Origins Jean-Georges Vongerichten

One of the world’s galactico chefs, French-born Jean-Georges traversed Asia before stopping off in London en route to America, from where he now heads up an empire almost 50 restaurants strong. Interview by Alex Mead.

Coal kitchen

The family business was in coal, and my mum and grandmother would always be cooking – making these huge meals for 25 people. It was big pots of roast pork, roast chicken, rutabaga, always very hearty, and it went quick: lunch was at 12.30, and if you got there at 12.45, there’d be nothing left.

Auberge de l’Ill

I was destined to take over the company, but I hated school; my parents didn’t know what to do with me. On my 17th birthday they took me to three-Michelin- starred Auberge de I’Ill and it opened my eyes. My dad asked if they needed a dish washer and on 14 July 1973, I started working in this business.

Cabbage

Joining a three-Michelin-starred restaurant is like joining the mafia... My chef Paul Haeberlin ran Louis Outhier, at L’Oasis, next to Cannes, and I went there. I came from Alsace, where it’s cold and you eat cabbage and potato, then I’m in the south of France, the market is full of tomato, rosemary, basil, garlic – amazing. I went from Germanic to Italian/Spanish.

Munich

As an apprentice, I met Eckart Witzigmann, the first German-speaking guy to get three Michelin stars for Tantris, and went to work with him in Munich. He changed the menu every day – less traditional, more modern. Lighter sauces, less cream and butter. He’d post the menu every day at 4pm as he hated people to prep ahead. It changed the way you cooked.

Bangkok

I went to Bangkok to run a restaurant for Eckart – I didn’t even know where it was on the map. I’d be looking for butter and cream [at markets], but nothing: coconut milk was the only fat I could use. Seafood was live at the market and there were no apples, just mangoes or pineapples. I’d really only used dried spices, but here everything was fresh.

Caramelised mango

The first dish I did was seared foie gras with ginger sauce and caramelised mango. It was based on a dish from the south of France, but I swapped apples for mango, and ginger for Calvados sauce. The Asian influence was absolutely game-changing for me.

Fish soup

I worked across Asia and learnt so much. You’d boil water with lemongrass, lime leaf, shrimp, mushroom, fish sauce, lime juice and have a fish soup in five minutes. I’d come from a place where you’d be cooking soup for five hours, not infusing for minutes.

Ketchup

The first sauce I developed in Asia was ketchup sauce: ketchup, soy sauce, Tabasco, red wine vinegar, butter, served with a piece of fish. Sweet, sour, perfect. People loved it, and it came from the mother sauce in America.

L o n d o n

I came to London in 1985, when I was 28, to cook at Grosvenor House. Then the grande dame of London was Pierre Koffmann’s La Tante Claire, and you had the Roux brothers and Le Gavroche. We opened 90 Park Lane. I was there for a year and we got a Michelin star – it was the first one on my own so it was special.

New York

I settled in New York in 1986. I’m an American citizen and I always felt at home there. I don’t know if I could have built what I did anywhere else. I was at The Drake hotel and was the youngest chef to get four stars in The New York Times. Welcome to America!

ABC Kitchens

In New York I have three ABCs – one vegan, one South American, one farm-to-table. In London it’s all in one, so you might have mushroom bolognese, scallop crudo in citrus, or duck with curry sauce on the menu. It’s the ABC of cooking – all about natural products.