs. “We are too acidic, she slices. It’s good, but we have to manage to give a little more roundness, we should incorporate a little sugar. “ The second, concentrated, takes notes. “There isn’t a dish that comes out of the kitchen that I haven’t tried, she specifies. It is a matter of honesty. But when the restaurant opens, I stay at the service: it would be very frustrating for my second if I was behind him all the time. “
Unparalleled technicians
Chief executives have acquired considerable importance in recent years. The empires of the big names extend today in several countries. And their working time is eaten away by TV shows and social networks. The second, shadow officers, therefore set themselves up as essential liners in each of their establishments.
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