A culinary residency in the image of a true queen... For three months, from October 4 to December 31, 2023, La Nouvelle Seine will play host to one of the best-known Drag Queens in Paris, and a participant in the first season of Drag Race France: La Big Bertha. A Queen who has rolled up her sleeves to offer an innovative and extravagant menu in her own image!
Scallop carpaccio with gin gel, beef bourguignon, Queen's Pavlova... La Big Bertha draws inspiration from its own culinary creations and history to offer a daring menu, imagined in collaboration, for desserts, with chef Muriel Aublet-Cuvelier. And to mark the occasion, we went to meet La big Bertha and the pastry chef. They talked to us about this unprecedented collaboration, as well as the menu and its development, and their upcoming joint project. Find out more in our interview!
Culinary Residency 2023 from La Big Bertha to La Nouvelle Seine - our photos
Discover the new culinary residence that's causing a sensation in Paris! From October 4 to December 31, 2023, La Big Bertha, famous Drag Race France contestant, combines her culinary talents with those of Gaël Marques and Muriel Aublet-Cuvelier to offer an unprecedented gastronomic experience at La Nouvelle Seine. Dive into a menu combining love, audacity and discovery! [Read more]
Sortiraparis: How did the idea for this culinary residency come about? How did the partnership with the chef come about?
La Big Bertha: I've got a great history with La Nouvelle Seine, because that's where I started my stripping career, and I've also done some drag. I'm a drag queen who strips, and my drag debut was at La Nouvelle Seine a long time ago. So I started to get to know the whole team. Jessie, Thomas... We became very close and they were also aware of my passion for cooking, which remains my first passion, after drag. You have to do it anyway! And when they were looking for a new residence, my name came up naturally. And so she called me on a Thursday, it must have been 5pm, and by Friday morning, 9am, she had a menu already drawn up. You don't have to give me ideas like that, I just go for it! And that's it.
I love mixing food and cabaret, they're my two passions. And what's more, whether it's cabaret, food or catering, the intentions are identical. We want to offer people love, we want to take them out of their everyday lives and offer them a little bubble, a little parenthesis, etc. So those are the two points I want to make. So those are the two things we have in common. As far as I'm concerned, these are the driving forces behind my life.
Sortiraparis: How did you come up with the menu?
La Big Bertha: Well, the card is... One thing you need to know is that I love to eat. I love to cook. I love to cook savoury dishes, and I do sweet dishes from time to time, but I know how to cook with the best, and that's why I called Muriel to do the sweet menu. But the whole menu you're about to discover is based on things I already cook. They're things I like to make, cook and share. I like to offer these dishes to my friends, at home or during festive dinners.
Sortiraparis: Is your menu a reflection of you? In what way?
La Big Bertha: Oh, totally. There are lots of stories in this menu. For example, as a starter, you've got... I love scallops, I love gin and tonic, and it was, I think, last Christmas when I said to myself:"Come on, I'll do something with this", and I composed a whole starter around scallops, around this infused gin, and for example, as a main course, you have a boeuf bourguignon. It's my grandmother's boeuf bourguignon, because there's a little extra touch. A lot of people are surprised when I say,"But in boeuf bourguignon, you have to add chocolate" and people are like,"Huh? Pardon? What?", but yes, definitely, you have to add chocolate. We have 75% chocolate and it actually regulates the tannins in the wine and also binds all your juices, sauces and so on. And that's something where, when I was a kid, when I was making a Bourguignon with my grandmother, if I forgot the square of chocolate, then I'd get one... So there really are things that come from my childhood, from what I love to cook, that's all.
Sortiraparis: Concerning the dessert menu, did you work on it beforehand, or were you inspired by Bertha's menu to design the desserts?
Muriel Aublet-Cuvelier: Well, the dessert menu was a great challenge that Bertha set me. She loves Pavlova, but I already knew that. When we first met, I think you'd even told me about it. And my little challenge was to get her to like the chestnuts in the Pavlova, and she went for it! So I was really happy. The second challenge was the lemon, because Bertha has a special history with lemons: she grew up among lemon trees, and so all failed desserts with lemon are out. So the pressure was really on because I said to her:"I love lemons and I'd really like to suggest something with lemon". And yes! Obviously, she liked it, so I managed to make a dessert that looked like her, that she liked. I was really happy. And the third, for the sweet tooth, was a kind of Paris-Brest, but with pecans, so it was really Bertha's dessert menu and it had to be 100% OK. So that's it. So I'm delighted.
Big Bertha: Because you translated all my desires so well. Because, as I said, I'm a dessert person too. I love to eat them. For example, I hate desserts that are sweet, or even overly sweet. I don't like them at all, and it's totally in line with your philosophy as a pastry chef to desugar, to stay with the product, with the very essence of the raw material.
Muriel Aublet-Cuvelier: I only make desserts where I desugar and use ingredients that really have an interesting taste value, and good products. In fact, I don't know if I can talk about it, but I've just won a prize called the Goût et Santé award, where I highlighted this very point, so it's perfectly in line with that.
Sortiraparis: What can we see during this culinary residency?
Big Bertha: Well, you can see me from time to time. Sometimes in civilian clothes, sometimes as Bertha. No, no, because I love... I mean, when I talk about gastronomy, when I talk about a restaurant, when I talk about an inn, for me, it's... I come from a very modest family, where, in fact, we never said I love you to each other, I never saw my parents kiss, there were never hugs, and so on. I never saw my parents kiss, there were never hugs, etc. But there was still a lot of love, and all that love was conveyed through cooking. It was"I'm going to make you your favorite dish", and so on. So for me, it's really a proof of love, and when I'm here, I love being with people, chatting with them, getting to know their lives a little."Do you want a little advice?"... Anyway, I love... The innkeeper! The innkeeper, that's what it's all about! And that's why I can't stay in place in the room, there's always little jabs of"Ah, do you want some advice? What do you want? About wines?". Yes, because I've made a wine list too.
Sortiraparis: Is there a food/wine pairing?
La Big Bertha: It's not necessarily an association, but it's not a food and wine pairing. I love wine, I like it a lot and I discovered natural wines four or five years ago and I loved them. First of all, I love the approach. And secondly, I find that there are a lot of people who don't know or have preconceived ideas about natural wines, so I've made a selectioncalled "Les Canons de Bertha", which are all natural wines that I've selected myself for the natural wine "virgins". But in fact, these are things that can help you discover natural wine through the back door.
Sortiraparis: Do you have any future culinary projects in common or not?
La Big Bertha: Can we talk about it or not? Well, Muriel has a YouTube channel called Le Secret de Muriel, and maybe we'll have fun making little videos together? ?
Muriel Aublet-Cuvelier: Bertha's challenge!
La Big Bertha: That's it, yes. So yes, of course.
Culinary Residency 2023 from La Big Bertha to La Nouvelle Seine - our photos
