In the late 1960s, French chefs — and French critics — began to experiment with a new way of thinking about fine dining. Moving away from the elaborate ideas of cuisine classique as codified by Georges Auguste Escoffier at the turn of the 20th century, chefs such as Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel, Jean and Pierre Troisgros, Michel Guérard, Roger Vergé, and Raymond Oliver began making food that was lighter, simpler, and focused on fresh ingredients.
“Cooking progresses,” reflected influential French chef André Soltner, who spent most of his career in the U.S. “The pot of change boils for a while, but only the good parts remain. The brouhaha over nouvelle cuisine is finished, but we will never go back to the way we cooked before.”
It’s influence is so ubiquitous, pointing it out can feel a little silly. The farm-to-table movement, California cuisine, even tasting menus can be traced back to this once radical shift. F&W’s Kat Kinsman recalls, in her ode to sun-dried tomatoes, a childhood memory of a special feature from an issue of Spy magazine: “a satirical Nouvelle-O-Matic chart (which I tore out and brought with me to school because I was that pretentious) that compiled culinary buzzwords into columns allowing the reader to mentally concoct dishes like ‘warm salad of monkfish grilled over mesquite with a sauce of raspberry vinegar and sun-dried tomatoes garnished with Cajun popcorn.'” (Minus the popcorn, I’d eat that. And, okay, I’d at least try the popcorn.)
These recipes, from or inspired by Bocuse, Troisgros, Vergé, and their acolyces, capture the freshness and excitement of this no-longer-so nouvelle cuisine.
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White Bean Puree
Food & Wine / Photo by Jason Donnelly / Food Styling by Holly Dreesman / Prop Styling by Addelyn Evans
Michelin-starred chef and restauranteur Robert Wiedmaier got his start working at Le Pavillon, the first restaurant in Washington, D.C., to serve nouvelle cuisine. This recipe is a good example of some of its main tenents: a simple preparation with a focus on the flavor of the ingredients themselves. Sauté onion and garlic with butter and a sprig of thyme before adding cooked beans (canned works great here) and chicken broth. Quick work with a blender yields a silky smooth puree, ideal for dips or as a base for roasted vegetables or meat.
Chicken Thighs with Lemony Sauce Vierge
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
2014 F&W Best New Chef Justin Yu shares his take on sauce vierge, an uncooked sauce developed by Michel Guérard in the 1970s. Kind of like a Mediterranean salsa, it’s usually made with diced tomatoes, fresh herbs, olive oil, and lemon juice. Yu’s version adds red grapes and a touch of sherry vinegar: a beautiful complement to golden brown baked chicken thighs. “This is a great recipe for when tomato season rolls around, and you’re looking for that right mixture of a dish that’s flavorful and a little fancy,” says Yu.
Bitter Greens Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Julian Hensarling / Prop Styling by Julia Bayless
Raspberry vinaigrette — yes, that raspberry vinaigrette — is a product of nouvelle cuisine. And after the new style of dining was popularized (and transformed) in the United States by California-based chefs like Alice Waters, Jeremiah Tower, and Wolfgang Puck, food companies got in on the action too, bottling shelf-stable version of this hit salad dressing. The difference between storebought and fresh-made here is big: It’s worth the extra effort to make your own.
Crisp Paupiettes of Sea Bass in Barolo Sauce
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Ruth Blackburn / Prop Styling by Risha Carnes
Prolific French chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud got his start cooking in Lyon with nouvelle cuisine pioneer Paul Bocuse. This recipe is a version of a dish Bocuse made that still impresses Boulud today: a piece of fish lined with thin, crispy potato slices as if they were scales. This is the version Boulud developed for Le Cirque, a now shuttered grand dame of New York City’s fine dining scene. When Boulud was named to the inaugural class of F&W Best New Chefs in 1988, this very dish came up: “The potato is very crisp, and the fish is very moist,” he said.
Poulet au Vinaigre (Chicken in Vinegar Sauce)
This nouvelle cuisine dish comes direct from the source: the legendary Paul Bocuse. In fact, his recipe for a quick, flavorful braised chicken was named one of Food & Wine’s 40 best recipes in 2018, and it’s one we continue to make. With its short ingredient list, simple directions, and bold, delicious result, it’s no wonder.
Zuni Chicken (Roast Chicken with Bread Salad)
Christopher Testani / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christina Daley
Chef Judy Rodgers, the late founder of San Francisco’s Zuni Café, was an icon of California cuisine. But like many of her contemporaries, she was inspired by nouvelle cuisine. In fact, one of the restaurant’s most famous dishes was meant to evoke the meals she ate at the home of chef Jean Troisgros when she lived with his family as an exchange student — her favorite memories of her time in France.
Pear, Pear, Pear
Maura McEvoy
Chef Jeremiah Tower cites chef Claude Troisgros (son of nouvelle cuisine pioneer Pierre) as the source of this light, fruit-forward dessert, which combines pear sorbet, chilled pears, and pear syrup, with an extra splash of pear eau-de-vie to finish. Tower recommends the Etter distillery in Switzerland for the best pear brandy.
Pot-Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms
John Kernick
The late chef David Bouley is heralded as one of nouvelle cuisine’s first champions in the United States, though he is also remembered for helping reshape that movement for a new context and country. Before opening his own restaurant in New York, he worked in those of Paul Bocuse, Roger Vergé, and Joël Robuchon in France. And it was from Vergé that he learned to pot-roast chicken on a bed of aromatics. For Bouley, it was hay; for Vergé, lavender; and for this recipe, dried chamomile flowers.
Moqueca (Brazilian Seafood Soup)
Stephanie Foley
Daniel Boulud riffs on a recipe from Franco-Brazilian chef Claude Troisgros to make this fresh, buttery, and vibrant seafood soup. Marinated shrimp, mahi mahi, and squid; a deeply flavorful shrimp stock; a flood of coconut milk and a generous spatter of dendê, or red palm, oil together make something like a Brazilian version of a Provençal bouillabaisse. It goes just as well as with a glass of rosé.
