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Pierre Jancou is passionate about authenticity – no wonder his Paris restaurant is always packed, says Meg Zimbeck
PHOTOGRAPHY KAI JUNEMANN
You’ll have to call several days in advance to score a table at Racines, the hit restaurant inside Paris’s oldest covered passage. The spot is packed with the city’s trendsetting elite (newspaper editors and food celebrities like pâtissier Pierre Hermé), along with ordinary diners drawn by the passion of chef Pierre Jancou.
The 39-year-old owner of Racines is completely obsessed with authenticity. Over 15 years, Jancou has built strong relationships with many small – and sometimes struggling – producers of exceptional-quality ingredients. “I try to support people who do real products,” he says. “These producers become my friends. There is a lot of humanity between us, and mutual respect for what we create together.” Their collaboration means that Racines is stocked with some of the most delicious produce in France.
Jancou, a self-taught cook who has also worked in Switzerland and Italy, uses a very light touch. When preparing a salad from the organic garden of Alain Passard (picked that morning and brought to Paris by high-speed train), he will add little more than honey, olive oil and black pepper.
Anything more would mask the pristine flavour of the natural product. This brand of carefully cultivated simplicity is just what Jancou’s fines gueules customers crave. “That longing for the ‘real’ is the success of my little restaurant,” he says.
A meal with Jancou will usually begin with salad or rabbit rillettes. He may persuade you to try a glass of vin naturel, the untreated organic wine that he passionately promotes. Main dishes change daily and will probably increase in complexity with the recent addition of chef Sven Chartier, but simple bistro classics – like the recipe shown here – will always have a place on the Racines menu.
8 Passage des Panoramas, 2nd arrondissement, Paris, +33 (0)1 4013 0641
AGNEAU DE LAIT EN COCOTTE (CASSEROLE OF MILK-FED LAMB AND SPRING VEGETABLES) SERVES SIX
Ingredients
1kg lamb shoulder, cut into large chunks | 2 tablespoons olive oil | 300 ml dry white wine or chicken stock | 200 g baby carrots, cut into large chunks | 200g spring onions, cut into large chunks | 200g turnips, cut into large chunks | 2 large tomatoes, cut into large chunks | 3-4 whole garlic gloves | 2 branches fresh thyme | 1 bay leaf | salt and black pepper
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2. n Heat the olive oil in a large pan on the stove and then sear the lamb until it is coloured on all sides. n Using a slotted spoon, transfer the lamb to a plate or paper towel. Deglaze the hot pan by adding white wine or stock and scraping the remnants from the bottom of the pan until they dissolve into a rich sauce. n Return the lamb to the pot and add the garlic, thyme, bay leaf and tomatoes. Cover and place the pot in the oven to cook at low temperature until very tender, approximately 1½ to 2 hours. n Meanwhile, in a separate pot, parboil the vegetables in salted water until al dente or just barely tender. Remove from water and set aside. n When the lamb is tender, add the vegetables to the meat and reheat the stew for 6-8 minutes or until hot. Jancou prepares this recipe in advance and divides the stew into individual cocottes (small cast iron pots) that are reheated upon demand. n Before serving, season the stew with salt and pepper and add your favourite garnish – Jancou likes the taste and colour of a leaf of green cabbage.
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