Food fit for a chef
Renowned Adelaide French-born chef Jean-Pierre Rival knows how to throw a fabulous party and his recent 55th birthday naturally revolved around food and music.
JP, as he is affectionately known, is the head chef at the Hahndorf Old Mill and much of his leisure time is spent as First Tenor with the Adelaide Male Voice Choir.
The party, held poolside involved waves of wonderful food, but his two slabs of chicken liver pate, as big as house bricks, were set on the table at the beginning. (recipe follows).
Oysters naturelle were alongside, but soon he presented Oysters Kilpaterick and Oysters in Champagne sauce (recipe follows) and Thai oysters. We consumed 10 dozen oysters in all before the scallops in curried cheese sauce and the chilli prawns which whetted our appetites for an array of skewered meats.
“I am still driven by the passion for food that I have always had,’’ says JP of his culinary delights.
“I have always been very frustrated in restaurants in Australia because I could never cook what I have been trained to cook, and really want to cook – French cuisine.’’
When JP came to Australia 20 years ago he had received a serious background in haute cuisine in France and had already spent 20 years of his life in commercial kitchens.
“French cooking is so basic, but you can play with it…all those different techniques we can use once we know how.
French cuisine had had a huge influence on method and presentation, but mostly on the development of taste.
“It is so authentic. It was the Frnech who began using cream and butter, for instance.’’
“I could use the frypan, the steamer, the barbecue, the griller in the preparation of food.’’
He tells how he made a menu for his party – a list of foods which he methodically prepared the previous week and stored in the second fridge.
All was presented with pride on the night. It included Beef Brochette, deep fried Spring Rolls and Simosa Meatballs and skewered, spiced chicken to name a memorable few.
No wonder we continued to lick our chops throughout the evening because JP has an ideal haute torque (high chef) pedigree.
He was apprenticed to high profile French chef Joel Robishon in France and became second chef and finally chef.
Then he moved to a division of Spotless Catering in France.
His most prestigious menu was to prepare dinner for the president of Versailles.
All long before he decided to migrate to Australia with his then partner, Catherine.
He had restaurants in Port Lincoln and the landmark restaurant Jean-Pierre’s at Hawthorn (now a Mexican restaurant).
“It is very, very hard to become a three-star Michelin chef,’’ says JP. The food has to be perfect, the restaurant has to be perfect and the wine has to be perfect.’’
Heading up a kitchen in the Adelaide Hills, serving thousands of meals over the course of a month, is also taxing. Success, he says, is a complex mix of elements.
“It’s all about marketing, it’s all about price, about personality and customer service and mostly it’s all about the quality of the food.”
JP entertained with a repertoire of favourite sangs between courses with his mates accompanying him on piano and guitar. Then, he disappeared to the kitchen to present huge platters of fruit and nuts.
C’etait une superb soiree. (JPs recipes are on My French Kitchen.)
absolutely french | nadine 03/05/2011