Raymond Blanc
OBE (born 19 November 1949) is a French
chef
A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...
. Blanc is the chef patron at
Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons
Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons ("Four Seasons Manor", a.k.a. Le Manoir) is a luxury hotel-restaurant in the village of Great Milton near Oxford, in Oxfordshire, England. It is in a historic 15th-century manor house, near a church that was v ...
, a hotel-restaurant in
Great Milton
Great Milton is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of Oxford. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,042.
The School
Great Milton church of England primar ...
,
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
, England. The restaurant has two
Michelin star
The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...
s and scored 9/10 in the ''
Good Food Guide
''The Good Food Guide'' has been reviewing the best restaurants, pubs and cafés in Great Britain since 1951.
In October 2021, Adam Hyman purchased ''The Good Food Guide'' for an undisclosed sum from Waitrose & Partners. The ''Guide'' is being r ...
''. He is entirely self-taught, but has himself taught or employed other chefs including
Heston Blumenthal
Heston Marc Blumenthal (; born 27 May 1966) is a British celebrity chef, TV personality and food writer. Blumenthal is regarded as a pioneer of multi-sensory cooking, food pairing and flavour encapsulation. He came to public attention with un ...
,
John Burton-Race
John William Burton-Race (born 1 May 1957) is a British Michelin starred chef, television personality and celebrity chef, made famous by the Channel 4 series ''French Leave'' and its sequel ''Return of the Chef'' and '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me O ...
,
Michael Caines
Michael Andrew Caines (born 3 January 1969) is an English chef born in Exeter, Devon.
He was head chef of Gidleigh Park in Devon until January 2016. He is currently the executive chef of the Lympstone Manor hotel between Exeter and Exmo ...
,
Paul Liebrandt
Paul Liebrandt is a chef and restaurateur. He was the co-owner of Corton restaurant in New York City and the subject of the documentary film, '' A Matter of Taste: Serving Up Paul Liebrandt''. Liebrandt is known for his daring cuisine, creativi ...
,
and
Marco Pierre White
Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the ''enfant terrible'' of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White became ...
.
Early life
Blanc was born near
Besançon
Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerl ...
, the capital of the
Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...
region in eastern France, between
Burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
and the
Jura mountains
The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; french: Massif du Jura; german: Juragebirge; it, Massiccio del Giura, rm, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the Frenc ...
. He grew up in
Saône
The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île.
The name deri ...
, a village just east of there.
While his two sisters were taught to cook by the influential Maman Blanc, his father taught Blanc and his two brothers to work in the kitchen garden. His father gave him a colander and foraging map for his 10th birthday, and what he collected his mother taught him to cook.
Career
Training as a waiter, Blanc worked at the
Michelin-starred
The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...
''Le Palais de la Bière'' in Besançon. In 1972 he was fired for upsetting the head chef (Blanc had offered him advice on how to cook); however, the manager knew of a job in England.
[
Not speaking English well enough to survive without a notepad, he was dispatched to ''The Rose Revived'' in ]Newbridge, Oxfordshire
Newbridge is a 13th-century bridge carrying the Abingdon–Witney road (now the A415) over the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, close to the Thames' confluence with the River Windrush. It is one of the two oldest surviving bridges on the ...
, arriving three days after landing at Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
in his Renault 5 Gordini
The Renault 5 is a four-passenger, three or five-door, front-engine, front-wheel drive hatchback supermini car, supermini manufactured and marketed by the French automaker Renault over two generations: 1972–1985 (also called R5) and 1984–1996 ...
. Blanc married the owner's daughter Jenny, and the couple had two sons.[
Before striking out on his own in 1977, Blanc worked for a time under chef patron André Chavagnon, who had opened a French restaurant, La Sorbonne, in ]Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
High Street in 1966.
In 1977, the Blancs opened ''Les Quat' Saisons'' in a row of modern shops in Summertown, Oxford
Summertown in North Oxford is a suburb of Oxford, England. Summertown is a one-mile square residential area, north of St Giles, the boulevard leading out of Oxford's city centre. Summertown is home to several independent schools and the city's m ...
: "We mortgaged the house, owed 18 further people, and opened in a corridor between a lingerie
Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashio ...
shop and Oxfam
Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International.
History
Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...
". An overnight success, he won " Egon Ronay Guide Restaurant of the Year", two Michelin stars and a host of other distinctions.[
In 1981, Blanc opened La ]Maison Blanc
Maison Blanc was a British bakery chain, founded by Raymond Blanc in 1981.
Closure
In 2017, the chain was closed by its owners Kout Food Group
Kout Food Group K.S.C.C. is a Kuwaiti-based conglomerate, founded in 1982, operating in Kuwait, Jo ...
, a chain of boulangeries and pâtisseries that also contain cafès. There were 14 branches of Maison Blanc across the country, including several in London and one in Oxford. Maison Blanc cakes were also available nationwide in Waitrose
Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...
supermarkets. The chain was closed in 2017 by its owners, Kout Food Group
Kout Food Group K.S.C.C. is a Kuwaiti-based conglomerate, founded in 1982, operating in Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar, Kurdistan-Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and formerly in the United Kingdom. The business also offer catering serv ...
.
In 1983, Blanc purchased a manor-house in the Oxfordshire village of Great Milton
Great Milton is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of Oxford. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,042.
The School
Great Milton church of England primar ...
where he opened ''Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons'', a country house hotel and double Michelin starred restaurant. Awarded five AA stars and with a score of 19/20 from respected French guide Gault Millau, Le Manoir describes itself as "one of the ultimate gastronomic destinations in the country".
Blanc opened Le Petit Blanc, the first of a chain of smaller restaurants, in Oxford in June 1996. Blanc's stated aim with these was to bring the French philosophy of "good food being central to good living" to the United Kingdom. His desire was to create and serve food that can be enjoyed by everyone – "from the time-conscious business person to those looking for a welcoming family restaurant".
Blanc suffered two mini strokes when he was 42, believed to have been brought on by stress and overwork.
In June 2003, after nearly losing the chain to his ex-wife Jenny as part of his divorce settlement,[ the four Le Petit Blanc Brasseries (now known as Brasserie Blanc) in ]Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
(which closed in 2008), Cheltenham
Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...
, Manchester and Oxford became part of the Loch Fyne Restaurant Group portfolio. Blanc maintains a share in the business, and continues to be involved creating new menus, developing the chef and kitchen teams and participating in the promotion of the restaurants. Since 1996, Raymond has opened the following branches of Brasserie Blanc:
* 1996 - Le Petit Blanc brasserie, Oxford. Awarded one Michelin Star in its first year and classed amongst the ten best restaurants in the country, in 2006 it was re-launched as Brasserie Blanc
* 1998 - Cheltenham
* 1999 - Birmingham (closed 2008)
* 2000 - Manchester
* 2004 - Tunbridge Wells (closed 2009)
* 2007 - Leeds and Milton Keynes
* 2008 - Bristol and Winchester
* 2009 - Portsmouth
* 2010 - Chichester and Threadneedle Street, London
* 2012 - Bath, Berkhamsted, St Albans and Chancery Lane, Charlotte Street, Covent Garden (closed 2016), St Paul's and Tower Hill in London
In 2012 Blanc became the president of the Sustainable Restaurant Association
The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) is a not-for-profit, membership organisation, based in the United Kingdom, which aids food-service businesses to work towards sustainability in their sector and guides customers towards more sustainabl ...
.
Also In 2012 Blanc became the Culinary Director for Eurostar
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...
.
In March 2013, Raymond Blanc made the news with Mayor of London Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
, to publicise a scheme to get young people into the food and hospitality industry. Blanc took on twenty-one apprentices across the Brasserie Blanc Restaurants.
Blanc is one of the patrons of the Children's Food Festival, which was held on the Northmoor Trust Estate in south Oxfordshire in June 2009.
In 2014 he presented with Kate Humble
Katherine Mary Humble (born 12 December 1968) is an English television presenter and narrator, mainly working for the BBC, specialising in wildlife and science programmes. Humble served as President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Bir ...
'' Kew on a Plate'', a 4-part television series, demonstrating the garden growth and preparation of several vegetable dishes.
Chefs trained by Blanc
Blanc has taught or employed many other future chefs and restaurateurs, including:
*Sat Bains
Satwant Singh "Sat" Bains (born 28 February 1971) is an English chef best known for being chef proprietor of the two-Michelin star ''Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms'' in Nottingham, England. He won the Roux Scholarship in 1999, and worked in Fr ...
*John Burton-Race
John William Burton-Race (born 1 May 1957) is a British Michelin starred chef, television personality and celebrity chef, made famous by the Channel 4 series ''French Leave'' and its sequel ''Return of the Chef'' and '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me O ...
*Heston Blumenthal
Heston Marc Blumenthal (; born 27 May 1966) is a British celebrity chef, TV personality and food writer. Blumenthal is regarded as a pioneer of multi-sensory cooking, food pairing and flavour encapsulation. He came to public attention with un ...
*Michael Caines
Michael Andrew Caines (born 3 January 1969) is an English chef born in Exeter, Devon.
He was head chef of Gidleigh Park in Devon until January 2016. He is currently the executive chef of the Lympstone Manor hotel between Exeter and Exmo ...
*Elisha Carter
Elisha Carter (born 6 October 1969) is a British chef who appeared in the BBC television series Great British Menu in 2008. He is Head Chef at ''The Landau'' restaurant located in The Langham, London.
Biography
Carter was born in North London, ...
*Éric Chavot
Éric Chavot (born 1967) is a French Michelin starred chef. He was working the head chef at the Bob Bob Cité and Bob Bob Ricard restaurants in London until January 2020, as well as the consultant chef at the Royal Albert Hall's Coda restaurant. ...
*William Curley
William Curley (born 29 October 1971) is a Scottish patissier and chocolatier. Curley is the owner of the London chocolate company William Curley Ltd., and has won the Academy of Chocolate's 'Britain's Best Chocolatier' Award four times. In 20 ...
* Shaun Dickens
*David Goodridge
David Goodridge, is the Chef de Cuisine of the venerable Gaddi's restaurant at the Peninsula Hong Kong hotel.
Biography
Goodridge joined Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Oxfordshire, England, owned by one of the wo ...
*Paul Heathcote
Paul Heathcote MBE is a chef, restaurateur and food consultant who spent two years under the guidance of Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons. He has appeared on many UK food television shows.
Paul is one of only two chefs in the North We ...
*David Chalton
*Marco Pierre White
Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the ''enfant terrible'' of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White became ...
*Jorge Rausch
*Nicholas Essex
TV appearances
Blanc has made numerous appearances on many major television stations, during prime time viewing, in the UK. These include his own series ''Food & Drink'' in 1987, ''Take Six Cooks'' in 1986 and ''Masterchef'' in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995 and 1998, as well as ''The Restaurant'', a BBC 2 series hosted by Blanc where nine couples competed to win their own restaurant.
Blanc was a featured chef on ''Great Chefs
Great Chefs is a franchise of 656 televised cooking shows ( +13 cookbooks), that
began with thirteen half-hour programs produced for PBS nationally, entitled "Great
Chefs of New Orleans" by John Beyer and John Shoup in New Orleans. Later PBS se ...
'' television, appearing in ''Great Chefs of the World''.
On 13 January 2007, he appeared on ''Saturday Kitchen
''Saturday Kitchen Live'' is a British cookery programme, that is broadcast live on BBC One every Saturday between 10.00am and 11.30am produced by Cactus TV.
History
2002–2003
After a pilot hosted by Ainsley Harriott on 14 April 2001, the ...
''. In the Omelette Challenge, he finished last because he took the longest to cook an omelette. However, he was nudged up a few places by James Martin, right above Ken Hom
Ken Hom (, born May 3, 1949) is a Chinese-American chef, author and television-show presenter for the BBC, specialising in Asian Cuisine. Having already appointed an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2009 for "services ...
, as Blanc produced a black truffle out of his pocket and garnished the finished omelette with truffle shavings.
In summer 2007, a BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
promotion for his new reality TV programme ''The Restaurant'' was shown on UK television. (The show is known to BBC America
BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary ser ...
viewers in the US as ''Last Restaurant Standing''). The promo showed a group of well-dressed diners in a slow-motion food fight, to a Gonzales Gonzales may refer to:
Places
* Gonzales, California, U.S.
* Gonzales, Louisiana, U.S.
* Gonzales, Texas, U.S.
* Gonzales County, Texas
Other uses
* Battle of Gonzales, 1835
* Gonzales (horse) (1977 – after 1996), an American-bred Thoroughbred ...
backing track. The show was part of BBC Two's autumn season in 2007 and returned, with minor changes to the format, in 2008. In 2009, ''The Restaurant'' returned to BBC Two in a low-budget format. This season was much criticised for the poor standard of contestants, for neglecting the successful elements of previous series, and for Blanc choosing as the winner a team without any discernible culinary ability outside of making cocktails.
* 1985 - '' Take Six Cooks''
* 1987 - ''Food and Drink
''Food and Drink'' is a British television series on BBC Two. First broadcast between 1982 and 2002, it was the first national television programme in the UK to cover the subject of food and drink without cookery and recipe demonstrations.
Histo ...
'' - Six-part series on BBC2
* 1994 - ''Blanc Mange'' - Six-part BBC2 series on food and chemistry
* 2000 - ''Friends for Dinner'' - Six-part BBC2 series with high-profile chefs participating in individual episodes
* 2001 to 2007 - BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
- Discussing topical industry issues, including organic produce
* 2001 - ''Newsnight
''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...
'' - Foot and mouth issues - appeared with representatives from the Soil Association and the National Farmers Union
* 2001 - ''SKY News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...
'' - Relevant and topical industry issues
* 2001 - ''Housecall'' - BBC1 daytime programme, hosted by Lowri Turner. Blanc appeared on a few of the shows cooking slots.
* 2002 - ''Passion for Perfection'' - Twelve-part Carlton Television series
* 2004 - ''So What Do You Do All Day'' - Dedicated episode of BBC Two series, which follows a high-profile professional through a typical working day.
* 2007 - ''The Restaurant'' series 1 - Eight-part BBC Two series. Nine couples are put through their paces to see if they have what it takes to run their own restaurant.
* 2008 - ''The Restaurant'' series 2 - Over eight weeks, nine couples compete to win a restaurant personally supported by Blanc.
* 2009 - ''The Restaurant'' series 3
* 2010 - ''Kitchen Secrets'' - BBC cookery show with a range of achievable and inspirational recipes for cooks of all abilities.
* 2011 - ''Kitchen Secrets 2'' - Second series of cookery show with a range of achievable and inspirational recipes for cooks of all abilities
* 2011 - ''Raymond Blanc's Christmas Feast'' - BBC
* 2012 - '' The Very Hungry Frenchman'' - BBC 2
* 2013 - ''Raymond Blanc: How to Cook Well'' - Series of six half-hour programmes on BBC 2.
* 2015 - '' Kew on a Plate''
* 2015 - ''Food and Drink
''Food and Drink'' is a British television series on BBC Two. First broadcast between 1982 and 2002, it was the first national television programme in the UK to cover the subject of food and drink without cookery and recipe demonstrations.
Histo ...
'' - Appeared on 6 April 2015.
* 2021 - ''Simply Raymond'' - Series 1; April 2021
* 2022 - ''Simply Raymond'' - Series 2; January - February 2022
Blanc also made a guest appearance on the BBC sitcom'' Miranda'' in episode 5 of the third series.
Personal life
Blanc has two sons, Olivier and Sebastien. Blanc lives in Oxford with long-term partner Natalia Traxel. In 2008 he received an honorary OBE.
Bibliography
*1988 - ''Recipes from Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons'' (MacDonald Orbis)
*1994 - ''Mange: The Mysteries of the Kitchen Revealed''
*1998 - ''Blanc Vite: Fast Fresh Food from Raymond Blanc'' (Murdoch Books)
*1999 - ''A Blanc Christmas'' (Headline)
*2002 - ''Foolproof French Cookery'' (BBC Worldwide)
*2005 - ''Simple French Cookery'' (BBC Books)
*2008 - ''A Taste of My Life'' (Bantam Press) (autobiography)
*2011 - ''Kitchen Secrets'' (Bloomsbury Publishing)
*2012 - ''My Kitchen Table: 100 Recipes for Entertaining'' (BBC Books)
*2014 - ''Kitchen Garden Experts' (Frances Lincoln)
*2015 - ''Kew on a Plate with Raymond Blanc'' (Headline)
*2019 - The Lost Orchard (Headline)
*2021 - ''Simply Raymond'' (Headline)
References
External links
*
*
Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons
Great Milton, Oxfordshire. RB's 2 star Michelin restaurant
Social Issues Research Centre article on Blanc's war on sugar
Interview with Raymond Blanc OBE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanc, Raymond
1949 births
Living people
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
French cookbook writers
French autobiographers
French chefs
French expatriates in the United Kingdom
French food writers
French male non-fiction writers
French restaurateurs
Businesspeople from Besançon
People from Oxford
The Restaurant (British TV series)
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants