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| French food is so important that many food words in the English language are actually French. These include (right off the top of my head): gourmet, cuisine, culinary, pork, beef, menu, entree, a la carte, cafe au lait, au gratin. |
Posted
on October 28, 2013
As
a child, he showed all the signs of having promise as an artist. And
he lived in France, which was a great place for artists in the
1800s—but at age 13 he was shipped off to be an apprentice at his
uncle's restaurant in Nice.
Guess
what? People can be artists in the kitchen, too.
Auguste
Escoffier (born on this date in 1846) ended up working at a
restaurant in Paris and then acting as an army chef during the
Franco-Prussian War. He learned about efficiency and canning partly
through his military service.
Out
of the service, Escoffier teamed up with Cesar Ritz and reorganized
the kitchens of the Savoy Hotel in London. He invented many famous
dishes, popularized dining out among women (who in earlier times
rarely dined in public!), and helped make the Savoy a huge success.
Escoffier left the Savoy Hotel at the turn of the century and went on
to revolutionize other restaurants.
He
was so good at what he did, Escoffier was sometimes called “the
king of chefs and chef of kings.”
He
wrote a culinary guide that is STILL used today.
He
elevated the title “chef” to a respected profession.
He
streamlined and modernized French cuisine. For example, earlier chefs
created huge lists of sauces to be used in various dishes. But
Escoffier consolidated the hundreds of different sauces into just
five “mother sauces.” It is apparently easier to learn how to
make five sauces very well and then
how to vary them with additional ingredients, than to learn how to
make hundreds of sauces individually.
Try
some French food today as you toast Chef Escoffier!
- Kitchen Daily offers “kid-friendly French recipes.”
- Easy French Food has a resident 10-year-old kid who loves to cook and is eager to share his favorite easy French recipes with others.
Also
on this date:
Plan
Ahead:
Check out my Pinterest boards for:
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