Jan. 20–PARIS — Paul Bocuse, who died on Saturday aged 91, was not just one of France's most famous chefs.

He was one of the heroes of the Nouvelle Cuisine movement that reinvented the country's culinary traditions, and an ambassador for French food overseas.

And he trained generations of chefs, both at home and abroad, as President Emmanuel Macron recalled in a tribute after his death.

In his family restaurant on the banks of the Saone near Lyon, diners — or at least those with healthy bank accounts — can still enjoy the dishes that contributed to his fame.

His signature Black Truffle Soup V.G.E., with foie gras and Noilly Prat vermouth, comes with a puff pastry lid and an 87-euro (106-dollar) price tag.

It was named for president Valery Giscard d'Estaing: Bocuse served it when the president awarded him the Legion d'Honneur in 1975.

The Michelin Guide, which describes Restaurant Paul Bocuse as a "temple of great cuisine," suggests red mullet in potato shells to follow.

The last page of the menu bears witness to Bocuse's culinary principles, and also to a certain — well-earned, many would say — lack of modesty.

It bears a quotation attributed to the painter Vincent van Gogh: "How difficult it is to be simple!"

Born in 1926 at Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or just outside Lyon, Bocuse came from a family of local restaurateurs going back to 1765.

He dropped out of school in 1941 to take up an apprenticeship in the kitchen, but World War II and the German occupation caught up with him.

In the final year of the war he joined General Charles de Gaulle's French Liberation Army as a volunteer, suffered a serious injury, and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre.

Home and healed, he went back to the restaurant trade, training with chefs in Lyon and Paris before coming back to the family restaurant in 1956 and beginning his inexorable rise.

His first Michelin star came two years later and the third in 1965.

He would keep it for the rest of his life — more than five decades at the pinnacle of French cooking.

Bocuse became a standard-bearer for Nouvelle Cuisine, the movement that revolted against the country's gastronomic traditions.

Out were heavy seasonings, long cooking, elaborate marinades and heavy sauces: the new gospel was one of shorter, simpler cooking, finding the best produce and allowing it to shine.

And he also bore the banner of French cuisine abroad, as his friend and fellow-chef Michel Guerard recalled to newspaper Le Figaro.

"At the time, Paul was Christ, and we were his apostles!" Guerard told the paper. "He evangelized America, Japan, Brazil, Australia."

And not only evangelized; Bocuse was perhaps as keen a businessman as he was a chef.

Cook books, champagne and jams all became part of his brand, and the prestigious international cooking competition "Bocuse d'Or" also carried his signature.

The Bocuse empire now includes more than a dozen brasseries and casual eateries in France, eight restaurants in Japan, and even one in Walt Disney World in the US state of Florida.

Sometimes known for his coarse manner, Bocuse was also considered to be a great charmer.

On his 80th birthday he publicly disclosed that for decades he had three women as his lovers.

"I have three stars. I have a triple bypass. And I still have three women," he told French newspaper Liberation, which headlined its interview "Monsieur Croque-Madames" — in a pun on the French name for a ham and cheese sandwich, "crunch-madame."

The master's influence on younger chefs, many of whom trained with him and others who attended the Paul Bocuse Institute catering college, is perhaps incalculable.

Eckart Witzigmann, one of German-speaking world's most famous chefs, told dpa that his mentor had perfected the art of treating guests, from greeting them personally and looking after them during their meal to seeing them off.

"He was the model host," said Austrian-born Witzigmann, who was connected with Bocuse since working with his team in the late 1960s.

Both chefs are among the handful of cooks who have been named "Chef of the Century" by France's Gault and Millau restaurant guide.

"It is a huge loss for the culinary world," Witzigmann said of Bocuse's death. "It pains my heart."