MADELEINE KAMMAN archive

A CHEF'S FAREWELL AT LONDON GRILL, MADELEINE KAMMAN RECENTLY MADE HER LAST PUBLIC APPEARANCE AS A CHEF.
AN AUTHOR AND TEACHER TO TWO GENERATIONS, SHE PLANS TO DO ONLY HOME COOKING NOW.
By Marilynn Marter, INQUIRER FOOD WRITER
Published: 1998-07-08

She's an esteemed cookbook author who doesn't like cookbooks.

Well, at least not recipes.
``I hate recipes,'' Madeleine Kamman declared.

``There are ingredients, and there are techniques. And from now on, recipes are gone from my life,'' she said with a sigh of relief.

``I wish people would cook more with their hands and their hearts and really enjoy it.''

All those numbers . . . how much, how long, how many minutes, at what temperature . . . they're not gospel, Kamman explained. There are too many variables in food. What matters is the interaction of ingredients and techniques, how the food looks and feels.

``Once you know your basic proportions, everything is variations,'' she said.

* It is a warm day in June, and teacher-author-chef Madeleine Kamman is working at London Grill with Michael McNally, London's chef-owner and Kamman's former student. They are preparing for her final appearance that evening as a chef in a restaurant kitchen. This will be her last performance at a public stove.

It has been billed, tongue-in-cheek, as ``the last supper.''

From now on, the Frenchwoman who helped to educate American tastes and two generations of American chefs intends to do her cooking at home, for small gatherings of family and friends.

Early in the day, Kamman met with some of her chef admirers and their staffs over coffee to receive the city's Toque Award, which McNally accepted in her stead in March. A ``nasty flu'' kept Kamman from attending the award dinner and this year's The Book and the Cook. It also put off this dining event for three months and helped her to decide that this dinner collaboration with McNally, in her American hometown, would be ``my very last restaurant experience for the remainder of my life.''

Of her choice, Kamman said:

``I'm 68 years old. When you get to be that age, you'll understand.

``When I write, I'm absorbed and don't pay attention to my body. But standing, working in a kitchen is more difficult.''

The fast pace and stress of food preparation have taken a toll. The hot kitchens and long hours aggravate the arthritis Kamman has lately endured.

``My doctor told me not to do restaurants any more, because every time I do, I get crazy,'' she said.

This public farewell has drawn Kamman's friends in food as well as fans of her cookbooks. Nearly 150 people savor the four-course, $55, country French meal.

``The whole menu is French country-style food because I still don't think the American soul is made for really refined, detailed food,'' Kamman said.

``The attitude toward food here is more pragmatic.''

Rittenhouse Hotel chef Jim Coleman and restaurant consultant Lou Sackett, both Kamman grads, joined in honoring the recipient of the 1998 James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. As did Fritz Blank (Deux Cheminees), Philippe Chin (Wrap Planet), David Mink (Sansom Street Oyster House), pastry chef Donna Quinn (William Penn Inn), Beth Russell (MANNA), and corporate chef Marilyn Anthony.

There were also family friends from the 1960s, when she lived in the area and began her teaching career here.

In the dining room, Kamman talks with guests and signs cookbooks. Her latest, The New Making of a Cook: The Art, Techniques and Science of Good Cooking (Morrow, $40), can be bought with the meal.

``After the first few plates went out, I had to leave [the kitchen] because I was giving them a hard time,'' Kamman, the lead chef, admitted.

``I am a finicky soul. But Michael here is Mr. Relaxed.''

It's a measure of personal growth that, having shown her proteges in the kitchen what to do, Kamman, the perfectionist, can leave them alone to do it.

At one table, three young men engage Kamman in conversation.

She sits, chats, advises the men - executive chef Carlo de Marco and sous chef Matthew McHugh from Bridget Foy's South Street Grill, and George Karusky, chef at Siggie's L'Auberge.

``We came here to be inspired,'' de Marco said, ``and we were.''

``I'm not going to keep all that knowledge to myself,'' Kamman said. ``If you have it, share it.''

The advice she shares doesn't always follow party lines.

Don't get outside investors, she warns any serious chef, or you will wind up working for someone else.

You can make a living in restaurants, but you can't save money, she tells them. You make your money when you sell. Or at least recoup your losses.

It's best to sell a place after seven years, she advises. Travel. Refresh yourself. Then open a new place.

It is unlikely that Kamman will ever retire her impulse to guide young chefs or seek cooking talent. There are two courses - a post-graduate culinary education - yet to be taught at her School for American Chefs at Beringer Wine Estates in California's Napa Valley, and occasional seminars for chefs in Vermont.

Not one to retire to sunny sands, she chose to remain in a temperate climate and continue her activities. ``I like to ski. And I have my bike, but I have to be moderate because of my arthritis.''

Having worked at her aunt's Michelin-starred restaurant in the Loire Valley, Kamman was an experienced chef when she came to the United States. She brought with her the concept of a lighter nouvelle approach to classic French cooking. And the confidence to do things her own way and speak her mind.

She opened her first restaurant outside Boston in the late '60s, a time when women were not yet taken seriously in upscale restaurant kitchens. The praise she earned rippled through the industry, inspiring and paving the way for more female chefs.

Kamman, whose personal tastes lean toward vegetarian fare, planned her last public menu around dishes from the French countryside, each entree served with a variation on a sweet-and-sour theme. The chicken was paired with a balsamic-citrus vinaigrette; the tournedos of beef, with an anchovy-and-lemon-flavored sauce. And with the salmon, a reduction of wine, sour cherries and fish fumet.

In The New Making of a Cook, Kamman teaches basic techniques as a foundation for creating your own recipes.

While some classic methods may seem too time-consuming, Kamman offers an easy way to poach chicken using cook-in bags as an alternative to the old way of poaching poultry in a pig's bladder.

By poaching in salted water, precious stock is saved for use in sauces, pilafs and such. And the concentrated juices and flavors of this bird are locked in the bag for easy use in a sauce matched to this dish.

Kamman favors poaching free-range chickens for the best flavor, but advises refrigerating them for a few days to soften the flesh.

* Here are some of Kamman's - dare we say? - recipes:

CHICKEN-IN-A-BAG WITH FRENCH HERBS
1 roasting chicken, 4 to 5 pounds
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon unsalted butter or oil
3 tablespoons chopped parsley, tarragon, thyme and chervil blend
4 quarts water
Rinse bird, inside and out, and pat dry. Season cavity with salt and pepper. Mash butter with herbs; rub over breast of bird. Or slip a portion under the skin on each side so butter covers the top of each breast and leg. Truss bird; brush skin lightly with oil. Place in heavy-duty plastic cook-in bag; force air out and tie bag tightly just above tail bone (see note). Refrigerate until 45 minutes before cooking.

To cook, bring water with 2 tablespoons salt to a boil in a large pot with handles. Immerse bag with chicken; keep water simmering, between 190 and 205 degrees, and cook until juices run clear, 40 to 45 minutes. With tongs, carefully remove hot bag to platter; remove bird; serve hot, with sauce if desired. Makes four servings.

Note: The bag will stick to a bird rubbed with butter or oil. Air left in cook-in bag will expand in heat and cause bag to rise to surface of water, slowing cooking. If the bag rises, use a weight to hold it under water.

Balsamic-citrus vinaigrette sauce: Empty juices from bag into saucepan. Add 1 cup chicken stock, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind, adjusting for taste. To smooth the sauce and soften acids, stir in a spoon or two of heavy cream. Reduce liquid until the sauce coats a spoon lightly.

A simpler sauce: Blend the juices with 1 cup stock and 2 tablespoons heavy cream. Reduce liquid until the sauce coats a spoon lightly.

Nutritional data per serving (without sauce): Calories, 1090; protein, 121 grams; carbohydrates, ).5 g; fat, 63 g; cholesterol, 494 milligrams; sodium, 389 mg.

* Kamman and McNally spent an hour trimming and slicing hundreds of chicken gizzards - 10 pounds in all - for salads. A delicacy in France, the gizzard is the muscular second stomach of poultry. Gizzards can be ordered inexpensively from a butcher. They require long cooking.

This recipe was passed down from Kamman's great-grandmother.

POOR MAN'S SALAD 1 pound chicken gizzards
1 onion, peeled, stuck with 2 cloves
Small bouquet garni (see note)
2 leeks
1 bunch fresh radishes
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 ounces fresh goat cheese
3 slices French bread
3 tablespoons corn oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces mesclun or mixed greens
Pepper to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
6 tablespoons walnut oil
1 large shallot, minced
3 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Wash the gizzards. Put them in a large saucepan with onion, bouquet garni and green parts of leeks, chopped. Add water just to cover; bring to a boil. Skim, reduce heat, cover and simmer 2 to 2 1/2 hours until gizzards are tender. Remove gizzards and trim any skin or gristle. Cut into slices about one-sixth-inch thick; reserve.

Meanwhile, slice white and pale parts of leeks to 1/4-inch; blanch in broth from cooking gizzards 3 minutes. Reserve leeks on plate. Continue to simmer broth, reducing to a glaze. Slice radishes; soak in vinegar with salt for 30 minutes. Dice goat cheese. Trim crust from French bread; cut centers into 1/3-inch cubes. In pan, heat oil and saute garlic 1 minute. Add croutons; toss until golden. Drain on paper towels.

Rinse greens; pat dry and chill. Transfer broth reduction to mixing bowl; add strained vinegar, pepper, mustard, walnut oil and shallots; mix well. Adjust seasoning; add cream to taste to balance taste or texture. Combine and toss all but parsley and croutons with dressing. Arrange on plates; top with parsley and croutons. Makes eight servings.

Note: For bouquet garni, bundle, fold and tie 10 parsley stems, 1 sprig thyme and 1 bay leaf.
Nutritional data per serving: Calories, 285; protein, 12 grams; carbohydrates, 14 g; fat, 21 g; cholesterol, 14 milligrams; sodium, 289 mg.

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