The chef with 18 Michelin stars you've likely never heard of
When you think of celebrity chefs and household names, you often think of those who have been awarded a Michelin star for their work.
However, there is one remarkable chef who has received no fewer than 18 stars, but his name isn't well known outside his native France.
He is incredibly modest about his achievements, too.
Yannick Alléno is a 57-year-old father, and he told CNN about how people react to him, and what he thinks really matters: “People say, ‘Yannick Alléno has 18 Michelin stars,’ but it’s a team that is being recognized above all,” he says.
Advert
He paid tribute to his team instead: “I am surrounded by extremely competent and capable people and I am merely the guide. Seeing them all grow is wonderful.”
Alléno has long been praised for his work with sauces, which fell out of fashion in France in particular and in much of Europe after the 1970s.
His love of cooking started at a young age, and dreamed of becoming a chef since the age of eight.
He was inspired by his parents who ran a neighbourhood bistro: “I come from a big family, one of those families that feels out of the novels that we romanticize today,” he told the outlet.
He also credits his grandmother and his cousins for sparking a lifelong love affair with food: "It was thanks to them that I was inspired to pursue this career,” he recalls.
Alléno trained under many prestigious French chefs, earning a place in numerous fine dining establishments.
He went on to win his first Michelin star back in 2000, at Scribe.
The chef adores sauces, which he calls 'the verbs of French cuisine' - a way of connecting separate ingredients and uniting them into something new.
He longed for the days of a Saucier (sauce maker) in every kitchen, and began creating his own unique methods.
Alléno is known for his creativity with sauces, using methods like dehydration and fermentation to pack the most flavour into even the smallest amount of sauce.
He calls these sauces 'extractions', with one popular example being his cacio e pepe sauce, using extracted pecorino cheese.
The chef has also created a Michelin-starred breakfast menu at the Pavyllon London at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Earlier this year, his latest restaurant in Paris also received a star, bringing his whopping total to 18 stars across 21 restaurants.
He record is tied with Alain Ducasse.
He also told CNN about his desire to 'write my own culinary vocabulary, one that can only be expressed through sauces.'
Usha Haley, is from Wichita State University, and has spent many year studying what sets Michelin starred chefs apart: “Yannick Alléno is better known in Europe largely because his culinary style, modern/Nouvelle cuisine, travels differently than more narrative-driven traditions."
“Alléno lets the food do the talking, rather than overshadowing it with a surrounding ‘story'....Diners become incredibly loyal because of the quality of his cuisine."
She went on to dub him one of the most 'intellectually serious chefs working anywhere in the world today'.
Not only that, but the people he trains are following in Alléno's footsteps, too.
He was awarded yet another honour, the Michelin Chef Mentor Award in 2024 after some 40 chefs he worked with went on to receive stars themselves.
Topics: Celebrity, Restaurants and bars
Jen Thomas