A Gourmet Diet

Leslie Williams sheds the pounds

What is the average food-lover to do when they discover they are not quite as svelte as they used to be?  This writer would rather run bread under a tap than use a product such as Low Low or similar low-fat bread-wetters.  I also find the idea of low-fat salad dressing stuffed with e-numbers and chemicals equally distasteful.

The difficulty is that I actually like my food to taste of something, so there is no way that I could contemplate a cabbage soup diet, or milk-shake meal replacements such as SlimFast.

There is a gourmet diet alternative however, and I believe it to be the only diet that doesn't compromise food-loving integrity!

Gault Milau four toque and Michelin three star chef Michel Guérard developed a style of cooking in the 1970's, which he called "Cuisine Minceur" ("slimming food"), partly to lose weight himself but ultimately for use in the health spa hotel he runs in South West France.  Guerard published a recipe book simply called "Cuisine Minceur" explaining his new cooking methods and providing a number of recipes in the mid-1970s and it became an instant classic.

Cuisine Minceur could be said to have led directly to the development of nouvelle cuisine, as a number of chefs trained with Guerard and then opened their own restaurants using his Minceur techniques to develop a whole new way of cooking. 

Cuisine Minceur is effectively a protein rich diet that leaves out carbohydrates and fats almost completely.  The idea is that once, twice or ten times a year you devote a week to Cuisine Minceur, using the week-end before to prepare stocks (fish, beef and chicken), and basic ingredients (such as mushroom purée) for use during the week.

I picked up my copy of "Cuisine Minceur" in a second hand bookshop a few years ago and I am not certain the book is still in print.  In this article I will try to give you an overview of the type of techniques used.

First note that butter is used very sparingly, as are all starches including potatoes and pasta.  Flour is not used to bind sauces, which are usually made by using the appropriate concentrated stock with maybe the addition of mushroom purée or fromage frais.  Salads are simply dressed with salt, pepper and lemon juice and the addition of herbs and perhaps a teaspoon of olive oil to bind it all together.

A classic example of the cuisine is grilled fillet steak (pictured) simply served with a sauce made from chopped parsley, shallots and garlic bound together with lemon juice and olive oil.

Another is oven baked whole plaice with 100ml cider, 100ml fish stock, tarragon, shallot, 2 tbs of mushroom purée (simmered in low fat milk then blended) and lemon soaked apple cut in matchsticks.  Bake for 7 minutes, add the apple and bake for a further 7 minutes.  Simply remove the fillets and serve with a spoon or two of the poaching liquid garnished with the apple and skinned, seeded tomato (see picture).

Both of these dishes are full flavoured while remaining delicate and light and are infinitely preferable to anything that weight watchers have devised. The one drawback to Minceur is the lack of energy that can result from abstaining from carbohydrates so I usually have a sandwich at lunchtime and occasionally include a couple of boiled or steamed potatoes in the Minceur meal I eat in the evening.

Perhaps the most famous recipe to emerge from Guerard's book is Sauce Vierge which is a liaison of chopped skinned tomatoes, garlic, chervil, parsley, tarragon, crushed coriander seeds, fromage blanc, water, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil and salt and pepper.  These are heated gently in a bain marie until they bind together.

I have seen simpler versions that just combine herbs, olive oil, garlic and salt and pepper, sometimes with lemon juice.  Sauce Vierge works extremely well as a sauce for plain grilled steak or lamb chops (all fat removed prior to cooking), or with steamed or poached fish, and contains few if any calories.

Roasting in Minceur simply involves omitting all barding (fat coating) of the meat and removing all fat from the jus left over at the end of the roasting.  The gravy is made from the juices that run free from the joint or bird after it has rested for a few minutes with perhaps the addition of some stock, lemon juice or fresh herbs plus of course salt and pepper.

The overall feel of the food is one of lightness and purity.  Inevitably portions should not be huge as you are trying to lose weight after all!

Starters would include simple soups made from stock and herbs or dried mushrooms plus seasoning and maybe a teaspoon of crème fraiche with some diced tomato for garnish.  If feeling ambitious you could also perhaps make a terrine with Sea Bass or perhaps John Dory, plus asparagus, shallots, dill, parsley and gelatine to enable it to set.

Desserts in Cuisine Minceur use sugar substitutes (e.g. Canderel) so you may wish to simply avoid these in favour of fresh fruit (like the French).  One dessert I can recommend is a bitter chocolate granita made with water, good quality cocoa, sugar substitute, vanilla pod plus a small amount of low fat milk.  I have also tried fruit flavoured custard creams (made like crème caramel) using Canderel but not found them to be as successful.

Unfortunately alcohol is not part of the Cuisine Minceur diet so stick to good quality sparkling mineral water but vary it depending on the dish.  San Pellegrino or Badoit for light fish dishes and say Tipperary for more robust meat based dishes.

A minceur diet is expensive but remember that you are saving by not drinking wine.  The crucial point is that a minceur diet should not feel like penance, so treat yourself to fillet steak, lamb fillet and good quality organic or corn-fed chicken (try the French "Les Landes" ones in Superquinn which are wonderful, as are their free-range quail).  Guerard uses lobster, caviar, frogs legs and even thrushes in his recipes but I don't think you have to go this far.

Mostly I try to look on Minceur as a reminder that not every sauce needs to be finished with a large knob of butter and yes, it does help me lose weight.  While I also banned mini-mars bars and Tayto cheese and onion crisps from the house, I lost over 10lbs in the last month by eating Minceur food most weekdays.

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