A tender and mouth-watering story of inheritance taking place in a French bistro.
“Monsieur Henri” is an incomparable cook, one of those chefs who can delight the taste buds with almost nothing. He runs Le Relais Fleuri, an unpretentious French bistro that still manages to give its customers everything they could wish for… on a plate. There’s one thing Henri is sure of: Le Relais will close when he goes. Under no circumstances will his son Julien take it over.
When Henri falls into a coma, Julien spends many hours holding his hand and using his memories to try to bring back to life the culinary heritage of this very secretive father. Soon Julien has a single obsession: finding the notebook of recipes that he thinks he’s seen so many times in his life, where his father wrote down his mysterious tricks… But while he searches, he comes across another secret, a family one, and understands why his father let his wife leave without a word.
Jacky Durand is a culinary journalist. His sensuous, epicurean, gastronomical columns delight thousands of readers and listeners. Le cahier de recettes is his debut novel.
Monsieur Henri, le charismatique patron du restaurant le Relais fleuri, s’est toujours opposé sans explication à ce que son fils Julien devienne cuisinier. Quand il sombre dans le coma, Julien n’a plus qu’une obsession : retrouver le cahier où, depuis son enfance, il a vu son père consigner ses recettes et ses tours de main. Il découvre alors d’autres secrets et comprend pourquoi Henri a laissé partir sa femme sans un mot. Avec ce roman, Jacky Durand nous offre le magnifique portrait d’un homme pour qui la cuisine est plus qu’un métier : le plaisir quotidien du partage et l’art de traverser les épreuves. Une tendre déclaration d’amour filial, une histoire de transmission et de secrets, où, à chaque page, l’écriture sensuelle de l’auteur nous met l’eau à la bouche.