History of French Cuisine
Escoffier, Careme and de la Varenne Lay Foundation of Great Cuisine
French Cuisine is the style of cooking that all others are compared against. This Cuisine is a result of centuries of political and social change in France.
French Cuisine is the most refined style of cooking in the world. This cuisine is a result of centuries of political and social change throughout France. It wasn't until the year 1765 that restaurants in France could make and sell food. Up until this point foods to be sold had to be purchased from the food guilds. A tavern owner named Boulanger served soups, challenging the guilds in court, and won. Boulanger called these soups restaurants, also known as restoratives, and will be forever credited with the term we all use today.
Out of Work French Chefs Start First Restaurants
Many great chefs of France worked for royalty, dukes and the noble families. With the French revolution and the fall of the monarchy, many private chefs were now out of jobs. With Restaurant owners now able to make and sell food many of these great chefs opened their own restaurants. Ten years later you could find more than 500 restaurants in and around Paris alone, never mind all of France.
Many of these great master chefs refined the style of cuisine we all know as Classical Cuisine. The three most important of these chefs were Francois Pierre de la Varenne, who wrote the first cookbook on French Cuisine, refining a lot of techniques. Marie Antoine Careme created the majority of Classical Cuisine's techniques and recipes. Finally - and perhaps most influential - was George Auguste Escoffie, whose work and books are still the most important references in the world of Classical Cuisine today.
Escoffier and La Guide Culinaire
Escoffier took Careme's work and simplified it, using fewer spices and heavy sauces. Escoffier is also credited with creating the brigade system for organization still used in kitchens all over the world. Escoffier is also the great chef who created a la carte dining which is the largest style of menu in the world. Escoffier's major work was the book La Guide Culinaire, which is a classically trained chef's best resource and one of the largest books used in culinary schools today.
Intense technique, elaborate steps of service, and most importantly, obsessive attention to detail, have made this cuisine what it is today. This cuisine relies on regimented cooks and chefs following the fundamental techniques created by these great masters. This cuisine must be cooked with heart and passion, needs to be executed with perfection, and only the strong, highly trained, and most skillful of cooks can succeed.
Stay tuned for more on this amazing cuisine as this is simply an introduction of many great articles on this topic to come.
