Jacques Maximin of the Chantecler restaurant at the Hôtel Négresco in Nice is one of the most celebrated of the new breed of French chefs. He was trained in both the old and the new styles of cooking-at Prunier-Traktir in Paris as well as with Roger Vergé at Mougins - and represents the best of both worlds.
The most attractive features of the Nouvelle Cuisine, its imaginative use of fresh ingredients and inventive juxtaposition of tastes, are seen to great advantage in the dishes made famous at the Chantecler. But Maître Maximin also presents more substantial dishes, which satisfy the growing public demand for healthy eating and the nostalgia for the solid traditional dishes which are such a feature of French cooking today.
So, for instance, the author gives us the Caudière Berckoise from his Pas-de-Calais childhood, a hearty fish stew with an infinite number of variations. There is a beautifully simple chicken roasted with walnut butter, a sumptuous ratatouille, and the much imitated, but inimitable, salmon served with coarse salt and a melting tomato sauce. The desserts at the Chantecler are also justly famous and their secrets are revealed in a profusion of recipes for ice creams, sorbets, tarts, cakes and chocolate confections.
Maximin creates the new French cooking at its best, brought to a pitch of perfection in one of France's most celebrated restaurants. Some dishes are time-consuming and expensive -for special occasions only - others are breathtakingly simple.
All have been translated with the needs of the home cook in mind, without sacrificing the authenticity or individuality of the original.
