Chef Maxime also improvises the commonly practiced croûte de sel (French salt-baking) technique into “sugar-baking”. The approach is more or less the same but he replaces sea salt with brown sugar. As such, the quail absorbs the natural sweetness of brown sugar. How genius! He pairs the quail with Daikoku Honshimeji mushroom, pistachio quail jus and rocket puree. The sweet nuttiness of the pistachio in the rich quail jus responds well with the quail infused with sugar-baked aroma; not only does the spiciness of the ocket puree complement the pistachio and sliced mushroom, it acts to balance the rich quail jus also.
It’s a bit tiring to savor Chef Maxime’s dishes because of their high complexity, both in terms of construction and technique. It’s an exciting journey nevertheless discovering surprise after surprise at each tongue-tingling mouthful. I told Chef Maxime: “If I were to compare your creations to sex, then you have so many tricks and it never gets dull!” He giggled and nodded in agreement: “Cooking is like making love, there must be ups and downs, twists and turns. When you’re the zone then the sex will be unforgettable.”
法菜中常見「鹽焗」（croûte de sel）烹調方式，又讓Chef Maxime緊緊捉住概念轉化成「糖焗」！大同小異的做法，只是把粗鹽換成黃糖，這麼一來，乳鴿吸收的不是鹹香，而是黃糖的自然甜香！是不是很天才？配菜是大黑本菇、開心果鴿汁、芝麻菜菜蓉——濃郁的鴿汁裡頭必須有開心果的堅果甜香來回應鴿身吸收的糖焗香氣，還要加上一點芝麻菜的菜蓉來跟開心果、菇片有個交流，以芝麻菜的獨特辛香讓本菇的植物性umami不至於太寡，同時中和鴿汁的濃郁。
Chef Maxime的菜，是會吃得有點累的菜式，因為菜品結構間的線索頗多，技術含量相對也高，每一道都有在他想像遊走間的起承轉合，在舌尖營造一閃一閃的驚喜。我跟Chef Maxime說：「如果把你的菜比喻為性愛，你的性愛是永不沈悶的招數！」他聽了邊大笑邊點頭認同；「做菜就跟做愛一樣，要有高低起伏，要有起承轉合，要令人不知生死，最後回味無窮！」
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