At the beginning of February 1975, “Paul Bocuse receives a letter in which the President of the Republic [Valéry Giscard d’Estaing] tells him that he is very flattered to give him the Legion of Honor because he is truly the ambassador of cuisine”, reminds journalist Jean-François Mesplède to the magazine “8:30 p.m. on Saturday” (replay). The three-starred chef has the good idea to go to the banquet given for the occasion at the Elysée Palace with his group of great cook friends: Michel Guérard, Roger Vergé, Claude Jolly, Jean-Pierre Haeberlin, Pierre and Jean Troisgros , Alain Chapel, Charles Barrier, Pierre Laporte…
The group of chefs goes to Paris and takes over the presidential kitchens to simmer the lunch of February 25 in their own way: “At six o’clock in the morning, they meet at Rungis to do the last shopping, says journalist Eve-Marie Zizza-Lalu, author of Paul Bocuse, the sacred fire (ed. Glénat). It was a happy band that got along particularly well, had fun, played a lot. And when they arrived in the kitchen, they brought a breath of fresh air. It must have seemed a little strange to the brigade because we are at the Elysée, it is codified. And all the more codified that we are at the top of the state.
“A surprising and delicious emblematic dish”
Michel Guérard, three-star chef present that day, remembers: “The Elysée is not nothing anyway. There were several apprehensions and in particular that of making a success of our dish…” He prepares duck aiguillettes and the Troisgros brothers cook their salmon with sorrel while Paul Bocuse cooks up a little surprise for his starter… The guests then sit down to eat with the presidential couple: “There was a lot of joy, but at the same time, it was a bit ‘squeaky squeaky’… Everyone was sitting on their butts and starting to wonder how this meal was going to go”, says Michel Guérard.
Paul Bocuse is in the place of honor, surrounded by his friends. Unheard of at the Elysée. The small dishes are in the big ones when the starter imagined by Bocuse finally arrives: the VGE truffle soup. “This is the first time that the president has seen himself flat, like the others, since he had never done it before, says Jean-François Mesplède. He asks: ‘And now Monsieur Bocuse, what do we do?’ The chef responds: ‘Now, president, we have a bite to eat!'” VGE will then break the crust that covers the soup and see smoke escaping: “You take in the smell of the grated truffle put in it. It’s an emblematic dish that is surprising and delicious, as Paul Bocuse certainly was”, says the journalist.
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