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Gremolata has been tracking the progress of award-winning, California-based, gourmet author Paula Wolfert as she tries to track down an elusive Canadian inventor: Pierre de Serres. In this update, Wolfert has shared with Gremolata a number of new clues that we hope can help us find him or information on where he might be.

De Serres developed and sold by mail-order a low temperature cooking device called the "SmartPot" in Canada in the early 1980s. The smart pot married the concepts of "boil-in-the-bag" and crock pot cookery. What makes de Serre and the SmartPot gastronomically significant is its derivation of the "sous-vide" technique of cooking slowly to precise temperatures developed by Georges Pralus at the famous Troisgros restaurant in France, and later championed by Paul Bocuse, Alain Ducasse, Joel Robuchon, Charlie Trotter and Thomas Keller, among others. (See Bruce Cole's excellent history of sous-vide on his site SauteWednesday.com.)

De Serres' invention would never overcook its subject, since it ensured that it was kept at a constant temperature. A scientist by training, he set about determining the optimal temperatures for different foods (i.e. medium-rare roast beef = 145 degrees Fahrenheit), and built his machine so a home cook could set it accordingly and leave whatever they were cooking for hours.

If any of the clues below mean anything to you, please contact Gremolata at info@gremolata.com.

The Clues:

1. De Serres' company was called "Freedom Cookery" and it's last known Toronto business address was 1235 Bay Street (at the corner of Cumberland).

2. He was born in 1926.

3. He was or is married to Sarah Sutherland.

4. In 1983 he produced a report for Agriculture Canada called "Development of a low temperature meat cooker for the home market".

5. The Toronto Star published an article on him and his cooker in December of 1988, where de Serres suggests leaving a roast beef in his smart pot in the morning and returning from work in the evening to find it perfectly medium-rare.

6. De Serres sent Wolfert the sheet below (click on the graphic for a larger version) on the best temperatures for cooking fish.