The changing landscape of French cooking.
Published in The New Yorker
by William Echikson May 12, 2003
© The New Yorker
Poularde Alexandre Dumaine, a two-hundred-and-sixty-seven-dollar chicken offered at La Côte d’Or, Bernard Loiseau’s gastronomic temple in Burgundy, is filled with julienned leeks and carrots, lightly basted and seasoned with salt and pepper, and baked in an earthenware pot. Truffles inserted under the skin give the bird an earthy flavor, and the meat is tender and pungent. Early on the afternoon of February 24th, Loiseau watched his team of a dozen chefs prepare the poularde for two American chefs who were completing internships in France. After the dish was served, he went home for a siesta. Sometime later that day, he shot himself in the mouth with a hunting rifle. He was fifty-two.
This is an older article well worth a read.
Below is the link to the complete article in The New Yorker: