Hot chocolate soufflé, lamb roulade, pigeon ravioli: how chef Jacques Maximin breathed new life into French cuisine

The cuisine of Nice, on the French Riviera, in southeast France, sounds simple, healthy and light – highly appealing if you are a wealthy holiday-maker sunning yourself in a skimpy swimsuit on your superyacht. To Jacques Maximin, who was raised in Pas-de-Calais, in the country’s far north, and trained at top restaurants such as Le Pré Catelan, in Paris, and Le Moulin de Mougins, the food must have seemed monotonous after he moved there in 1978 as chef of Le Chantecler.

In the preface to his book The Cuisine of Jacques Maximin (1986), the chef writes, “When I arrived in Nice I was a little frightened of such an emphatic style of cooking, with its unsettling aromas and enough garlic to make intimate conversation unbearable and seduction unlikely.

“I loved the region before I loved its cooking. Then, seeking a culinary identity, I looked more closely at the vast reservoir of good produce this countryside offers, and I soon realised that it was that on which I must rely. I had to find out how to resuscitate, research, reform or simply rethink this cuisine right from its roots, to prove that the Niçois area was not just a gastronomic backwater, but truly the homeland of a culinary renaissance based on dishes other than the stereotyped pizzas and ratatouilles.”

The chef also looked to artists to help him develop and, just as importantly, present his cuisine.

“I had a lot to learn, and in finding out, some of the influences working on me were artistic, principally from my friends Arman and César, two outstanding and very different artists who helped me to find a new way of looking at presentation. The art of cooking is frequently linked to those of painting, music and poetry, but I personally believe that the closest affinity is to sculpture.