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Chef Georges Auguste Escoffier

Georges Auguste Escoffier was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary author who popularized and modernized conventional French cooking styles. Much of Chef Auguste techniques were based on that of Marie-Antoine Careme, one of the codifiers of French “haute cuisine.” The Chef’s main objective was to simplify and modernize Careme’s intricate and complicated technique. In general, Chef Auguste codified the recipes for the five mother sauces (Hamilton, 2019). Described by the French press as “roi de cuisinier et cuisinier del rois,” meaning “king of chefs and chef of kings, Auguste was a preeminent character in Paris and London during the 1890s and the early 20^th century. In addition to his recipes, Chef Escoffier elevated the profession. Hamilton (2019) indicates that kitchens used be noisy and disorderly where drinking on the job was ordinary. However, Chef Auguste demanded sanitation, calmness and discipline from his workforce.

According to Hamilton (2019), in Chef Auguste’s kitchen, shouting and anger were not permitted. His workforce drank a particular malt brew that kept them hydrated and clear-headed. Auguste introduced his system known as the “brigade system,” which was used to reduce chaos. Unlike the previous and old model where chefs cooked everything and the moved to the order, in the brigade system, there were stations set aside for meat, sauce, fish, and vegetables among other foods. Thus, the plate moved from stations to station (Hamilton, 2019). This new implemented approach developed an assembly line akin to Henry Ford’s industrialization or automobile manufacturing. While working at the Ritz Hotel, chef Augste would serve five hundred plates within an hour. Chef Escoffier created different dishes named after both the great and the local including Peach Melba, Cherries and Dauphine Potatoes (Hamilton, 2019). His most important culinary contribution was creation of the veal stock. According to Chef Escoffier, a cook is a man with a can opener, while a chef is an artist.