Recipes that would make a nutritionist faint. Duck fat, foie gras, butter in abundance gave flavor to the dishes of Marie-Thérèse Ordonez, known as Maïté, who died on the night of Friday December 20 to Saturday December 21, at the age of 86. She had made millions of French viewers salivate for years by hosting culinary shows on France 3, including “La Cuisine des mousquetaires” in a duet with Micheline Banzet-Lawton, from 1983 to 1997, then “A table”, from 1997 to 1999.
The cook, originally from Rion-des-Landes, recognizable by her South-West accent and her legendary good nature, leaves cult sequences in the memory of French television. Franceinfo has selected five, between defense of local products and… animal abuse.
1 The XXL burger with foie gras, Landes style
“You will be entitled to a unique recipe, which you will not find in cookbooks”warns Micheline Banzet-Lawton straight away. Just a few days after the Christmas holidays and the galette des rois, there is no time to rest your liver. On January 7, 1992, on the occasion of the 100th broadcast of “La Cuisine des mousquetaires”, Maïté presented her Landes version of the hamburger, based on whole country bread, duck gizzards, strips of duck breast, hot foie gras, “not nourishing, but not bad”and a few salad leaves to garnish it all. “But we don’t remove the fat because it’s good”she warns, simmering pan filled with fat in her hand.
2 Eel stunning
Warning: the video below shows a scene of animal abuse and may offend the sensibilities of Internet users.
For two decades, Maïté and her partner Micheline Banzet-Lawton prepared traditional recipes, sometimes being forced to slaughter an animal in front of the cameras. On June 12, 1992, the two women found themselves having to control an eel, which was trying to escape from the cook's hands. “After that, we will have to peel it and it will be very difficult”warns Micheline Banzet-Lawton. “But no !”Maïté retorts, with a cheerful air.
The sequence, which lasts almost 4 minutes and was uploaded to YouTube twenty-one years after the broadcast of the program, continues to arouse both hilarity and indignation. “Come here my dear, come here my dear, come here my darling”she asserts before attacking the fish. “Don't move, sweetie (…) You won't get my skin (…) Now, we're going to cut it off. There's my darling!” A sequence viewed by more than 1.8 million Internet users on the INA.
3 The lesson for “tasting” ortolans
Let's start with the legal point: the hunting of ortolans, a species of bird threatened with extinction, has been prohibited since 1999. Long popular in fine Parisian restaurants, these sparrows were prepared using traditional methods that showed little respect for animal welfare. Captured alive in a cage then fattened and finally eaten whole, skull and bones included, these sparrows were very popular with political figures like François Mitterrand. A ritual that Maïté explains during a program broadcast in October 1987 in a scene tinged with eroticism: “I'm starting to get fat all over my face (…) I'm starting to suck his butt, oh good mother. Oh it's good! I'm disgusting, I'm sure, but enjoy it Me”, she whispers to viewers.
4 Its advertisement for Bonux laundry detergent
“It doesn’t say ‘woodcock’ here,” chants the Landes cook, pointing to her forehead. Star of the small screen, Maïté also starred in advertisements for Bonux laundry detergent, of which she praised the low price, “only 40 francs” and its effectiveness in getting rid of the grease stains and blood that dotted his aprons.
5 “Do I feel like living in Paris?”
“You are unforgettable, Maïté.” At the microphone of Mireille Dumas on France 3 in 2008, almost ten years after her last broadcast, Marie-Thérèse Ordonez was invited to talk about her family. Asked about her debut in Paris, the Landaise says, rolling her eyes, in front of a hilarious set: “Do I feel like living in Paris?” The cook says: “Life in Paris was very hard, because the first shows were filmed at my house (sic). It was hellish.”
