Raymond Blanc

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Raymond Blanc
Born (1949-11-19) 19 November 1949
Besançon, France
Cooking style French
Official website
http://www.manoir.com/ http://www.raymondblanc.com/

Raymond Blanc OBE (born 19 November 1949) is a French chef who was born in Besançon, the capital of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France, between Burgundy and the Jura mountains. He grew up in Saône,[1] a village just east of there. Today he is one of Britain's most respected chefs.[2] Blanc is the owner and chef at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the Good Food Guide. He is entirely self-taught,[3] but has himself taught or employed other chefs including Heston Blumenthal,[4] John Burton-Race,[5] Michael Caines,[6] Paul Liebrandt,[7] and Marco Pierre White.[8]

Early life

While his two sisters were taught to cook by the influential Maman Blanc, his father taught Blanc and his two brothers to work in the kitchen garden. His father gave him a colander and foraging map for his 10th birthday, and what he collected his mother taught him to cook.[9]

Career

Training as a waiter, Blanc worked at the Michelin-starred Le Palais de la Bière in Besançon. In 1972 he was fired for upsetting the head chef (Blanc had offered him advice on how to cook), but the manager knew of a job in England.[9]

Not speaking English well enough to survive without a notepad, he was dispatched to The Rose Revived in Newbridge, Oxfordshire, arriving three days after landing at Dover in his Renault 5 Gordini. Blanc married the owner's daughter Jenny, and the couple had two sons.[9]

In 1977, the couple opened Les Quat' Saisons in Summertown, Oxford: "we mortgaged the house, owed 18 further people, and opened in a corridor between a lingerie shop and Oxfam". An overnight success, he won "Egon Ronay Guide Restaurant of the Year", two Michelin stars and a host of other distinctions.[9]

In 1981, Blanc opened a chain of boulangeries and pâtisseries called Maison Blanc that also contain cafès. There are currently 14 branches of Maison Blanc across the country, including several in London and one in Oxford. Maison Blanc cakes are now available nationwide in Waitrose.[10]

In 1983, Blanc purchased a manor-house in the Oxfordshire village of Great Milton and opened Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a country house hotel and double Michelin starred restaurant. Awarded five AA stars and with a score of 19/20 from respected French guide Gault Millau, Le Manoir describes itself as "one of the ultimate gastronomic destinations in the country".[11]

Blanc opened the first of a chain of smaller restaurants, Le Petit Blanc restaurants in Oxford in June 1996. Blanc's stated aim with these was to bring the French philosophy of "good food being central to good living" to the United Kingdom. His desire was to create and serve food that can be enjoyed by everyone – "from the time-conscious business person to those looking for a welcoming family restaurant". Blanc suffered two mini strokes when he was 42, brought on by stress and overwork [12]

In June 2003, after nearly losing the chain as part of his divorce settlement to Jenny,[9] the four Le Petit Blanc Brasseries (now known as Brasserie Blanc) in Birmingham (of which closed in 2008), Cheltenham, Manchester and Oxford became part of the Loch Fyne Restaurant Group portfolio. Blanc maintains a share in the business, and continues to be actively involved creating new menus, developing the chef and kitchen teams and participating in the promotion of the restaurants. Since 1996, Raymond has opened the following Brasserie Blanc's:

  • 1996 - Opening of Le Petit Blanc brasserie, Oxford. Awarded one Michelin Star in its first year and classed amongst the ten best restaurants in the country, in 2006 it was re-launched as Brasserie Blanc
  • 1998 - Cheltenham
  • 1999 - Birmingham (closed 2008)[13]
  • 2000 - Manchester
  • 2004 - Tunbridge Wells (closed 2009)[14]
  • 2007 - Leeds and Milton Keynes
  • 2008 - Bristol and Winchester
  • 2009 - Portsmouth
  • 2010 - Chichester and Threadneedle Street, London
  • 2012 - Bath, Berkhamsted, St Albans and Chancery Lane, Charlotte Street, Covent Garden, St Paul’s and Tower Hill in London[15]

In 2012 Blanc agreed to become the president of the Sustainable Restaurant Association.[16]

In March 2013, Raymond Blanc made the news with Mayor of London Boris Johnson, to publicise a scheme to get young people into the food and hospitality industry. Blanc himself took on twenty-one apprentices across the Brasserie Blanc Restaurants.[17]

He is also one of the patrons on the Children's Food Festival, which was held on the Northmoor Trust Estate in south Oxfordshire in June 2009. In 2013, 3.

Chefs trained by Blanc

Blanc has taught or employed many other future chefs and restaurateurs, including:

TV appearances

Raymond Blanc has made numerous appearances on all major television stations, during prime time viewing, in Great Britain. These include his own series Food & Drink in 1987, Take Six Cooks in 1986 and Masterchef in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995 & 1998 as well as ‘The Restaurant’, a BBC 2 series hosted by Raymond where nine couples compete to win their own restaurant.

Raymond was a featured chef on Great Chefs television, appearing in Great Chefs of the World.[31]

On 13 January 2007, he appeared on Saturday Kitchen. In the Omelette Challenge, he came out last because he took the longest to cook an omelette. However, he was nudged up a few places by James Martin, right above Ken Hom, as Blanc produced a black truffle out of his pocket and garnished the finished omelette with truffle shavings.

Summer 2007 saw the BBC promotion for his new reality TV programme The Restaurant airing on UK television. (The show is known to BBC America viewers in the US as Last Restaurant Standing). The promo showed a group of well-dressed diners in a slow-motion food fight, to a Gonzales backing track. The show was aired as part of BBC Two's autumn season in 2007 and returned, with minor changes to the format, in 2008. In 2009, The Restaurant returned to BBC Two in a low-budget format. This season has been much criticised for the poor standard of contestants, for neglecting the successful elements of previous series, and for Blanc choosing as the winner a team without any discernible culinary ability outside of making cocktails.

1985 “Take Six Cooks”

1987 ‘Food & Drink’ Six part series on BBC2

1994 ‘Blanc Mange’ Six part BBC2 series on food and chemistry

2000 ‘Friends for Dinner’ Six part BBC2 series with high profile chefs participating in individual episodes

2001 to 2007 ‘BBC Radio 4’ Discussing topical industry issues, including organic produce

2001 ‘Newsnight’ Foot and Mouth issues - appeared with representatives from the Soil Association and the National Farmers Union

2001 ‘SKY News’ Relevant and topical industry issues

2001 ‘Housecall’ BBC1 daytime programme, hosted by Lowri Turner. RB appeared on a few of the shows ‘cooking slots’

2002 “Passion for Perfection” Twelve part Carlton Television series

2004 “So What Do You Do All Day” Dedicated episode of BBC Two series, which follows a high profile professional through a typical working day

2007 BBC ‘The Restaurant’ – Series 1 Eight part BBC Two series. Nine couples are put through their paces to see if they have what it takes to run their own restaurant in a brand new television series.

2008 BBC ‘The Restaurant’ – Series 2 Over eight weeks, nine couples compete to win a restaurant personally supported By Raymond Blanc.

2009 BBC ‘The Restaurant’ – Series 3

2010 BBC Kitchen Secrets Cookery show with a range of achievable and inspirational recipes for cooks of all abilities.

2011 BBC Kitchen Secrets 2 Second series of cookery show with a range of achievable and inspirational recipes for cooks of all abilities

2011 BBC Raymond Blanc's Christmas Feast

2012 BBC 2 The Very Hungry Frenchman

2013 BBC 2 Raymond Blanc: How to Cook Well. Series of 6 half hour programmes

Blanc also made a guest appearance on the BBC sitcom Miranda in Episode 5 of Series

Publications

Blanc is the author of several books, including Cooking for Friends and Foolproof French Cookery.

References

  1. ↑ chris, west mids, 2 years ago Best food show on the box 0 (2011-03-06). "Raymond Blanc: I got away with a lot, and I learned very early on how to charm the ladies | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-01-06. 
  2. ↑ Sims, Josh (2012-12-11). "Raymond Blanc: A Franc Discussion of Fine Food". Billionaire.com. Retrieved 2013-04-21. 
  3. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (1988). The Encyclopædia of Oxford. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-39917-X. 
  4. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/15/heston.blumenthal
  5. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chefs/john_burton_race
  6. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4294190.stm
  7. ↑ http://www.starchefs.com/chefs/rising_stars/2006/ny/html/bio_p_liebrandt.shtml
  8. ↑ http://eater.com/archives/2012/12/01/heston-blumenthal-rejects-the-claim-he-trained-under-marco-pierre-white.php
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 "A man for all seasons". BMI Voyager. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2011. 
  10. ↑ "Home". Maison Blanc. Retrieved 2014-01-06. 
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ John Crace. "Raymond Blanc: 'People are confused by my accent. Some English diners thought I was from Liverpool' | Life and style". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-01-06. 
  13. ↑ Lodge, Alan (2008-02-15). "City Centre Rates force Blanc out of Brum". Bighospitality.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-01-06. 
  14. ↑ "Losses blamed for closure of top restaurant". This is Kent. 2009-04-04. Retrieved 2014-01-06. 
  15. ↑ "Brasserie Blanc Blog » Blog Archive » Raymond Blanc opens Brasserie Blanc Charlotte Street". Brasserieblanc.com. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2014-01-06. 
  16. ↑ Joe, Melinda (31 May 2013). "Why it matters where our food comes from". The Japan Times. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  17. ↑ "Raymond Blanc takes on 21 apprentices". The Handbook. March 7, 2013. 
  18. ↑ http://www.thestaffcanteen.com/featured-chef/sat-bains-chef/
  19. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chefs/john_burton_race
  20. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/15/heston.blumenthal
  21. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4294190.stm
  22. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chef_biogs/a.shtml#elisha_carter
  23. ↑ http://brasseriechavot.com/index_main.html
  24. ↑ http://williamcurley.com/page/Discover+Us/Our+Journey
  25. ↑ http://www.caterersearch.com/blogs/guide-girl/2009/12/raymond-blancs-the-restaurant-winners-jj-and-james-unpopular-choice.html
  26. ↑ http://archive.is/H7tsO
  27. ↑ http://uktv.co.uk/food/chef/aid/530459
  28. ↑ http://www.starchefs.com/chefs/rising_stars/2006/ny/html/bio_p_liebrandt.shtml
  29. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/restaurant/inspectors/index_david.shtml
  30. ↑ http://eater.com/archives/2012/12/01/heston-blumenthal-rejects-the-claim-he-trained-under-marco-pierre-white.php
  31. ↑ "Great Chefs". 

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Raymond Blanc
Authority control
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.