It’s hard to say what I love most about Normand Laprise.
His effervescent personality that shines through even when he’s hard at work in the high-pressure kitchen of Toqué restaurant in Montreal.
His impressive ability to translate the hard-to-fathom machinations of Modernist Cuisine into something simple, down-to-earth and divinely delicious.
His gorgeous cookbook, Toqué, which won the James Beard Award last year for Best “Professional” Cookbook.
Or, let’s get real here, his food. Silken Pink Banana squash soup with bacon and thyme-scented whipped cream. Pan-seared wild mushrooms with poached egg, melted Gruyere cheese and cherry tomatoes. Gratin of chevre cheese and potatoes. Puckery lemon tartelettes piled with toasty meringue. Classic escargots in all its bronzed, garlicky glory.
Last fall, I dined at Toqué on the recommendation of my good friend Julian Armstrong, former food editor of the Montreal Gazette. I loved the airy space and stylish design, the welcoming staff led by Laprise’s partner Christine Lamarche, the thoughtful wine list on which I discovered a yummy new friend, Monthelie, from Burgundy’s Cote de Beaune, and the food. Creative, but not precious or contrived. Delicate, but with robust, satisfying flavors.
Scallops (above), served in their shell, were thinly sliced and floating on a pool of fragrant apple water, with a hints of daikon and pear mousse doing the bitter-sweet balancing act. A stunning tomato “carpaccio” featured lovely late-harvest specimens, their flavor intensified by fresh basil and lime-spiked mayonnaise. Bits of pancetta added oomph to the dish and a subtle tomato vinaigrette made all the different flavors play in perfect harmony.
Mushrooms had a starring role on the menu. A first course of pan-seared wild mushrooms was terrific. Ditto the main course of cavatelli pasta (above) tossed with wild mushrooms shiny with a gossamer cream and parmesan cheese glaze.
I was so taken by the show at Toqué that I went with friends the next night to Laprise’s newer, more casual restaurant, Brasserie T!, in Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles. At this French-Canadian gastropub we feasted on opulent Coquille St. Jacques and garlicky escargot – the proverbial ‘blasts from the past’ --- as well as admirable duck rillettes, glossy salmon tartare with crisp French fries, and fat, handsome homemade sausages with white beans and salad. (Photo by Hand Laurendeau, Shoot Studio.)
And, finally, on my third and last day in Montreal, I dropped in on Laprise in the kitchen of the city’s Mont Royal Club where he was consulting on a new menu. That’s where I got to see the passionate perfectionist, the tireless experimenter, the creative, independent trend-setter with the flawless classic techniques.
That’s also where I learned how to build a better béarnaise sauce.
To lighten the fat and calorie count, yet deliver the equally seductive mouth-feel of classic béarnaise, Laprise uses a whipping siphon. That’s the contraption that the rest of us reserve for making whipped cream, the ISI Cream Profi Whip, which you can find on Amazon.com. (There’s also a cookbook devoted to this Modernist Cuisine tool.)
Laprise starts his sauce with the basic ingredients -- egg yolks, salt, white wine –- but uses none of the butter demanded for the traditional recipe. Instead, he employs the whipping siphon -- with two cartridges instead of one -- to create a super-light sauce that won’t curdle or separate. I was blown away by the silky-smooth texture and the delicate flavor of this bearnaise. And, since bearnaise or hollandaise made this way can be kept warm in the siphon in a waterbath, it becomes far more do-able for the home cook.
Read more about Laprise, his restaurants and his fascinating version of apple mousse (below) at his blog, AllToquedOut.
