France’s first female chef to achieve three Michelin stars attributes her culinary style to “distinctive female thinking and personality.” Ruby Gao explains.

Anne-Sophie Pic would probably not have been France’s first Michelin three-star female chef if her father Jacques Pic, a Michelin three-star chef, were still alive.

Nor would she — the girl who grew up above the family kitchen and tired of the heavy aromas — have become an practitioner of “perfume dining” in which diners choose a set of aromas before they order their meal.

Her restaurant in Paris, La Dama de Pic, is considered a must-try for those who are interested in new dining experiences.

“If my father hadn’t passed, I would have been less involved in my job,” she says.

After his sudden death in 1992, the family restaurant, La Maison Pic in Valence, southwest France, lost its Michelin three stars.

“I had no choice but win back the stars,” Pic, 44, tells Shanghai Daily in an exclusive interview. She finally regained them in 2007.

Pic was in town last week to prepare a gala dinner — showcasing her signature dishes — at the Park Hyatt Shanghai as a highlight of hotel’s annual Masters of Food and Wine event.

A hot appetizer, beetroot with coffee, features steamed beetroot, which is smooth and sweet, mixed with an airy foam of mellow coffee butter.

She adds some berry for acidity. “The whole dish features a contrast in flavor and texture,” Pic explains.

She prepares scallops with a sauce of anise, green apple, celery and cinnamon leaf.

“Sauce is the essence of French cuisine, which acts as a bridge connecting all the ingredients. I present it light to change the stereotype of very heavy sauce,” Pic says. For example, traditional cinnamon stick is replaced by cinnamon leaf, which has the same taste but adds freshness.

Her cooking features simplicity, finesse and delicacy of flavor, with a clean and pleasing presentation.

She attributes her food style to “distinctive female thinking and personality.

“Women’s cooking relies more (than men’s) on instinct and intuition,” Pic says, adding that many female chefs have a “refined culinary character,” helping them do tiny, detailed presentation.

Pic is rather quiet, unlike some male chefs who are loud and demanding.

“I never shout at my kitchen, which means my staff can concentrate on cooking,” she says.

Pic was making her first trip to China and she planned a local tea trip and wet market visits.

“I love Chinese tea, especially jasmine tea and Pu’er, which inspires my cooking,” she says.

She combines crab meat with jasmine tea foam; the tea’s floral note enhances the delicate sweetness of the crab meat.

She cooks smoky Pu’er with earthy mushroom for a harmonious flavor and adds lime for freshness and layers of taste.

“I hope to discover more local produce in the market. I am used to getting inspiration from local people to present the beauty of regional produce,” chef Pic explains.

Tired of cooking aromas

Pic grew up above the family restaurant and originally did not plan to be a chef. She suffered from olfactory overload of choux a la crème and the aroma of steamed crayfish in big copper pots every day after school.

The family restaurant is more than a century old, started in 1880 by her grand-grandmother Sophie Pic.

It became famous in the 1980s when her father garnered and kept Michelin three stars for many years.

“But I wanted to discover something new,” the female chef recalls.

She studied marketing and finance at ISG (Institut Superieur de Gestion) in Paris, focusing on luxury brands. She interned at Moet-Chandon where she met her husband David Sinapian.

After she graduated and returned to Valence in 1992, her father died, and her life changed.

“It’s terrible because it happened three months after my return,” she says, misty-eyed.

She couldn’t step right in. She spent three years learning the hospitality business, from restaurant service to managing a hotel.

In 1995, she began as a kitchen apprentice in the family restaurant, learning from her father’s chef. She had already learned some techniques from her father.

She did not get special treatment as the daughter of the owner, and the training was rigorous.

Two male members of her father’s staff were hostile and challenged her ability to lead the kitchen, traditionally dominated by men.

Her mother and her then-fiancé (now her husband) were very supportive.

“My husband takes care of business so I can focus on the kitchen. He tastes all my dishes and he would only tell me the truth,” she says.

Twelve years later, in 2007, her hard work paid off. Her family restaurant regained the Michelin three stars.

“It’s all about destiny. I realized that food is about more than luxury. I would not have met my husband if I had not left cooking. I would not have been so determined to cook had my father not died,” Pic says.

She says both she and her father embrace innovation.

Her father used olive oil to partly replace the rich butter and cream used in traditional French cooking. Pic herself minimizes the use of butter and cream for a lighter taste.

She retains her father’s signature dish on the menu, sea bass with caviar.

Perfume dining

Last year, the female chef opened another restaurant in Paris, La Dame de Pic, where she experiments with the new concept of “perfume dining.”

She creates three basic perfumes, or scents, that are embedded in paper tabs and wafted in front of diners, so they can make their menu selections accordingly.

There are three perfumes — terroir spices, amber villa, and sea and flowers — three menus and three stories.

“I like perfume, it’s completely French and has a deep and intrinsic connection with cuisine. Perfume is a mixture of notes, while cuisine is a combination of flavors,” she says.

Fragrance is an indicator of flavor, Pic says. “We taste food not only through our palate but also our nose.”

The fragrance “terroir spices” features an earthy smell, reflecting the geography and geology of the production area. The corresponding menu features food exclusively grown in a rather small region having that particular terroir.

“There’s another reason behind perfume dining,” says Pic, citing culinary aroma therapy. “Paris is busy and noisy. I hope customers at my restaurant can calm themselves before ordering their food.”