Exotic
wood, spices that pop: A chef in the spotlight offers his exciting take on
an American tradition.
When quoting Lefebvre, who has just been named executive chef at Bastide, one just wants to use exclamation points. The heavily accented, 33-year-old chef grew up in Burgundy but says he prefers the American attitude toward barbecue. "The French don't do the pork rib; they don't do the beef rib. People here are more passionate about the barbecue." Yet today he is barbecuing neither the pork rib nor the beef rib but a leg of lamb with an exotic world-spice flavor, along with a couple of lobsters, some vegetables and a pineapple. He is using a brand-new classic black Weber grill, on which, he says, grinning impishly, he is grilling all these things in this way for the first time. "I know it's going to work," he says. "I'm a chef! This is what I do!"
Lefebvre is especially volatile today. "I'm scared, I'm scared,
I'm really scared. Every day I go into the kitchen, I'm scared. I want to
be scared. I want to push myself." He is scared because he has been named
to replace the esteemed Alain Giraud at what is perhaps the city's
premiere restaurant. The news shocked the food world, and just the mention
of it sends Lefebvre right into the bedroom. He emerges with two crystals
the size of baseballs, one purple and one clear. "I need the power of the
stone," he says. "They will be in my office."
But there's more. He
pulls down the neck of his T-shirt to reveal two necklaces, made of
citrine, beads, a Chinese coin ("for protection") and a string of nuts
from India called Rudraksha that look like tiny hairy macaroons. He
unfolds a small piece of paper on which is written a few key phrases, such
as "thank you for my blessing" and "calm, no stress." One also can't help
noticing that he has had apparently helpful Asian characters tattooed on
his right arm, along with what appears to be a dragon. A koi fish
decorates his left arm, and, he tells me, his wife's name is emblazoned on
his chest.
A week before the big news broke, I had arranged to meet
Lefebvre to see what one of the city's top French chefs could tell us
about what we like to think of as a great American summer tradition, the
Fourth of July barbecue. We had planned to meet at the W Hotel, where
Lefebvre had been installed for the last nine months, planning to open a
new restaurant — Ludo — in late summer. Instead, we are on the patio of
the Studio City house into which Lefebvre and Kristine, his American wife
of five years and an entertainment attorney, recently
moved.
Wood and herbs
And so, for the moment, we try
to stay focused on the task at hand: barbecue. For charcoal, Lefebvre uses
a Chinese wood called binchotan, ordered through Nishimoto Trading Co. in
Santa Fe Springs, Calif. The sticks lie on the floor of the patio in an
interestingly battered box with red Chinese letters. "The flavor is very
smoky but subtle. You cannot smell it, but you can taste it," Lefebvre
says of the expensive wood from the Wakayama province. He says charcoal
briquettes or a cheaper wood will do; "I just love this one."
FOR THE RECORD: Binchotan —An article about
barbecuing in the June 30 Food section said binchotan wood originated in
China. It is from Japan. It also incorrectly stated that the wood could
be purchased from Nishimoto Trading Co., a wholesale distributor. The
wood is available retail at Marukai Market, 1740 W. Artesia Blvd.,
Gardena, (310) 660-6300.
In
preparation, Lefebvre coated the 5-pound lamb in coarse sea salt and let
it rest for two hours. The leg was then rinsed, dried and rubbed with a
paste made from olive oil and a dry herb blend. Or, as he says, "I give it
a massage all over." The herb blend was concocted by one of his favorite
tradesmen, Perry Doty at All Spice in the Farmers Market on Fairfax. To
this Lefebvre has impulsively added a teaspoon each of two more dried
spices, Penja, which is a smooth and woody white pepper from the Penja
Valley in Cameroon, and espelette, from a red Basque pepper that is not
quite as hot as cayenne. "The blend was perhaps not aggressive; this gives
the lamb more character," he says, when I ask how he decided on the
last-minute addition of the two spices. Then he adds, "I don't know why I
put this spice on! It's about cooking! You take a risk! You mix things
up!"
Lefebvre ignores the instructions that come with the grill; he
leaves the dome-shaped cover off, modulating the heat by crouching down on
the ground and opening and closing the bottom vent, which is, technically
supposed to remain open. "What I love about barbecue is that it's all
about technique," says Lefebvre. To see him hunched over the Weber blowing
on the wood, his long hair streaming in his face, is to think about men
and their relationship to fire. "I can't have the cover on!" he says.
"Then I don't see what's going on!
"It's all about the sizzle," he
continues. "It's all about how you work with the fire. It's hot enough —
you just feel it. You control it." He's an intuitive cook. He believes in
using all the senses. He may even have elevated this belief to theory;
we'll find out when his first book, "Crave: See Touch Smell Hear Taste"
(Regan Books) is published in the fall.
Lefebvre goes into his
kitchen to prepare the sauce for the lobsters he will grill. He plunges
two Maine lobsters in boiling water — merely to kill, not to cook. He then
chops each one down the middle — using one violent, lightning fast
movement. To do this, he uses the biggest knife from the set that Kristine
is not allowed to use. She has her own set. "I would know if she used one
of mine," says Lefebvre. For the sauce, he melts imported Echirée butter:
"I'm French, of course!" He grates the zest from a lime, a pink grapefruit
and an orange and scrapes the aromatic fusion into the pot. Fresh tarragon
will be added at the end.
The lobsters, which have been brushed
with oil and salted and peppered, go on the grill, meat side down. When
Lefebvre decides that side is done (about four minutes) he turns them
over. He's right; it is all about the sizzle. They already look
delectable. When dressed with the sauce, the smoky flavor of the lobster
meat is accented perfectly by the subtle variations of warm citrus and
tarragon.
Also to be grilled are some vegetables that have been
sitting in a little olive oil and salt. He places a sliced onion directly
on the grill along with parboiled fingerling potatoes that he has
ingenuously skewered together on a rosemary branch. He has also sliced
zucchini and squash. He stares intently at the vegetables and sometimes
uses tongs to turn them. Sometimes he uses his finger. "Chefs are used to
getting burned," he explains.
For dessert, Lefebvre will barbecue a
pineapple. Having watched his wife grill corn wrapped in aluminum foil, he
has decided to adopt the method. He adds more wood to the fire, blows
lightly, waits. Then waits some more. When the fire is perfect, he places
pineapple quarters directly on the grill, to get a good sear first. Then
he places each quarter on a sheet of foil, tops it with a slab of butter,
scrapes half a vanilla bean on top, then wraps it in the foil and pops it
back on the grill.
"Trust me," says Lefebvre, employing one of his
very favorite phrases, "barbecue should be very simple. You don't need to
complicate it. Simple, and have fun."
Still, after tasting it
later, he'll add a generous sprinkle of dried mint and dried rose petals
combined with sugar, transforming the dish from merely delicious to truly
memorable.
Influenced by art
There will be no
barbecue at the new and somewhat redesigned Bastide, at which Lefebvre
says he will introduce his new menu in early September. He is expected at
Bastide in a few hours to meet his new staff — a meeting that will later
be postponed — but he agrees to take some time to assess this
extraordinary moment in his already extremely successful
career.
The offer to take over from Giraud came after Lefebvre was
deep into the planning of Ludo. But that deal had already begun to sour
for him, he says, when he learned he would cook not only for the
restaurant but for poolside dining and banquets as well. "I cannot do the
thing I want to do by cooking for 200 people," he
explains.
Lefebvre elaborates a bit on his already stated desire to
do surprising things at Bastide. "I don't want to do la cupcake. I don't
want to do tuna tartar. I want to push the envelope. I want to work
together with different flavors, to surprise the senses." He says he's
still working on a beef candy chocolate idea — and admits it is not ready
yet.
And what other menu items is he is envisioning? A loup de mer
(French sea bass, a.k.a. branzino) with praline, avocado gelée, red beet
sorbet and black cardamom. Also, a ginger soufflé with lime and passion
fruit and a Belgian endive sorbet with beer gelée.
"But I can
always change my mind!" he points out.
The chef says he gets his
ideas from travel (he loves Japan and India) and from going to museums. "I
look at a painting. Why did he put this color here?" he asks rhetorically.
"Sometimes I just think about the color. I want red and green, so I put
the beets with peas. I think about sculpture too. How does the plate look?
I hate an overcrowded plate. Then you don't know what you eat and you get
so lost!"
In preparation for his new job, he is also reading six
cookbooks a week. "I was promoted too young," says Lefebvre, who came to
the U.S. in 1996 to work at L'Orangerie and was made head chef after only
five months, at age 24.
"I didn't have time to finish all of my
research. I didn't understand why I was doing what I was doing. It takes a
long time to be a chef."
He left L'Orangerie in 2002, hoping to
open his own restaurant, but investors had dried up in the post-Sept. 11
economy. Now, he is itching to finally put his stamp on his own
place.
"I'm still learning technique," he continues. "I'm very
open. I don't know everything." His criterion for success is succinct. "I
want people to remember what they ate. I want them to say, 'Ten years ago
I had this amazing asparagus with this crispy bacon. I remember it.'
"
In the meantime, the beautiful leg of lamb sits uneaten and
ignored on the patio. Even Lefebvre's incredibly well-behaved dog,
Sullivan, doesn't dare take a bite before his master.
Later, it
will be carved, garnished with grilled vegetables, the rosemary potatoes
and garlic confit and drizzled with an herb-garlic oil. But, for now, it
just sits. Lefebvre is too lost in his own thoughts about cooking and his
new assignment to eat the food.
"It's like all my life I was
driving a Volkswagen. Now I'm driving a Rolls-Royce. I'm so exciting!" he
says. He means excited, but either one works. Above all, he is focused on
staying calm until his debut.
"I would like to be a Buddhist," he
says, fingering his Indian nut necklace, deadpan. "But I don't have
time."
*
Into the
fire
Binchotan wood is available from Nishimoto
Trading Co., 13409 Orden Drive, Building J, Santa Fe Springs; (562)
802-1900, $60 for a 15-kilogram box.
*
Barbecued leg of lamb with garlic confit, rosemary
fingerlings and grilled vegetables
Total time: 1
hour, 45 minutes, plus resting time
Servings:
8
Note: Dried jalapeños and herb blend
for lamb are available at All Spice in the Farmers Market, Los Angeles.
Ground Penja, a white pepper, and dried piment d'espelette, a chile, are
available at Surfas in Culver City. The Times Test Kitchen tested this
recipe on a standard kettle grill, using a combination of charcoal
briquettes and binchotan wood. Leftover garlic-herb oil may stored,
strained and refrigerated in a covered jar or bottle, for up to 3
weeks.
Lamb
1 (5 to 6 pound) leg of
lamb
2 cups coarse sea salt
1 cup dried herb blend for lamb
or herbes de Provence
3 tablespoons powdered ginger
1
tablespoon dried jalapeños (optional)
1 teaspoon ground Penja
(optional)
1 teaspoon dried espelette (optional)
1/2 cup
extra-virgin olive oil
Garlic-herb oil
Grilled
vegetables
Fleur de sel
1. Pat the lamb dry,
place it on a platter and cover it with the sea salt. Let it rest
in the salt for 2 hours.
2. Rinse the lamb and pat
it dry. In a small bowl, combine the herbes de Provence, dried
ginger and dried jalapeños (if desired). Add the olive oil and stir well
to combine into a paste. Massage the paste into the lamb, covering it
completely. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
3. Place the lamb
on the grill and cover the barbecue, leaving the vents open.
Grill the lamb, turning it every 15 minutes or so, for about 1 hour and 15
minutes for medium-rare. Adjust the vents and add wood as necessary to
maintain slow, even heat.
4. Remove the
lamb to a platter and let it rest for 20
minutes. To serve, slice the lamb across the grain, drizzle with 3
tablespoons of the garlic-herb oil, scatter the confit garlic cloves over
and around it, sprinkle with fleur de sel and garnish with the
grilled vegetables.
Garlic-herb
oil
24 garlic cloves (unpeeled)
1 small
bunch thyme
1 small bunch rosemary
1 fresh jalapeño,
sliced
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
1 1/2 cups extra-virgin
olive oil (or enough to cover the herbs)
1. Place the
garlic, thyme, rosemary, jalapeño and peppercorns in a small
saucepan. Cover with the olive oil, bring to a simmer, turn the heat to
low and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let the oil infuse for
1 hour.
Grilled vegetables
24
fingerling potatoes
6 branches rosemary, to use as skewers
2
eggplants, cut lengthwise into 3/4-inch slices
4 large zucchini,
cut lengthwise into 3/4-inch slices
4 yellow squash, cut crosswise
into 3/4-inch slices
4 tomatoes, cut into 1-inch slices
Sea
salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1. Bring a saucepan
of salted water to a boil, add the potatoes and simmer for 8
minutes or until tender. Drain and pat dry. Skewer 4 potatoes onto each
rosemary branch.
2. Sprinkle the potato skewers
and the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and tomato slices with
salt and pepper, then brush them with the herb-garlic oil. Let them sit
for 10 minutes.
3. Grill the eggplant, zucchini,
yellow squash and tomato slices for 3 minutes on one side, then turn and
grill for 3 minutes on the other side. Grill the potatoes for 4 minutes,
then turn and grill for 4 minutes.
Each serving: 655 calories; 58 grams protein; 32 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams fiber; 34 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 168 mg. cholesterol; 1,027 mg. sodium.
*
Grilled lobster with citrus and tarragon
Total time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
Note: From Ludovic Lefebvre
Sea salt
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs thyme
2 live Maine lobsters, 1 1/2 pounds each
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 sweet onions such as Vidalia, each peeled and cut into 3 thick slices
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lime
Zest of 1 pink grapefruit
2 small bunches tarragon
Fleur de sel
1. Bring a large stockpot of water to a boil and add enough sea salt to taste like the sea. Add the bay leaf and thyme. Plunge the lobsters, head down, into the boiling water and cover. Boil for 2 minutes, then remove the lobsters and drain.
2. Place a lobster on its back, and using a large cleaver or heavy knife, cut it in half lengthwise. You may need to pick it up and open it like a book, cracking stubborn parts of the shell. Using a mallet, crack the claws. Brush the cut surfaces with some of the olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brush the onion slices with the remaining olive oil.
3. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat, add the zests and tarragon, and let infuse for 5 minutes. Set aside.
4. Grill the onions for 10 minutes on one side, then turn over and grill 10 minutes on the other side. Remove to a platter.
5. Grill the lobster halves, cut side down, for 4 minutes. Turn over and grill for 4 minutes, shell side down. To serve, divide the grilled onions among 4 plates. Place half a lobster on top, cut side up, on each plate. Drizzle with citrus butter, then sprinkle with fleur de sel and pepper.
Each serving: 417 calories; 19 grams protein; 10 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 34 grams fat; 16 grams saturated fat; 124 mg. cholesterol; 339 mg. sodium.
*
Grilled pineapple with vanilla butter
Total time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Note: From Ludovic Lefebvre. Dried mint and dried rose petals are available at All Spice in the Farmers Market (stall 614), Los Angeles or at Middle Eastern markets. Dried rose petals are also available at Ten Ren Tea Co. in Chinatown.
1 whole pineapple, cut lengthwise into quarters, cores removed
1/2cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 vanilla beans
1 teaspoon dried mint
1 teaspoon dried rose petals
1 teaspoon sugar
1. Grill the pineapple for 4 minutes on one cut side, then turn and grill for 4 minutes on the other cut side.
2. Divide the butter into four pieces. Cut the vanilla beans in half lengthwise. Place each section of pineapple on a large piece of aluminum foil and top with a piece of butter. Scrape the seeds from half a vanilla bean onto each, then place the pod on top. Fold over the foil and tightly crimp the edges to make sealed packets.
3. Combine the dried mint, dried rose petals and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Place each packet on the grill and barbecue with the cover closed and vents open for 8 minutes.
4. To serve, remove each pineapple piece from its packet, discarding the vanilla bean and foil. Drizzle with butter from the packet, then sprinkle each generously with the mint-rose-sugar mixture. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, if desired.
Each serving: 263 calories; 1 gram protein; 16 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 23 grams fat; 14 grams saturated fat; 61 mg. cholesterol; 5 mg. sodium.
