© Henry Dombey/FACECOLLECTIVE

Perhaps this week I should start by explaining the importance of who we were cooking for, because it was a huge deal.

Joel Robuchon was the most influential French chef in the post-nouvelle era for cuisine and is still reknowned for the perfectionism with which he executed his food. He was seen as instrumental in leading French cuisine away from the excesses and excessive reductionism of nouvelle cuisine, and back to a more authentic, bourgeois French cuisine, which aimed to have each ingredient taste of itself. Besides this reputation, he was also named “Chef of the Century” by the French restaurant guide Gault Millau in 1989 and awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (France’s Best Craftsman) in cuisine in 1976.

Daniel Bouloud was Executive Chef at Le Cirque from 1986 to 1992. His tenure saw the restaurant become one of the top rated in the country. Despite all of their accolades, I was most impressed with their humility. Both men are very warm and incredibly kind, despite their exacting methodologies.

Joel spoke to us following the challenge, expressing that he understood the difficulty of the task we were given and offered his respect for our undertaking–preparing traditional French proteins and sauces for a table of some of the best French chefs in the world.

By a coincidence, I am estaging in Michael Mina’s kitchen this week, as the Bouloud Robuchon episode airs. Estage is a French culinary term that basically means to work for free in a kitchen in order to gain experience.

In Michael Mina’s kitchen over the last few days, I’ve been reminded of the things I love about working in a traditional kitchen. The love and the passion and the discipline of the cooks, for one. There are at least twenty people working to create 100 dinners at Michael Mina, and working their butts off to do it. So much finesse goes into each ingredient and it seems everyone is abuzz to get their mise en place, which means to have all the necessary ingredients prepared and ready to combine up to the point of cooking. Cherry tomatoes are fried, peeled and then dried in the oven. Haricot verts are blanched and cut in half lengthwise. Quails are confit (cooked in their own fat), picked and made into rilettes. The myriad of techniques working together can only be described as art. These kinds of kitchens take food to the next level, where the meal is a masterpiece and each ingredient, paint on the canvas.

To work in such a kitchen, you must be committed to your craft, as they demand long hours and grueling schedules. I am sure that Joel Robuchon and Daniel Boulud spent most of their lives in such kitchens, and the experience of working in devotion to such a practice certainly contributed much to their work inventing new and glorious ways to cook food.

At this stage in my career, why would I estage in someone else’s kitchen? Simply, I believe you can never stop learning as a chef. While I often glean information reading books, I find that hands on training is still the best. Famous chefs like Joel and Daniel no doubt continued to refine their knowlege in the kitchen long after they’d grown quite famous. There is no question. The humility they showed us during the classic French challenge seemed to me a true testament to their mastery of our craft–a reverence for the human energy embodied in the meal and the knowledge that such precise execution is never a simple task.

Though I may never be a Joel Robuchon or a Daniel Boulud, I intend to learn as much as I can about all things edible. And to do so with a similar humility for my craft.