Why a Tire Company Gives Out Food’s Most Famous Award

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I love the visual of American soldiers in Paris hunkered down in a building, one guy flipping through a book of maps and saying “apparently this place had really good chicken. I hope they’ll reopen after this is over”

I can kinda understand the plot of "The Menu": being forced to cook up and decorate some pretentious bs just for a star and losing sight of the imporatant thing of cooking: the love, you pour into it

I spent 44 years working for Michelin. When the Michelin brothers started making tires, they were bicycle tires. Bicycle tires of the time took about 24 hours to repair. The Michelin tire could be repaired in 4 hours. Bicycle racing was big at that time and after the Michelin tire came out, if a racer wanted to win, he used Michelin tires.

I love that you mentioned how part of what made this dish so delicious was her use of a special breed of chicken, the Bresse. In fact there are small farms in the US that raise this very special and very tasty chicken such as my own. This breed is growing in popularity as the chicken you buy in grocery stores is so bland and tasteless. The bresse is the only breed of chicken that actually has marbling in the meat and is finished in a very specific protocol to really accent its exceptional flavors.

I don't even think of Michelin as a French company, even though the name makes it obvious when you think about it. A tire company I had no idea was actually Japanese, until I went to Japan and a lot of older people would tell me about it? Bridgestone. The company founder's name is Ishibashi (stone bridge) and he decided to translate his name into English for his company name.

Me: What kind of liquor should I put in the sauce? Mère Brazier: Yes

Brasier is one of my all-time chef heroes. I want to be like her. Simple food done perfectly, no fuss, no extra. Just absolutely perfect.

Once, my husband and I were talking about a restaurant and he said it was a three star place. I confused Michelin stars with google review stars so I replied ‘they only have three stars?!’. We still laugh about the restaurant that only has three Michelin stars to this day 😂 Another amazing episode - I learned so much!

fun fact: as part of their marketing strategy to help people drive, they also funded thousands of road signs, with a distinctive concrete and ceramics look, that are so durable many still exist, and they're still seen as an important part of the rural france heritage and car culture

I'm French and I remember before GPS and stuff I used to be the "map holder" in the car with my father when we were coursing through the territory. It was a Michelin map and it was very well made, precise and convenient and all. Really brings up cool memories!

Man these guys were marketing aces. They gave you a destination to go to, a map to get there, and also funded installations of public roadsigns with a distinct, uniform look and font. In other words, they essentially created a whole "driving experience," creating the feeling of anticipation for that nice restaurant, the ritual of pulling out the 'ole trusty handbook map, and the ambience of being on the road with the slick new street signs. I'm surprised a Michelin car radio line wasn't also created, as listening to the radio while on the road would've been yet another key selling point with incentivizing people to drive more. Or maybe Michelin "car flasks" as an early predecessor to Thermoses or Yetis, sold as a portable bottle that would keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold so you could enjoy a beverage while driving that wouldn't slosh out in a bumpy ride or break if it fell, and taking that idea further, partnering with car manufacturers to install "car flask holders" that perfectly fit a Michelin bottle on the dashboards of cars. Can you imagine Michelin being the number one name in the game of modern car stereo speakers or automobile AC units? Anything to make driving more appealing and get people on the road more! What about after-market seat heaters too? Crazy potential.

That chicken dish really is the epitome of "The simple thing, done well" which is the true essence of gourmet food. Thank you for unearthing this recipe, I have seen Poulet de Bresse for sale near me in the UK, so I may give this a go

“A formidable woman with a voice like a foghorn, rough language, and strong forearms” my god I think I just found my spiritual ancestor.

For the same reason an Irish beer company have the authority on world records I guess: our world is weird.

My partner once worked for Michelin and while I’d heard many stories through those years, nothing prepared me for him to cheerfully call out the Michelin Man’s name before Max could say it. It’s like I don’t even know you anymore 😂😂😂. I also got additional fun facts and memories of the home office in Greenville, SC. Good times!

One part of this recipe brought back memories of my high school cafeteria in the 1960s. The cook was a former US Army cook and his food was fantastic. One of my favorites was chicken fried in (Government surplus) butter.

My husband and I ate at La Mère Brazier maybe 12 years ago. My favourite thing about it was that there was a table of four friends - all about 80 years old, who came out to have the Poulet de Bresse dinner, which was, at the time, the most economical thing on the menu. You would have a roast chicken and all the trimmings which would be carved tableside. We watched it from a distance and were determined to get back there with two friends to experience it the way those folks were, which is to say, with ecstatic fervour. Oh yeah, my ris de veau was pretty damn good as well.

I, like Eugene Brazier, learned to cook by just cooking. Some of my early attempts were terrible, but I got better with time and practice, and I'm now a decent cook. Though I have no Michelin stars or even a restaurant. I just enjoy cooking for my family.

I worked for a 3 star restaurant for several years and it was SOOO important to us. It took our legendary Chef 30 years to get his restaurant to 3 stars despite being already honored by a presidential medal for his contribution to culinary excellence for our country. A documentary on PBS. The 3 stars was way more important to him. Since then the restaurant has kept it for 6 years now I believe. I will say I understand the difference now between a no star, a 1 star and a 3 star. You will not find a better dining experience.