Trama school

Last year Chef featured an Ultimate Recipe for a strawberry club sandwich cooked by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, chef-patron of several New York restaurants including Vong (7 July 1994).

But the dish actually originated in Puymirol, a small village in Gascony, not the Big Apple. Michel Trama, its creator, owns restaurant L'Aubergade there. He doesn't mind that a friend of his borrowed the dish: he is quite used to other professionals taking his ideas and passing them off as their own.

Over the past ten years, a handful of his ideas have done the rounds on the international restaurant circuit. His Larme de Chocolat aux Griottines, a chocolate teardrop filled with a chocolate cream and red cherries, has a simplicity and stylishness which makes it unique.

Another creation of his, Cristalline de Pommes, comprises a ball of sorbet made with Granny Smith apples, from which fan his "cristalline" slices of a quartered apple, arranged as if they were still in situ around the core of the apple. It would be as popular as his other creations if chefs could figure out how he manages to dry out the wafers of apples. This is the key to the recipe's success - the apple pieces have to be crisp, transparent and yet retain the freshness of the raw fruit.

Now, different interpretations of his foie gras hamburger are slotting into smart menus, earning a reputation for the likes of Stephen Bull's restaurant Fulham Road (although Bull maintains his burger was his own invention. Certainly it doesn't feature cèpes, potato or balsamic vinegar).

Trama's recipes portray only one aspect of his cooking. They are his calling-cards, visual surprises which attract attention. His real talent, though, lies in making these dishes taste good. They aren't just there for show, they're to be eaten and enjoyed.

At L'Aubergade, his cooking is often hearty and comforting. He has the kind of local suppliers of produce most British chefs would die for. The morels for the "hamburger" may well be picked the same day they are cooked. Even basic herbs such as chives have a vibrancy which they lose after a night in the cold room.

Trama taught himself how to cook, so his methods often seem closer to the uncomplicated country cuisine than to the elaborate culinary tricks he sometimes plays. His roast breast of squab, for instance, is an object lesson in how to matchperfect raw materials with precision cookery. It's roasted so the juices are distributed evenly through the flesh. There's no raw core or dried-out edge.

His meals have balance. Simple-looking, strong-flavoured dishes contrast with the eye-catching ones. But there's always a focal point of interest. He will serve a plain shellfish risotto in a giant shell from the Pacific. The tuile on a dessert not only looks like a tobacco leaf, it also tastes like one, because it has been flavoured with a Havana cigar.

Unlike some of the star chefs, he works in a simple, traditional kitchen. At the busiest times, when up to 40 covers will be served in the 30-seat restaurant, he has only seven chefs working there. Front of house, he's happy to trust the service to young staff, fresh out of college. He doesn't try to compete with the luxury palaces by serving a host of tasters at the start of the meal and dozens of petits fours at the end.

If he were to magic L'Aubergade to the Yorkshire Dales or the middle of Dorset, it wouldn't frighten off the locals.

Michel Trama, Les Loges de L'Aubergade, 52 Rue Royale, 47270 Puymirol. Tel: 00 33 5395 3146, fax: 00 33 5395 3380.