Where is le hot dog?
Stephanie Curtis
Posted: August 29, 2010
Paris—The first cooking school dedicated entirely to the art of barbecue might logically be located in the American Deep South, where barbecue is a cult and a constant subject of conversation and debate. But what claims to be “la première école de cuisine au barbecue” opened its doors in June 2009 in Issy-les-Moulineaux, a trendy suburb just south of Paris. In what could geographically be qualified as the “Deep South of Paris,” a young black female chef/instructor initiates Parisians in the art and technique of outdoor cooking with a capital B, for BBQ, and a capital W, for Weber Grills.
The famous Sputnik-shaped grill, born in the 1950s in Chicago with the American “backyard revolution,” had been represented here by a French company for decades before Weber decided to assume its own sales and distribution in Europe in 2000. Two years ago Pascal Lessertois, operations and marketing manager, and his colleagues in the Southern European division of the Weber team realized that their prospective consumers didn’t really grasp the ABCs of BBQs. For example, says Lessertois, “The French didn’t understand the importance of using the cover on the Weber—for them barbecue meant an open grill.”
After organizing training sessions for its European sales team, Weber decided that the best way to boost sales would be to educate their future buyers through public cooking classes. A strategic site, near public relations companies and television network headquarters, and a dynamic young chef were the keys to a quick launch of this school that offers cooking classes at a variety of levels and prices, at different hours of the day.
Nadia Igue, the 29 year old chef/instructor and manager of the Grill Academy, didn’t grow up with a barbecue in her backyard. Born in Benin, she was trained in haute cuisine at Paris’ acclaimed École Supérieure de Cuisine Française and then spent a year at Johnson & Wales in Providence, Rhode Island, a city where, she remembers, “everyone had a Weber grill in the backyard.”
Several years after returning to France to work for a prestigious catering company before launching her own consulting and product development business, Igue teamed with Weber to head up their new school and develop a repertoire of barbecue recipes, creative and accessible, including items such as cod steaks in a hazelnut/Parmesan crust, creamy mushroom polenta (yes, on the grill!), Korean barbecue (Weber-style), foie gras–stuffed pigeon grilled in a clay crust, or wild salmon grill-smoked on cedar boards. No traditional hamburgers and hot dogs? Unless customers make a specific request, Igue opts for more unusual recipes.
“After all, clients are paying to attend these courses, and they’re looking for more original approaches to barbecue,” adds the chef, who has also been hired to teach the art of barbecue to professionals, such as three chefs at Paris’ Hôtel Warwick Champs-Elysées, where a Weber grill was recently acquired for the rooftop terrace.
Today, a year after opening, the academy welcomes an average of 150 students a week for classes that range from the “Presto” 30 minute lesson and tasting for 17€ ($20.97), to a two hour “Maestro” class, followed by a full tasting dinner for 65€ ($80.17).
And yes, even in France it’s mostly men who thrill to the grill. “Our client mix is about 70 percent male to 30 percent female,” says Igue. “Even if the ladies come along, they say, ‘Show my husband how to do that!’ ” In all modesty, Igue adds that the sales of Weber grills in France were up 40 percent for the month of April 2010 compared to April 2009. Another Weber Grill Academy started in London for the general public in August.
