64, bd Henry Vasnier - BP 1019 - 51685 REIMS Cedex 2 Tel +33 3 26 82 80 80 - Fax +33 3 26 82 65 52 reservation@lescrayeres.com - http://www.lescrayeres.com     Most of Didier Elena dishes are therefore presented as a juxtaposition of rigorously parallel elements, often rectangular in shape, re-cut with straight edges among which, generally two elements clearly stand out from the rest: the main ingredient and what, for want of a better word, we are obliged to call its "trimmings". The term is incorrect as it suggests a hierarchy: one noble product alongside another, less noble. Obviously, both elements play on the same level and this juxtaposition creates a visible and particular tension on the plate, which is the very soul of the dish that is also to be found in most of the dishes' names. EXPLANATION… Such is the case for instance with a dish called "Sole de petit bateau au beurre iodé, chou de printemps fumé" (Little boat sole with iodized butter and smoked Spring cabbage) or the "Turbot -Ecrevisses, sabayon champagne" (Turbot-Crayfish and Champagne Sabayon). In the former, a perfectly cylindrical sausage-shaped sole stands opposite a bright green parallelepiped of similar size. In the latter, a square slab of turbot sits alongside a rectangular canapé carved out of a pumpkin and covered with very finely diced vegetables and crayfish tails. This cuisine is offered, so to speak; the dish being as an open book. But for all that, this is not simplistic cuisine: its perfect legibility does not exclude density and even complexity in the various elements that make up the dish. STUDY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF A RECIPE… THE "Little boat sole with iodized butter and smoked Spring cabbage" is a dish constructed around the association of smoked/iodised flavours discovered by Didier Elena when working for Gagnaire. On the plate, these two flavours are at first glance clearly localized: fish for the iodine and cabbage for the smoked flavour. The delicate flavour of the sole is doubtless the most interesting because of the density of its flesh, which has been quite exceptionally highlighted in this dish through low temperature cooking. In order to stand up to the smoked flavour, the flesh of the sole is strengthened with seaweed butter. Opposite the fish, the smoked cabbage is embodied as a recreated "Potée Champenoise", all the ingredients of which, cabbage, potato, carrots and smoked sausage have been separately cooked before being presented in layers, like a millefeuille. Yet, here as everywhere else, Didier Elena has added another element so as to enable this marriage of flavours to work: an oyster jelly imperceptibly links the smoked element to the sole. In order to connect these two very different entities: fine matchsticks of barely braised red and green cabbage and a "Chartreuse" sauce, the progression of which is perfectly contained within the cylinder shape of the fish and the parallelepiped of cabbage "potée". The most interesting thing in the construction of this dish is doubtless the way the texture of the sole responds to the flavour of the smoked cabbage, a sort of toing and froing in which flavour and texture alternate in major and minor in answer to one another. After all is said and done, this is magnificent proof that the soul of a dish does not necessarily lie in its taste alone. The effect is blatantly obvious in this case but it is not alone in producing such an effect. It is also to be found in a dish called: - "Petits pois à la française, jambon de Reims en délicate gelée" (Peas à la française; delicately jellied Reims ham) in which the transition takes place through the intermediary of a variation on the theme of a buttered ham sandwich; - "Ris de veau doré, asperges vertes de Pertuis" (Golden calf's sweetbread, green Pertuis asparagus) in which you go from one to the other via stewed asparagus and finely diced truffles, enhanced with very crisp calf's sweetbread "scratchings". CONNECTION ON THE PLATE. These different examples highlight the part played by the "connecting element" that combines a little of both main ingredients. In order to tone down the brutality that may result from the confrontation between these two strong and different identities, the cook introduces a sort of go-between that facilitates the transition from one to the other, filling the entire area (sometimes virtual) that is left empty by the rectangle. In this exchange between texture and flavour, both of which are clearly defined and isolated, the intermediate element offers yet another alternative through which they transmute into each other so to speak. In a number of dishes, this tension is also to be found in the opposition between the luxurious and the rustic. Such is the case with the peas served with jellied ham and parsley, the lamb and garlic and the fattened chicken cooked "demi-deuil"-style which Didier Elena serves with a caillette of very Southern and peasant inspiration. It would seem that the cook, who is well used to working with the best and most expensive products is -in such a location as Château Les Crayères- now enjoying defusing "inevitable luxury" by combining products with their exact opposites. A tactic that does not lack humour, or irony to say the least. And this, no doubt, is why this opposition is fundamental — it is a way of maintaining a certain distance from whatever is being carried out, of being able to stand back and not allow oneself to be swept away. Although the construction of each dish seeks to highlight tensions, the products are also able to do as much themselves, and sometimes even without needing partner ingredients. They are presented in two different versions (hot and cold, raw and cooked) or as is the case in a surprising dessert called "Arlette et caramel au beurre salé en déclinaison lactée" (Arlette and salted butter caramel in a variety of milk-based ingredients) in which a fine layer of pastry ripples, offering three versions of caramel. Obviously, in order for such mastery to operate, the various elements that are associated need to be taken to their highest point of intensity. Flavours are concentrated and textures are highlighted thanks to appropriate cooking or slicing techniques. It is obvious that to obtain such results, one must be very demanding as to the products and their origins, from the vegetables to the seafood, from the fowl to the foie gras not forgetting the butter and cheeses… But the safest technique is also called upon for help. Didier Elena received good training and doesn't hesitate to prove it: highly researched cooking techniques, as for the sea bass cooked "flat" or the sausage-shaped sole, the sophisticated layout of the Potée Champenoise, and a taste for presentation: he certainly enjoys rather sophisticated finishing touches, a wink at a certain style of cooking of yore: young pigeons appear covered with red and beige scales, made of beetroot and Comté cheese, Pavlovas stands erect amidst a trellis of meringue; on a more discrete note, filets of lamb are studded with truffles but also finely covered with smoked bacon that suddenly adds an unexpected and subtle flavour that overlaps that of the tuber quite precisely; and lemon pies fluff themselves up and becomes light and creamy. Such examples, in which mastery is more secretive, throw light on those in which it is more obvious; indeed nothing is ever sacrificed to the purely decorative, and everything is done to serve taste first and foremost. Whenever tastes are enhanced, they are always the result of a patient work of reconstruction and concentration and finally a test of confrontation that will enable them to express their qualities as intensely as possible. This passion for constructing and cultivating, this slow work of the cook can perhaps be compared with that of the people running the cellars in the Champagne region, these artisans of genius who compose and assemble their wines and are patient enough to let them express their virtues to the full. Also, it may well be that in its very density Didier Elena's cuisine finds the principles that harmonize with the complexity of the great Champagnes that are the jewels of Château Les Crayères' cellar. Some of the dishes on his first menu are those that compliment the greatest among them, a fine way of being present within this Estate.