Escoffier: The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery, Revised

Product Information

Here are the best French cookbooks that are written by actual French chefs. French gastronomy ( la gastronomie Française) has long been renowned for its complexity of technique and ingredients. As a French, I love to cook and I know how the cuisine Française can be intimidating, with its daunting sauces, its perfectly fluffy soufflés, and its masterful manipulation of primary ingredients. That is why you may need a little guidance when making French cuisine in your own kitchen. Béchamel is the mother sauce most of us learn first. The French call them les sauces mères—bases that have simmered over centuries, changing in character and execution with the arrival of ingredients—peppers, nutmeg, tomatoes—from neighboring royal courts and global trade routes. The five modern mother sauces were codified in A Guide to Modern Cookery, an abridged 1907 English-language translation of the original Le guide culinaire by Georges Auguste Escoffier, the chef and writer famed for updating his country’s culinary canon. To the original four sauces (Velouté, Béchamel, Allemande, and Espagnole) enshrined by his predecessor, royal chef Marie-Antoine Carême a century earlier, Escoffier added Hollandaise and Sauce Tomate, and reclassified Allemande. (Mayonnaise, one of his essential cold sauces, is now considered the sixth mother.) Once mastered, the secondary sauces (known as “daughters”) are only a few ingredients away, making it possible to execute the entirety of traditional French cooking and access much of the Francophone food diaspora as well. With colonization, the mother sauces made their way into other cuisines, from Viet-French Sốt Mayonnaise to Creole Sauce Piquant in Haiti and New Orleans, underlining the complex influence of an Old World culinary power.

A lot of Escoffier's ideas and ways of working were based on Antoine Carême's. Careme wrote about French Haute cuisine. Escoffier simplified and modernised Carême's complicated recipes and style. Chef de Cuisine is the traditional French term, and although it’s slightly more common in European kitchens, head chef is the title that’s used most prevalently around the world. It takes many years of culinary education and often decades of experience ​within multiple positions in a professional kitchen to achieve the role of head chef.His focus on appropriate sanitary measures not only bolstered the collective standing of the occupation but also fostered better working environments for culinary professionals. Escoffier’s influence on the culinary world continued to grow long after his death, as his innovative techniques and philosophies laid the groundwork for the emergence of nouvelle cuisine in the 1960s and 1970s. This movement, spearheaded by a new generation of French chefs, sought to further refine and modernize French gastronomy by placing even greater emphasis on simplicity, presentation, and the use of seasonal ingredients. Escoffier, Auguste (1979). Escoffier: The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery: The First Translation into English in Its Entirety of Le Guide Culinaire . Butterworth-Heinemann Limited. ISBN 978-0-7506-0288-4.

By the time of the French Revolution the interest in the culinary arts had intensified to the point where Brillat-Savarin could report:In 1890, Escoffier and Ritz embarked on one of their most ambitious ventures when they were invited to oversee the prestigious Savoy Hotel in London. It was here that Escoffier truly made his mark on the international culinary scene, introducing British society to the refined flavors and artful presentation of French haute cuisine. Often known as just Auguste Escoffier, he was a renowned French chef, restaurateur, and culinary writer who revolutionized French cuisine and modern cooking. 2. What is Escoffier most famous for? The Revolution changed almost every aspect of French life: political, economic, social, and gastronomic as well. In pre-Revolutionary days the country’s leading chefs performed their art in wealthy aristocratic households. When the Revolution was over those who were not subjected to the guillotine and remained in the country found employment in restaurants. The restaurant became the principal arena for the development of French cuisine, and henceforth French gastronomy was to be carried forward by a succession of talented chefs, people whose culinary genius has not been matched in any other land. From the long roll of great French chefs, a select company have made a lasting contribution to gastronomy. The great French chefs Georges Auguste Escoffier’s influence on the social status of chefs cannot be overstated. Through his promotion of professionalism, respectability, and proper hygiene practices, he played a pivotal role in elevating the culinary field, forever changing the way chefs and the art of cooking are perceived and appreciated. VIII. Escoffier’s Global Impact A. Influence on international cuisines and chefs The recipes themselves are clear and simple to follow, but represent only a small subset of French cooking of the early 20th century. An earlier reviewer mentioned that there was no recipe for onion soup; this is true, but it should be understood that onion soup would never have been accepted by the class of restaurant patron Escoffier cooked for. Much of what has arrived on this side of the Atlantic as "French cooking" - dishes such as pot-au-feu, onion soup, and steak frites - is distinctly middle-class, and consequently would have been rejected by the clientele of quality restaurants of the time as being unspeakably boorish. Escoffier personally enjoyed bourgeois cooking, but as an astute, intelligent businessman he provided the haute cuisine his clients demanded.

In line with his dedication to simplification, Escoffier placed great emphasis on the use of lighter sauces and fresh ingredients. He believed that the true essence of a dish lay in the quality and freshness of its components, and that overly complex preparations only served to detract from the natural flavors. Georges Auguste Escoffier’s innovations in cooking techniques and ingredients have left an indelible mark on the culinary world. His dedication to simplification and modernization not only revolutionized French cuisine but also set the stage for future movements, such as nouvelle cuisine, to flourish. Escoffier’s unwavering commitment to quality, freshness, and the art of cooking continues to inspire generations of chefs, ensuring that his legacy lives on in kitchens around the globe. VII. Escoffier’s Influence on the Social Status of Chefs A. Promotion of professionalism and respectability in the culinary field Escoffier is best known for his cookbook “Le Guide Culinaire,” the Brigade de Cuisine system, and his collaboration with César Ritz in the luxury hotel industry. 3. What is the Brigade de Cuisine system?

A word of warning--if you don't eat bacon, this book will be of limited usefulness. At least 75% of the savory recipes contain bacon. Meatloaf (forcemeat) is another staple. As disgusting as it is to grind meat now...imagine forcing it through a sieve by hand all day as the forcemeat-maker. Apparently this was such an art form that there was a guild devoted to the making of it in France. Thank you, wikipedia.