Lenotre, Gaston

Gaston Lenotre was born on May 28, 1920 on a small farm in French Normandy , in the municipality of Saint-Nicolas-du-Bosque. Lenotre's father was a chef at the Grand Hotel de Paris. His mother, Eleanor, one of the first French women chefs, worked in the family of Baron Rothschild ^[7] . Mother introduced Gaston to the art of confectionery and laid the foundation for his education. Due to a serious illness, the father was unable to pay for the education of his son, and he was forced to find an assistant in a good pastry shop in Pont-Odem ^[8] . In the 1930s, Lenotre carried homemade sweets on a bicycle, traveling more than 100 kilometers to Paris ^[9] . At the beginning of 1936, in the conditions of the global economic crisis, he got a job at Le Ale : he was accepted because he knew how to make chocolate Easter eggs.

In 1939, his Lenotre returned to Normandy. After the German invasion of France in 1940, only ten bakers remained in Pont-Audem. This allowed Gaston, his brother Marcel and his mother to open a small candy store ^[10] . In 1947, he bought in Pont-Odem the same candy store where his career began. One of the regular customers advised Lenotra to move to Paris and offered his help ^[11] .

Paris

In 1957, Gaston acquired a loss-making confectionery in house number 44 on Otoy Street in Paris. Over time, he already owned four confectioneries. Lenotr achieved good quality products, and also made an original advertisement - arranged the ventilation of the confectionery in such a way that the smells went outside, attracting customers. Fresh ingredients, such as butter and cream, were brought to Lenotra pastries daily from Bern's farms. Soon, the enterprising, friendly and friendly Lenotre began to deliver products to the families of Parisian high society ^[12] .

Development

In 1960, Gaston Lenotre was one of the first to organize the production and sale of frozen pastries. In 1968, he created the Plezir confectionery art laboratory, and in 1971 he opened the Lenotra School, where 3,000 confectioners and cooks are prepared every year. Among the graduates of the school are such famous cooks as Alain Ducasse , Eckart Vitizgman and Pierre Erme ^[13] .

In 1975, Lenotre opened a branch in Berlin at the Kaufhaus des Westens and entered the international level. Lenotra's confectionery business includes 52 branches in 13 countries, as well as franchises in Japan, the Middle East, South Korea, Las Vegas, Bangkok, and Beijing, in total more than 30 stores ^[14] .

In 1976, he became the owner of the Paris three-star restaurant Le Pré Catelan. In 1982, he opened the Pavilion de France, a restaurant with a bakery in Disney World , Epcot , Orlando (Florida), along with Paul Bockusem and Roger Verge. In 1985, he created the Pavillon Elysée restaurant on the Champs Elysees .

Business

In the 1980s, Lenotre suffered heavy losses due to market development in Houston and was forced to sell the Accor hotel chain in 1985 ^[15] . In 2008, the Lenotr group of companies reached a turnover of $ 162 million. By 2009, the number of employees of enterprises of Lenotra in France alone reached 1200 people ^[5] .

In 1991, Lenotre bought several vineyards in the Loire . They produce sweet white wines that go well with desserts . His wife also owned several vineyards, in particular in Margot . Having made improvements and invested considerable sums in the vineyards ^[16] , Lenotr sold them in 1996.

Family

Gaston Lenotre married in 1943 Colette Curalett, who designed interior design stores and clothing sellers. Lenotre attached great importance to the continuation of family culinary traditions, his children and relatives also worked in his company - twelve members of his family of different generations, each at one time. Gaston outlived his younger brother Marcel, his second wife Catherine, whom he married in 1999. Lenotra had three children: Alan, Silva and Annie ^[17] . Alain Lenotre runs the Cooking Academy Culinary School in Houston . Silva Lenotre has written 13 culinary books, the total circulation of which has reached more than one million copies. Annie founded the Gourmet Gift Department in the Lenotre group of companies. Gaston's nephew Patrick Lenotre was awarded seven Michelin stars .

Gaston Lenotre died in his house after a long illness on January 8, 2009. He was buried in the church of Notre Dame de la Couture, in a cemetery in Bern , in a family crypt.

Lenotre experimented throughout his life. Among his creations: the first network of upscale bakeries in Paris, a bakery-cafe-bistro in the first French shopping center, the first professional French school for retraining chefs, the first line of frozen desserts, spread throughout France. Lenotre is considered an innovator in the preparation of light desserts that do not contain much fat and sugar, and are based on components such as gelatin , mousse and meringue , which made its cakes and desserts easier and tastier. Lenotre replaced a high-calorie butter cream with a light biscuit. He also began to widely use fresh fruits in desserts. Lenotre is the creator of the classic dessert - cake "Opera" ^[18] .

Gaston Lenotre brought to the culinary principles of exact observance of the composition, proportions and temperature when baking. His friend Paul Baucuse compares it to the founder of French culinary Marie Antoine Karemom ^[19] : both Karem and Lenotre believed that baking is the best exercise for chefs, because it allows you to improve cooking skills. The successor to Lenotra was Pierre Erme, who began working with Gaston at the age of fourteen ^[20] .

Lenotre, in collaboration with his daughter Sylvia, wrote nine recipe books that were translated into English, German, Japanese.

Lenotre was the official supplier of the World Cup in France in 1998 and the French Olympic team in Sydney ^{[21] [22]} .

To celebrate the 80th anniversary of Lentor 2000, eighty cooks - students and graduates of the Lenotra School - created a ten-meter and two-ton cake, which was displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower ^[23] .

In 2007, the Pixar film company, creating the character Gusteau from the cartoon " Ratatouille ", elected Chef Gaston Lenotra as the prototype ^[24] .

• 1955 - won the international bakers competition in Deauville .
• 2000 - Paul Baucus introduced Lenotre to the Legion of Honor ^[25]

• Gaston Lenôtre: Das große Buch der Patisserie. Die besten Rezepte vom König der Feinbäcker. Vorwort von Paul Bocuse. Econ, Wien / Düsseldorf 1978, übersetzt von Bernd Neuner-Duttenhofer (1. Teil) and Angela Wicharz-Lindner (2. Teil).
• Adolf Andersen, Bernd Heinemann und Gaston Lenôtre: Festliches Backen. Die Kunst der Konditoren. Zabert Sandmann, Steinhagen 1988, ISBN 3-924678-08-1 .
• Gaston Lenôtre, Sylvie Lenôtre: Kulinarische Gartenpartie. Christian Verlag , München 1999, ISBN 978-3-88472-376-0 .
• Gaston Lenôtre: Les desserts de mon enfance. J'ai lu, 2006, ISBN 978-2-290-35104-8 .

• Paul Bocuse
• Alain Ducasse

• Lenotra School