Many people who have found their calling in life often describe themselves as having been ‘born into it'; born to be a musician, born to be a doctor... Chef Max Grenard, executive chef at the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, describes himself as having been ‘born in the kitchen'. It makes sense as he governs his kitchen with absolute authority and exudes an air of perfectionism that is de rigueur for gourmet chefs - particularly French gourmet chefs. It is almost tempting to posit that it was probably the French who set, or at the very least claimed, this precedent.
Coming from a family comprising nine chefs, Grenard was born in Lyon, France. Entering a world redolent with aromatic smells and the constant background chorus of hissing pots, he grew up in a family consumed by a passion for French culinary traditionalism. Subsequently, with his family still based in France, Grenard chose to travel - the only one to venture out of France professionally. On the subject of classical French cuisine and its hallowed status, he believes it no longer operates in isolation.
"I am not afraid to be creative and I'm not afraid to experiment," he says.
"My work experience all over the world has definitely contributed to this attitude. That said, I studied in France and so I was trained in a traditional way. My grounding is very much traditionally French. So I'm not the one to be outrageous and so I believe that some combinations are never going to work."
He is of the firm belief that in order to create something new you have to possess a thorough knowledge of the old. "Ultimately, the dish still needs to make sense. It doesn't matter how creative it is if it doesn't fulfil its gastronomical purpose."
Grenard left school at 15 to start cooking. As soon as he graduated from I-M-D-I in Nice, he decided to pursue his interest in seeing what was happening in kitchens elsewhere in the world.
A desire that led him to never return to France to work.
The first country he went to was Switzerland - where he would take on his first role as an executive chef. He then went to England, Holland, Italy, Spain, St Domingo, China, Bahrain and now in the UAE. He worked for the InterContinental group's hotels for eight years including in Malta, Holiday Inn Lido China Beijing, Hotel Nouvata Parkroyal, New Caledonia Nouméa and Okoumé Palace InterContinental Libreville Gabon, Central Africa.
He came to Dubai from Bahrain, where he was the executive chef at the long-standing InterContinental Regency Hotel. His extensive international experience of 18 years makes him state quite clearly that the nature of dining has changed dramatically over the decades. "Traditionally, food was the primary focus but today other factors have come into play. These include decor, setting, atmosphere and the ‘special effects' introduced in the servings, thus making the food itself the second or even third consideration when choosing a restaurant.
"Dining trends obviously vary from country to country and I find that they have a lot to do with how ‘old' that country's culinary history is. For example, in France, knowledge of the cuisine's history is detailed. It's a country with a rich and defined gastronomical past."
Having said that he has adopted influences from every country he's worked in. International influences, he says, have added interest to what previously may have been considered ‘archaic' French dishes. To illustrate his point clearly he picks the culinary culture of a country half way across from France.
"Consider for example, China. The spices they use in their kitchens (which you can't even manage to translate into English or French given there are so many) are phenomenal. Westerners know about soya sauce, but we have no idea about its sheer variety. The same can be said of tofu.I was particularly amazed by this. I'm not a fan of tofu - to be clear, I just don't like tofu. (I'm French - I love cheese). Anyway, I was astounded to learn that there are as many varieties of tofu in China as there are varieties of cheeses in France. In a tofu shop I visited I found shelves upon shelves of the stuff - smoked, fresh, flavoured, two-month-old, six-month-old, one-year-old… it was amazing."
He agrees that there's a general snobbishness among conservative French chefs that the old way is the only way. But he sees room for manoeuvre. "While tradition is important in French cooking, we cannot ignore the fact that there are so many other possibilities to be found in other cuisines.
"It's not that French cuisine is the ‘best' cuisine (though I'll be biased given that it's my home country!). But what sets French cuisine apart in my opinion is the fact that it was the first cuisine to travel outside its country of birth. Chef Paul Bocuse brought French food into international focus."
A trait the French do particularly well he feels - putting all things quintessentially French on the map. Bocuse remains one of the prominent chefs associated with the nouvelle cuisine, which is less opulent than the traditional French cuisine classique, and to this end, Bocuse is considered an icon of modern French cooking.
"The French also have incredible variety; the cuisine varies from region to region. This is not necessarily true all over the world." Chinese cuisine is also immensely varied, he says, the regional influences expanding its repertoire dramatically. "But then again, China is practically the size of Europe whereas France is the size of a small part of China."
Coming to the magical draw of contemporary cooking, Grenard believes that food has to be like a show; it's no longer simply about how a dish tastes. In the past, people would go to the movies and to a restaurant afterwards for their meal. The gustatory experience was merely a follow-on to the main experience of being entertained. But today even food needs to hold people's imagination and delight their senses, not just feed their hunger.
For this reason he says the culinary world today offers special effects like the presence of liquid nitrogen in food. "I call it ‘gimmick cuisine'. Contemporary cuisine needs an extra edge - some crazy spin - to be memorable and I use these strategies in my cooking." He is careful not to overdo it though. "I cannot say I'm a fan of it. At the end of the day, I simply want to produce great-tasting food."
Chef Grenard offers his take on a couple of classic French favourites and a few contemporary creations.
Cuisine classique
The Lobster Thermidor is a very traditional dish. It's what the French monarchs ate. There's nothing fashionable about it and it hasn't changed in the past 200 years. The recipe was created in 1894 at the Maire restaurant in Paris to honour the opening of the play Thermidor by Victorien Sardou.
"I chose this dish because it's steeped in French tradition and remains utterly true to it. It is still enjoyed as a classic all around the world," says Grenard.
The other dish he chooses in the classic range is the Tournedos Rossini, purportedly a creation of Casimir Moisson, the chef from the famous French restaurant la Maison Dorée. He is thought to have created this dish for the Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini, who was his regular guest.
"This is a classic because foie gras is the key ingredient; it remains one of France's signatures."
Nouvelle cuisine
Foam is a culinary technique developed by the Spanish chef Ferran Adria consisting of natural flavours, such as fruit juices, whipped with a hand-held immersion blender or extruded through whipped cream. Foaming is a modern technique to make the dish lighter and healthier. Chef Grenard employs this in the Asparagus Espuma served with Tomato and Parmesan Bruschetta.
"Today, people are more health conscious which is why these kind of techniques have been developed. It's a world apart from the Thermidor!"
Scallops are a favourite in French cuisine, but with the Around the World Scallops (Rockefeller, Tandoori and Sukiyaki) Grenard has given them a universal twist. "Guests are looking for an experience; the opportunities to discover innovative combinations of flavours have become priorities in fine dining. By offering your guests a trilogy, you offer them a French favourite combined with multicultural influences to add interest."
Grenard's more conservative family of chefs back home in France may not entirely agree or approve of his unbridled enthusiasm for the old and the new, but innovation is the new synonym for success in today's world in any field and as they say, nothing succeeds like success.
