Proclaimed the “king of chefs, chef of kings,” Georges Auguste Escoffier was a French-born chef and restaurateur who revolutionized both his profession and the public’s palate nearly 100 years ago. His impact still resonates today.
To him goes credit for making dining a la carte popular; inventing cherries jubilee (in honor of Queen Victoria) and Melba toast (for the Australian opera singer, Nellie Melba); organizing restaurant kitchens along quasi-military lines; and, so it is said, offering career advice to a young kitchen worker from Vietnam named Ho Chi Minh — advice fatefully not taken.
Shortly before his death in 1935 at age 88, Escoffier was being called a “super chef.” So strong was his impact that it took nearly 30 years for a counterrevolution to take place, the so-called Nouvelle Cuisine of the 1960s and 1970s.
Now, Escoffier may be poised to get his due in the kitchen once more. His seminal book, “Le Guide Culinaire,” got a completely new English translation in 2011, with a price tag of $70.
His recipes provided inspiration to chef Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas, the team behind Alinea, one of the nation’s best restaurants, when they developed the first in a series of evolving menus at their latest venture, Next, in Chicago. Escoffier even pops up as the main character in a new novel, “White Truffles in Winter,” written by N.M. Kelby.
“People do not realize how modern and current he is,” says Jacques Pepin, the chef, cookbook author and television star. “His main motto was ‘faites simple,’ do it simple.”
Chef Tim Ryan, president of the Culinary Institute of America, says Escoffier put his stamp on the most basic elements of cooking, like how to cook a green vegetable or make an essential sauce like hollandaise.
“Escoffier was the Henry Ford of the kitchen,” Ryan adds. “He reorganized the professional kitchen and codified French cuisine. He was a great help in making French food dominant around the world.”
Ryan, who wrote a forward to the 2011 edition of “Le Guide Culinaire,” says restaurant people so revered Escoffier that “they took what he wrote as gospel. The ‘guide’ is referred to in the industry simply as ‘the bible.'”
Why does Escoffier still matter, still endure?
“I may paraphrase a bit but he was talking about a dish and said, ‘The freshest ingredients, the simplest preparation and not too much of it,'” Pepin says. “It could be a motto for many of today’s cooks.”
Dauphinoise potatoes gratin
The recipe is written in a rapid, shorthand style designed for chefs who had mastered all the techniques, could cook without exact measurements and just needed a “cheat sheet” of sorts to complete the dish. This recipe comes from the 1941 edition of “The Escoffier Cookbook,” an English translation of the chef’s “Le Guide Culinaire” of 1903.
Finely slice 2 pounds of fair-sized Irish potatoes. Put them in a bowl, and add salt, pepper, grated nutmeg, one beaten egg, one and one-half pints of boiled milk, and 4 ounces of fresh, grated Gruyere cheese.
Thoroughly mix up the whole.
Pour this preparation into earthenware dishes, rubbed with garlic and well-buttered; copiously sprinkle with grated Gruyere cheese; add a few pieces of butter, and cook in a moderate oven from 40 to 45 minutes.
Next’s potato dauphinoise
Prep: 35 minutes
Cook: 40 minutes
Chill: About 2 hours
Servings: 8
Note: This recipe from the e-cookbook, “Next Restaurant Paris 1906,” by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas with Dave Beran, is inspired by and updates Escoffier’s. The cheese is grated two ways; the larger grate makes for a creamier texture.
Ingredients:
3 cups whipping cream
2 large cloves garlic
3 large thyme sprigs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled
1/2 cup coarsely grated Gruyere cheese (use a box grater), plus 3/4 cup finely grated Gruyere (use a rasp grater)
1 cup Japanese panko or regular breadcrumbs
1. Place cream, garlic, thyme and salt in a saucepan; heat to a simmer. Remove from the heat; cover. Let sit at room temperature, 20 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve.
2. Slice potatoes very thin (about 1/16 inch) with a mandoline. Place slices in cream. Heat to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until potatoes are tender and almost fully cooked. Spread potatoes and cream over a cookie sheet; refrigerate uncovered until chilled. (Chilling allows the potatoes to absorb the cream and makes assembly easier. Refrigerating uncovered allows the steam to escape, eliminating excess moisture for a denser, creamier gratin.)
3. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place a layer of potato-cream mixture in an oval baking dish; sprinkle with some coarsely grated Gruyere. Top with more potato-cream mixture. Repeat until pan is filled 1/2 inch from the rim. Combine finely grated Gruyere and bread crumbs; spread over top.
4. Bake to reheat and set the gratin, 30 minutes. Switch to broil; broil until top is golden brown.
Nutrition information:
Per serving: 502 calories, 40 g fat, 24 g saturated fat, 142 mg cholesterol, 28 g carbohydrates, 10 g protein, 434 mg sodium, 2g fiber.
Tidbits
Escoffier’s belief: “Good cuisine is the basis of true happiness.” Cited by Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey in “Classic French Cooking.”
From one emperor to another: “I am the Emperor of Germany, but you are the Emperor of Chefs.” Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1913.
Impact of Escoffier’s writing: “They were to classic cooking what Blackstone was to the law. Once they appeared even the most complicated culinary arguments could readily be resolved. Chefs who disagreed could settle their differences by resorting to Escoffier instead of coming to blows.” From “Classic French Cooking.”
