32 Yolks by
Eric Ripert
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
I was going to skip this chef memoir but then someone in my Around the
World group pointed out that he spent a hefty chunk of his childhood and
young adult years in Andorra. Books from Andorra translated into
English are very hard to come by so this may be as close as I can get.
I
know of Eric Ripert of course, first from his friendship with Tony
Bourdain and second from Jen-on-Top-Chef who worked for him at Le
Bernadin, a restaurant that has consistently been given top awards and
reviews, but closed early in the COVID wave and has remained closed
since (I hope they are able to reopen someday.) I knew he was a
long-practicing Buddhist and that he started around the time he arrived
in New York. I knew the same year Tony died, Le Bernadin was awarded the
top restaurant in the world! So I realize I know more than I thought,
but I didn't know about his childhood. I had the impression that he grew
up in the Alps, skiing and eating cheese.
This memoir is only
the years up until he leaves for New York, from his idyllic childhood
until his father dies. He confronts some challenges with a bullying
stepfather and a year in boarding school, but he also has a mother who
taught him about quality and perfection (and great food), knew good
chefs and farmers as friends, could walk out the door and go hiking (and
did), and wore designer clothing because of his mother's boutique. His
family connections get him into a school that trains chefs/cooks but
also waiters, a much more respected career in France than other places,
and also get him a cush job when his military service comes up (where he
worked as the officer's waiter after rejecting his cook job due to low
quality ingredients.) I feel his privilege should be recognized because
although it is indisputable that he has worked incredibly hard and
endured incredible challenges, many of the opportunities that feel like
"right place right time" really weren't, even if he took advantage of
them to their finest. Kudos to him for sticking through the challenges;
that is fortitude few of us would have.
All because of this, by
his mid-20s he had worked both at La Tour d'Argent AND at almost every
station in Joël Robuchon's restaurant, during the time it was given
three Michelin stars. The descriptions of the precision and demanding
atmosphere of that time are worth the entire book, and honestly I've
worked in restaurants and can't fathom what you have to put yourself
through to get to that level of speed and accuracy (and keep your
sanity.) (Check out this
Eater article that shows a few pictures of the perfect dishes, it's the one with the dots that is narrated in detail in the book.)
As
for Andorra, it would be impossible to read this book and not
understand how important that place is to Chef Ripert's internal
strength and integrity, a hearty place full of real people to keep him
grounded.
"It would take time for me to see that my mother had
given me a gift by bringing me to Andorra. Growing up in a small town,
with a mother whose business was central to the city, meant that I was
surrounded by characters like Jacques and Madame Amparo. They knew me,
and what’s more, they watched out for me, and dreamed for me of a life
beyond the mountain range. Ask me now what I own and I can tell you with
confidence that among my richest possessions are the memories I have of
the people of Andorra, people like Madame Amparo, who made our village
not just a place between France and Spain, but also a bridge between the
stark reality of my present and the rich possibility of my future."
"...Each
task was a lot like hiking in Andorra. There was only one way to go—up.
All of those years of climbing mountains had given me an instinct for
the ascent, a sense of how to pace myself, how to structure my
approach—not through sprints to the top, but slowly and over time."
"In
Andorra in the fall, I also helped my mother put up the wild mushrooms
that we harvested in our special spots in the mountains around our
home."
"You’re going to America and you will never come back to Andorra in the same way.”
View all my reviews
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