“There are no rules for creating dishes”

ATfter spending nine years alongside Anne-Sophie Pic in Valence, Hugo Bourny, 39, took up his first chef position at Lucas Carton in 2021. In this Parisian institution decorated with one star, his cuisine shines with its delicacy.

“I was a teenager lost in life, I was going straight into the wall. At 17, I left school and the family cradle to become an apprentice in Johan Leclerre’s restaurant near La Rochelle, 100 kilometers from my home. I don’t know why I chose cooking, I didn’t know this environment, my family had no taste for it. But it was a click: the transformation of products into dishes captivated me, showed me the value of work. I understood that my salvation was there, in restoration.

So I continued: I went to work for starred establishments in Switzerland, then in Burgundy. I spent a season in the Var with Arnaud Donckele, where I realized that cooking was not a question of technique or the chef’s ego, but served to convey emotions. I took a new slap when I arrived at Anne-Sophie Pic in Valence, where I stayed for nine years, where I climbed the ladder, from chef de partie to executive chef of the group.

At her house, I learned that there are no rules to create dishes, no need for a logical construction or historical legitimization to associate flavors. Today, I proceed somewhat in the same way, I base myself on my intuition, on my inspiration.

Flat readable

This is the case for this dish which combines beets and Manakara berries [graines de baies roses torréfiées au goût floral et citronné qui viennent de Madagascar]. I like to start with a product that everyone knows, like beets, to take it to surprising ground. My producers provide me with super small ones that I stew for a long time until they shrivel up and develop a little bitterness. To contrast with the candied beetroot, I developed a creamy sauce, a beetroot juice with butter and a tangy, lively and heady spice mix, based on Manakara berries and sumac.

Hugo Bourny, at the Lucas Carton restaurant, March 16, 2023.

When I create a new recipe, when I think it’s more or less good, I always let my sous-chefs, the room manager, the sommelier taste it, and we discuss: what can we bring more? There, we all agreed, it lacked vegetal, so I added sorrel and wood sorrel.

I want the tasting to offer different sensations, the suave and sweetness of beetroot, the persistent acidity of sumac and Manakara berries, the freshness of sorrel… but that the dish remain legible, and my cooking comfortable. I don’t try to be experimental or divisive, I don’t want to please a minority or an elite.

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