BY CAROLYN VAN VLECK
BRANDON—Every Tuesday evening, you will find Chef Robert Barral, co-owner of Café Provence, giving a cooking class in his culinary theatre, which is located next to his bar and cake decorating area, which lie underneath his restaurant! He doesn’t consider it work, though it means prepping ingredients and cooking up the appetizer, entrée, and dessert beforehand, upstairs, on his day off.
Chef has been giving these classes for eighteen years, sometimes to masses of people who show up in a bus and sometimes to just a stalwart few, which happened during the pandemic. Many are regulars who return over and over again to learn new dishes, collect more recipes to try out at home, to enjoy an evening out watching a professional French chef at work, and to eat delicious food! On the other hand, he says that he has regulars who show up to be entertained and never intend to cook the recipes at home! He has also given many private cooking classes, most recently for eight women from New Jersey, all of whom have second homes in the area.
I have taken myriad classes from Chef Barral, who was head chef at the New England Culinary Institute (NECI) in Montpelier for sixteen years, during its heyday. He has an easy style of teaching: chatting with the class participants, verbally instructing as he cooks, occasionally asking if anyone wants to come up and give it a try. He gives cooking tips galore, some of his own cooking history, and throws out the occasional joke with a straight face.
The menu for this class was Minestrone, Veal Osso Bucco, and Crème Caramel. When you get to the classroom, it is attractively set with tablecloths, filled water glasses, warm rolls and butter, and friendly faces with whom you will probably be sharing a table. Wine and beer are offered (extra) to complement the meal. He was assisted by Joseph, who has been working for him for over ten years.
The meal? Yes, you will leave totally sated. These aren’t tiny portions, either! Not only do you get to see the chef in action, but he doesn’t give you just a soupçon of this or that, but an entire plate filled with food!
CHEF ROBERT BARRAL teaches a rapt audience in his demonstration space next to Café Provence in Brandon. Chef Robert has been teaching cooking here for years, often to returning students who love his food and enjoy watching a master at work. Photo by Carolyn Van Vleck
To my perpetual amusement, Chef Robert—though he has passed out recipes for the three courses—rarely looks at the recipes himself, as he has been making these dishes for years. Every so often, someone will pipe up and ask, “Umm…this says 20 eggs…” or he’ll have decided before class to change something. This evening, he tweaked the Minestrone with a deep dive towards his native Cassoulet. He is also mad for kosher salt and is quite generous with it, swirling it around with his fingers, having pinched it over the various foods. He gets it correct every single time, as I have never had an over-salted dish. The sign of a true chef! (By the way, contrary to what a lot of culinary school graduates think, they are not chefs when they leave school. The word “chef” is simply the title of the person in charge of the kitchen, though sometimes this is the kitchen manager, though I have worked in places which had both.)
Chef Robert shared with us that he is always concerned with food waste in his restaurant and tests his new cooks by seeing how well they cut an onion. He demonstrated that- instead of carving big chunks out of the two ends which wastes product- he simply carefully slices off just the tops, then peels the crackling skins off. He also uses a serrated knife to cut the onions against curved fingers, as it never needs to be sharpened, unlike other kitchen knives, on which he hones the edges with a steel. Another tip was to use only a non-melting rubber spatula when melting sugar to prevent crystallization, and don’t walk away from the sugar while it’s melting (do NOT stick your finger into the melting sugar)!
He is very proud of many of his NECI graduates, most of whom stay in touch with him. He taught the owners of Mirabelle’s (admittedly my favorite bakery in the state!) and many others who have stayed in Vermont.
Chef Barral has sold the building that contains his businesses, which are all for sale. He is looking for an interested party that will retain the fine dining aspect of Café Provence, and when it sells, he will hit the road in a brand new RV and travel through North, Central, and South America. But until then, he and his partner, Line, will continue to run his restaurant, bar, cooking classes, and Gourmet Provence for the enjoyment of the Brandon foodie community.
