A Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman of France), Eric Briffard, the chef from Burgundy with more than 35 years of experience in the gastronomic world was named chef of Jamin restaurant in Paris by his mentor Joël Robuchon. In 2000, he won two Michelin stars at Le Régence at Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris, and repeated the feat in 2007 at Les Elysées du Vernet and again at Le Cinq at Four Seasons Hotel George V. Conferred the Grand Vermeil medal from the city of Paris in 2016, he is also a Knight of the French Order of Agricultural Merit and the Order of Arts and Letters. Today, he’s the Executive Chef, Culinary Arts Director and Head of Le Cordon Bleu Paris Institute, which boasts more than 120 years of excellence in teaching the culinary arts and hospitality management through its 35 institutes in over 20 countries welcoming 20,000 students annually.
Le Cordon Bleu Paris Chef Eric Briffard
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
To be in agreement with oneself.
What is your best quality?
Empathy.
What is your worst character trait? If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Dissatisfaction. To be able to trust more.
Who or what is the greatest love of your life?
Cooking, which has allowed me to express myself.
Who or what brought you to cooking?
My epicurean father and the quality of the good produce of my native Burgundy.
Local octopus and grouper in vegetable salsa with pomegranate
How would you describe your cuisine and your culinary approach?
A cuisine of identity respectful of the best products.
What is your latest food obsession?
A diet that’s healthy, sustainable, respectful of the planet.
What is your favorite dish to cook?
A dish to share that we place at the center of the table, in complete conviviality.
What does olive oil represent in your cooking philosophy, and what does it add to your cuisine?
Olive oils represent above all the typicality of a terroir. Each olive oil is unique and must be in harmony with my cooking.
How do you choose a good olive oil?
It must be brilliant, fluid, light, fragrant with character. It must have the typicality of a terroir with flavors of green fruit, ripe fruit or matured black fruit and ardency for a long-lasting taste.
Monkfish cooked at low temperature
What’s a special dish you make using extra virgin olive oil?
My recipe: pearly scallops, Jerusalem artichoke mousseline, green apple with celery stalk juice. My choice fell on the Sicilian olive oil, Bona Furtuna, a mono-varietal whose green fruit with well-balanced cut grass flavors elevates the sweetness of the Jerusalem artichoke mousseline and matches with the freshness of the green apple.
Which chefs do you most admire?
Those who respect small producers of quality and create gourmet and identifiable cuisine, rooted in a terroir of France or elsewhere!
What is it that you most dislike about the culinary industry?
Fads while sometimes forgetting the essential “true taste”!
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
The recognition of my peers and my title of “Meilleur Ouvrier de France”.
What is your greatest extravagance?
To live my passion freely without compromise.
Egg, Jerusalem artichoke confit with duck breast, grilled buckwheat, Reggiano Parmesan floret
Which talent would you most like to have?
To be a great musician.
What is your greatest fear?
To see the good products of Mother Nature disappear due to food industrialization!
What is your current state of mind?
I am satisfied to be able to transmit my professional knowledge to men and women from all over the world thanks to Le Cordon Bleu Paris institute.
