He’s legen-dairy: The Frenchman who makes the world's best butter by hand
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He's legen-dairy: The Frenchman who makes the world'south best butter by paw
Jean-Yves Bordier, who was in town for Voilah! French republic Singapore Festival, doesn't desire yous to call him an artist or even butter maker. He merely wants to brand people happy.
Jean-Yves Bordier has been making highly sought afterwards artisan butter for the last 40 years. (Photo: Joyee Koo)
19 Oct 2022 05:45AM (Updated: x Jul 2022 02:33AM)
Whisper the discussion "Bordier" to a foodie and you'll immediately hear a strange sound. Information technology's either the sound of their stomachs growling or their hearts singing – either way, it's the same affair.
This was what happened to me when I learned that Monsieur Jean-Yves Bordier himself, known as the last of the artisan butter makers, would exist coming to Singapore to share his stories as part of the annual Voilah! France Singapore Festival.
Bordier butter, synonymous with tiptop quality French butter, is the kind of substance that makes you involuntarily fill up on the bread before the first grade has even arrived. It's the kind of cherished souvenir yous'd happily cart dwelling in a suitcase lined with water ice packs (although happily, it's now available at specialty stores here). To call it a condiment would exist similar calling the ocean "a bit wet".
Then, naturally, I was expecting Mr Bordier to be one of those rock stars of the culinary world whom one approaches with fear and trembling.
Instead, I had the award of coming together an affably mannerly man in a white polo shirt who goofed around past pretending to giggle like a ticklish schoolgirl when we clipped a microphone to his shirt.
"I'one thousand still surprised to see where I am correct now, in front of a photographic camera," the 64-year-old said. "Looking back, forty years ago, I would never have expected all this attention."
FAT OF THE State
It was in 1985 that Bordier, the son of cheesemongers, acquired the La Maison du Beurre creamery established in St Malo, Brittany in 1927. Here, using fresh milk from small local farms, he still employs traditional 19th century methods, kneading the butter on a special wooden machine before pounding and shaping information technology past mitt using wooden paddles, a process chosen "tapage".
"Final year, we made three 1000000 pieces of butter. Nosotros have 25 employees," Bordier said. "Information technology's fantastic because each slice is unique. Information technology's non from a machine. That shows groovy respect for the food and slap-up respect for the people."
Because the product tastes so unlike from butter made by machines, renowned chefs and restaurants all over the world use Bordier butter; here, it's been served in feted establishments including Odette and Les Amis.
"This is the slow fashion. It'due south very delicate. The cow is delicate. Nature is delicate. If nosotros are very difficult with nature, nature is not happy," Bordier asserted. "The butter volition say, 'I don't want that. Be gentle. Exist fragile.' I recall life is easier when you lot have a smile and gentle easily. If you pound it, it's not very interesting."
He may exist ane of the final few people making butter by manus, only he'southward optimistic for the future of his craft. "I call back people want a dissimilar futurity. And I hope that not just my task, merely all jobs, volition respect nature," he said. "This way of working is not dead. I am an old man but I am completely sure that it volition continue to be. Nature always regenerates itself."
For Bordier, expert butter is all virtually nature, its seasons and the terroir. "The butter changes from month to month because of the seasons and what the cows eat, which affects the milk," he said. "To become a adept butter maker, yous demand at least 5 years in order to experience the seasons, which are not always the same from yr to yr. One year, in that location might be an autumn without rain. The next twelvemonth might take an autumn with a lot of rain. I have to go with what nature offers. And the devil is in the details."
Foam OF THE Crop
But make no error – Bordier considers himself neither an creative person nor a man of affairs. He's simply "an artisan post-obit traditional processes, making things with passion, making something that other people gave up years ago," he said.
Once, he recounted, "I was invited to be a guest on a big network's television programme. A journalist invited me to talk nearly managing a single-product enterprise. My fellow invitee was the head of Cristaline, the biggest producer of bottled h2o in Europe. The journalist asked me what my business concern programme and business organisation model was.
"I unbuttoned my shirt, exposed my breast and said, 'The heart of my job is milk.' It's motherhood. It'south life. To create a cute product from milk, you demand fourth dimension, and passion that comes from the heart," he said. "Not just in the media merely also in life in general, we invent a nice story with take chances. Actually, information technology's all very simple… In the end, it comes from within."
Taste the butter, and yous'll wonder how something and so simple can carry so much complexity within it. Bordier carved a small chunk of butter from the large block on the tabular array and offered it to me to melt in my mouth. "It's not just fatty. It'south like wine. The feeling in your mouth changes from second to 2d," he said.
At the same time, for all its gourmandise appeal, butter is besides ane of the virtually foundational elements of Western cooking, too as Bordier'southward ultimate comfort nutrient. "When you lot become abode after a hard day of work, you take a piece of meat, and simply at the end of the cooking procedure, you lot melt a modest piece of butter in. It's simply a proficient idea."
After all, he added, "My chore isn't to make butter or to brand cheese. My job is to brand people happy."
Voilah! France Singapore Festival runs until Nov 17 in various locations.Visit world wide web.voilah.sg for more information.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/dining/jean-yves-bordier-artisan-butter-250756
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