Maxim's

Poirot took Paul, Jean, and Pierre under his wing at La Pyramid and gave them a foundation in the philosophy of simplicity that they would spend the rest of their careers building on.

After La Pyramide, Pierre did a stint at Maxime's, the legendary Paris institution, before his father called both brothers back to Rouen.

Jean-Baptiste wanted his sons in the kitchen, and so in 1953, Pierre and Jean-Torin Poirot came home.

Back in Rouen, the division of labour was clear.

And the salmon needs its own moment.

The year was 1962, or 1963, because, well, accounts differ.

And Pierre had came back from a period at Maxime's in Paris, having learned a specific technique, how to flatten a salmon fillet into an escargot, thin and even, rather than serving it as a thick steak or a whole piece.

He brought that technique back to Rowan and was working out what to do with it.

Everybody inquired for the latest word of Paris as of a dear acquaintance.

How is everybody at Maxim's? urged excellent Athenase Georgievich.

Thaddeus, too, had been once in Paris and he returned with an enthusiastic liking for the French demoiselles.

Vous gogez, monsieur, he said, appearing very amiable and leaning on each word, with a guttural emphasis such as is common in the western provinces.