Domestic goddess
Interview: Rory Ross Even the luscious Nigella Lawson had her approach to cooking rejected by the fussy foodies of France, but they’ve ruled the recipes of Northern Irish lass Trish Deseine a triumph, making her French cookbooks best-sellers TRISH DESEINE, THE French-based blonde from Belfast, has caused a sensation in French publishing for her innovative, [...]
Interview: Rory Ross
Even the luscious Nigella Lawson had her approach to cooking rejected by
the fussy foodies of France, but they’ve ruled the recipes of Northern Irish
lass Trish Deseine a triumph, making her French cookbooks best-sellers
TRISH DESEINE, THE French-based blonde from
Belfast, has caused a sensation in French publishing
for her innovative, trend-setting series of cookbooks
on French cuisine, chocolate, party food, children’s
dishes and caramel. To many people, the idea of an
Irish woman showing the French how to cook may
make as little sense as bringing coals to Newcastle,
but this is what has happened. Lavishly illustrated but
simple and no-nonsense in approach, Deseine’s books
have wowed foodies and critics alike. French Elle has
hailed her a “phénomène editorial”, while L’Express
newspaper crowned her “the new queen of French
cookery-book publishing”. And she has done this in
between raising four children and getting divorced.
While Deseine’s oeuvre is primarily aimed at the
French market, her most recent book, Nobody Does it
Better, addresses English-speaking readers. Subtitled
Why French home cooking is still the best in the world,
it demystifies the French culinary genius, with chapter
titles such as “Shops Wisely”, “Knows her Classics”
and “Rises to the Occasion”.
Deseine tells you how to tackle everything from
classic dinner-party recipes to family suppers, as well
as difficult ingredients. It includes her version of boeuf
bourguignon, salade niçoise (“Purists say that no boiled vegetables should go in, but I like the way boiled
potatoes soak up the vinaigrette; and I sear the tuna”),
as well as the “easiest recipe for tarte au citron”.
Speaking from her home in Saint-Germain-en-Laye,
30km west of Paris, where she lives with her children
Corentin, 15, Timothé, 11, Tanguy, 10, and Victoire, six,
Deseine states: “I love making books and giving them
a real identity. In France, my publisher has produced
10 books in different formats. They’ve led the market.”
Becoming a big-time cookbook writer in France
requires a very different approach to the British way,
for which you need a big media profile. In France,
cooks stand or fall by their books alone: interestingly,
Nigella Lawson’s TV series bombed in France.
“The French didn’t get her at all,” says Deseine,
whose books instead are for home cooks who juggle
families and careers besides cooking. She knows that
not all of us own Magimixes or have time to make
fresh stock, so she keeps her recipes unusually short
(for French cookbooks) and technically simple.
“They tap into food fashion and culture. They allow
people to produce dishes that have great taste, look
impressive and are easy to make in advance,” she
explains. “I’m not shackled by the weight of anyone’s
culinary history. I have no formal training as a chef.
I am a home cook, not someone who needs to create
dishes for a restaurant.”
Having moved to Paris in 1987, Deseine married
a Frenchman and worked for French Connection as
well as the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. With
the birth of her third child, she set up Au Comptoir
des Chefs, a kitchen equipment and ingredient
business. Deseine added recipes to the catalogue
which caught the eye of the press. At a food show
in France, a publisher scouting for new talent made an approach. “It was the
right place and the right
time,” she says. “France was
beginning to appreciate a
new graphic style in cooking
from Vogue Entertaining
Australia magazine.”
Deseine’s debut, Petits
Plats Entre Amis (2001),
was “chatty, personal and
self-deprecating, unlike most
French cookbooks”. Inspired
partly by the books of Donna Hay, Australia’s bestselling
food writer, it was structured around the idea of
lifestyle, not around sections on soups, salads and so
on. “It struck a chord,” she says. “It was an aspirational
book, not a preaching do-this-or-fail cookbook.”
Her first book won the prestigious Ladurée and Seb
prizes, and sold over 100,000 copies but her next one
was even bigger. Je Veux du Chocolat! (2002) won a
World Gourmand Award and sold over 300,000 copies
– one of publisher Marabout’s all-time best-sellers.
Capital dining in Ireland
Trish Deseine’s Dublin and
Belfast restaurant tips:
Fallon & Byrne
the best muesli and
yoghurt for breakfast
11-17 Exchequer St,
DUBLIN 2
+353 (0)1 472 10 10
Brasserie Sixty6
funky place with hearty
food and good portions
66-67 South Great
George’s St
DUBLIN 2
+353 (0)1 400 58 78
Lock’s
modern French offering
1 Windsor Terrace,
Portobello,
DUBLIN 8
+353 (0)1 454 33 91
Deane’s Brasserie
lively spot with a Michelinstarred
chef at the helm
38 Howard St, BELFAST
+44 (0)28 90 56 00 00
St George’s Farmers’ Market
fantastic local rare-breed
pork sausages and Irish
cheeses (open Saturdays
from 9am-3pm)
May St, BELFAST
+44 (0)28 90 43 57 04
The Merchant Hotel Bar
excellent service and
sumptuous décor
35-39 Waring St, BELFAST
+44 (0)28 90 23 48 88
“It was about chocolate for different moments:
when you want it to be crunchy, soft and melting,
or when you want it to go ‘snap’. I adore chocolate:
Bonnat, Valrhona and strawberry creams from Quality
Street. It’s about memories and a realm of taste. I
cannot manage Mars bars any more, but I buy a Flake
whenever I arrive in London.”
How has Deseine persuaded the French to take
advice from a Northern Irish woman? “They don’t
quite know what to make of me,” she admits. “My
approach is different – personal, chatty. I’m not a
threat to anybody, which helps.”
“Curious about everything, easily bored, cheerful
and a glass-half-full person,” is how Deseine describes
herself. “I’m a hedonist nurtured by 20 years’ living
in France, delving into life’s pleasures and making
the most of everything. And I’m a country girl who
needs my fix of town. I need different scenarios: I
adore getting back to the UK, especially Scotland and
[Northern] Ireland.”
Deseine grew up outside Belfast, the only daughter
among three children raised by a farmer father and a
schoolteacher mother. She fell in love with France on
a school trip to Paris aged 13.
“It was a revelation,” she recalls. “I can still
remember the first time I dipped a piece of breakfast
baguette into a milky coffee, and learnt how to eat
a petit suisse [a small cheese] with sugar. I just fell in
love with France and French life.”
While au-pairing in France after completing her
schooling, she learnt all about food markets and how
to buy ingredients. She watched her boss cook and
saw how she entertained.
“That was hugely important,” says Deseine. “The
French are obsessed with etiquette and doing
everything the right way.” The most important thing
she has learnt, however, is: “Follow the seasons and
listen to what people are saying when you stand
in a queue. Don’t be afraid to ask stupid questions.
Everyone loves talking about what they have just
cooked, will cook or should cook.” It was probably her passion for food which meant that, despite her
marriage ending, Deseine’s love affair with France has
stayed strong. “The French respect people who are
rebellious and totally passionate,” she says.
No wonder Deseine feels at home there.
Nobody Does it Better by Trish Deseine (Kyle Cathie, £25)
Salade Niçoise
Trish Deseine’s version of this classic
French salad Serves 4
“This is surely the most argued-over salad in the world. The purists banish lettuce and any boiled
vegetables, and swear by cucumbers, fresh basil, little violet artichokes and fèves (a type of bean).
Just tell yourself that if you are not from Nice, you can never get it right, and go where your
taste takes you. Over the years, I have got used to the soft blandness that boiled potatoes give in
contrast to the green-bean crunch, and saltiness from olives and anchovies. In this version I have
sacrilegiously seared the tuna and kept everything mini, to vary proportions rather than taste.”
INGREDIENTS:
200g tuna, good-quality tinned, or fresh
from a fillet for searing
4 whole anchovy fillets in olive oil
8 quail’s eggs or 2 hen’s eggs, hard-boiled
and halved
8 ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
A good handful of black olives
4 medium potatoes, boiled and cooled,
then sliced.
METHOD:
If using fresh tuna, heat a little olive oil in a very
hot pan and sear the tuna quickly on all sides
to form a pale crust. Leave to cool, then slice the
fish very thinly.
A good handful of green beans, lightly boiled
or steamed to give a nice crunch
½ red pepper, sliced
½ yellow pepper, sliced
FOR THE DRESSING:
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
Fleur de sel (sea salt)
Freshly ground black pepper
Combine all the ingredients in a salad bowl
or line them up in a more graphic effect (only
if you haven’t invited any French guests).
For the dressing, mix the olive oil with the
garlic, season and serve with the salad.
