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Photography instructor George Tuck prepares "poulet vallee d'auge," a French dish which fre has adapted to American tastes.
Photos by Mark Billingsfey
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Professor looks to Paris cuisine for ingredients of good cook
By Mary Fastenau
If cooking styles were to find partners in art forms,
American food would be paired with stick mien drawn in
crayon while French food's partner would be a classic, de
tailed oil painting.
Yet, just as an aspiring crayon artist can someday learn
to work with oil paints, American food has the potential
to improve, according to a UNL journalism professor who
has attended a cooking school in Paris.
George Tuck said he began his crayon drawing type
cooking when he was seven or eight years old, continued
cooking through Boy Scouts and began learning the
strokes of the master chefs during a year of study in
Europe. ,
He said he had always dreamed of going to a cooking
school and when a faculty development grant allowed him
to spend from August 1977 to July 1978 in Europe, he
decided to take advantage of the situation.
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IF YOU WANT to learn to cook, Paris is the best place
to be, "according to Tuck,because it is the "hub of food."
"If you want to learn about deep sea Ashing, you go to
the deep sea,':he said, "buHf you want to learn about
cooking, you go to Paris." .
It is not only a difference in skill, he noted, but also a
difference in emphasis. For example, he said the tradition
al French family spends a lot more time and money on
food, up to 30 percent of their disposable income. .
"For the French, cooking is an act of creation, he
said.
In America, an "abbreviated amount of time, is spent
on food, he explained. Tuck said if people go out for
entertainment here, food is usually included on their way
to something else, where in France dining out is con
sidered entertainment in itself.
In French restaurants, he said, some of the dishes are
not prepared until they are ordered. For example, if you
would order a dessert souffle, it would take 45 minutes to"
prepare.
HE SAID he and the other students were advised to
visit various restaurants to compare styles of prepatation.
In Paris, Tuck said, there are not fast food chains.
There are stands along the sidewalk selling sandwiches and
crepes and cheaper restaurants, but the number is not
comparable to the United States.
"Even in the crummy el cheapo restaurants, the food
was pretty good, he said.
In contrast, Tuck said, "If we didn't have McDonald's,
Colonel Sanders, Burger King and Wendy's, many Ameri
cans would starve to death, '
He admitted that the French are beginning to use more
convenience foods. But he wanted to learn the artistic and
traditional way of cooking.
Tkick cfmsft I Vtrenne. a cooking school which he
said had the reputation of being the best in Paris, "the
center or cuisine."
THE SOIOOL has established its reputation by show
ing students the classic way to prepare dishes and also
variations, Tuck explained. He added that some cooking
schools will show only one method of preparation, inferr
ing that is the only way it can be done.
About 2J300 people went through La Varenne in the
past year, he said, but only 300 of those went six weeks
or longer. ' ,
The school is divided Into four different levels; with
each level assigned a certain number of weeks. All four
levels add up to 3t weeks, Tuck explained. He said he
took the fatrodtictorjrcburse which lasts six weeks.
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The first course, he explained, is followed by two 12
week courses and a ilnal sue week course which is similar
to graduate school.
Most people do not have the time to take six weeks of
the school, he said, so they take a week or a weekend at a
time.
OTHER THAN tuition, all the students have to provide
is an apron and three specific knives, He said the knives
are one of the secrets of French cooking. They are made
of carbon and always are extremely sharp. A sharpening
stone goes beside every cutting board, he said.
The majority of people who take classes at La Varenne
, are Americans, Tuck said, and 90 percent of the people
are aiming for a career in food preparation.
He said there were seven people in his class, including a
girl from Uganda, a home economics teacher from Cali
fornia, a female free-lance writer from Washington D.C., a
doctor's wife and a student from California.
According to Tuck, knowledge of the French language
is helpful, but not necessary. He said the classes are based
on demonstration and practical experience. The chefs
demonstrate and then the class members practice what
they have observed.
ASSISTING THE chef was a "stagiaire" who acted as
translator and assistant. Tuck explained mat the stagiaire
would help the chef for 30 weeks and receive six weeks
free instruction as payment.
During the practical experience part of the class, the
students divided into teams and each group, prepared a
section of the meal, he explained.
The French are much more logical in their food
preparation, he said. He said they cut vegetables so that
they will cook .the fastest and can dice an onion without
shedding a tear.
They also have different standards for judging then
food, Tuck noted. For instance, he said in America,
omelettes are cooked until they are dry, but in his first
lesson, he-learned to cook omelettes so, they were "drool
ing," which is the way the French like them.
Tuck said that after learning the basics he feels confi
dent tackling just about any recipe.
THERE ARE some problems after leaving the school,
he admitted. After he finished the class he moved to Ger
many where he had a small apartment. A two-feet round
coffee table was the only place he could parepare breads
and pastries. He said he would have to get on his knees to
knead the dough and end up with piles of flour resembling
snowdrifts. He said he had to use a wine bottle for a roll
ing pin.
Since returning to the United States; Tuck said he has
not had a lot of time to cook. He said this bothers him be
cause cooking is an acquired skill, which needs to be
practiced to be perfected.
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Tuck prepares an (economical mushroom omelette.
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