Chef Michel Bras – Known for His Basque Cuisine

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It was a bit of a big fall for Bras as it came down from the 7th spot to the 56th position. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a good place in France where you can get some of the best traditional Basque cuisine, then this restaurant owned Chef Michel Bras is still one of the best fine-dining restaurants that you should go to. Its head chef is known for his Basque cuisine that has a bit of a Japanese influence.

Chef Bras was born in the mid 1940s in Laguiole, a village located in the Aubrac region in the south central part of France. He has had an early exposure to the culinary world when he started cooking in their family-owned hotel/restaurant. It was at Lou Mazuc, their restaurant, where he learned the basics in cooking, so basically, he was self taught. In fact, he did not work for other chefs and become their apprentice, but he developed his own cuisine. He drew the inspiration to create excellent dishes from his native land, which is the Aubrac region. Respecting the land as well as its bountiful produce, Chef Bras created his own culinary method to bring out and enhance the flavors of each element in his dishes. His culinary skill soon became popular in the area that it attracted the attention of the Gault et Millau, and in 1970, the restaurant guide named him as one of the most skilled chefs in the country.

In the early part of 1992, Chef Bras opened his own restaurant, and from that year to the late 1990s, his restaurant, Bras, garnered three Michelin stars. There have been a lot of requests that he launch a restaurant in Paris, but Chef Bras declined, although he did open another restaurant in Japan in 2002.

Chef Bras’ culinary history is a very big accomplishment, indeed, considering that he was unlike other chefs who apprenticed for some of the best chefs in the world to reach where they are now. This self-taught chef has proven to the world that culinary education is not enough if you want to create a name for yourself, but it will take skill, practice, and dedication to master your craft and create a cuisine that is distinctively yours.

His cuisine is known for bringing out the best flavor of even the most humble of produce and ingredients like onions and mushrooms. His dishes are so simple and pure yet so elegant that it almost always never fails to astonish even the diner with picky tastes. He is not afraid of using unusual ingredients like edible wild plants as well as edible flowers in his cuisine, and his plates are creatively presented that it clearly shows his culinary personality – a perfectionist who wants to satisfy his clients.

Aside from being a very notable chef and restaurateur, he has also partnered with KAI in 2005. KAI is a very prominent knife manufacturer in Japan, and together, they have created one of the best lines of chef knives in the world that is recognized His inspiration to create chef knives came from the famous knife-making practice of his beloved land. Today, his chef knives are one of the must-haves in any professional kitchen.

Chef Bras has also written cookbooks, which found its way to millions of kitchens and homes, and he is also active in the culinary world by teaching young chefs his principles in cooking as well as techniques.

Chef Michel Bras’ Mushroom Soup with Toasted Bread

Ingredients:

Three 1/2-inch slices of sourdough bread (6 ounces), crusts removed
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds white mushrooms, coarsely chopped
2 portobello mushrooms—stems discarded, black gills reserved for garnish, caps coarsely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
6 cups vegetable broth or water
3/4 cup heavy cream
12 dill sprigs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300°. Bake the bread slices on a baking sheet for about 1 hour and 40 minutes, until deeply browned.

2. In a pot, melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and the garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over moderate heat, until the mushrooms are softened, 5 minutes. Add the broth and 1/2 cup of the cream; bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until the mushrooms are tender, 10 minutes.

3. Add the toasted bread to the soup; simmer until softened, 5 minutes. Working in batches, puree the soup in a food processor. Return the soup to the pot, season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

4. In a saucepan, bring the remaining 1/4 cup of cream to a boil. Remove from the heat; whisk until frothy. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the frothed cream, garnish with the dill and portobello gills and serve.

Servings: Serves 12.

Image Credit: imchef.org

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