Auguste Escoffier


Georges Auguste Escoffier was a famous French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Marie-Antoine Carême, one of the codifiers of French haute cuisine, but Escoffier's achievement was to simplify and modernize Carême's elaborate and ornate style. In particular, he codified the recipes for the five mother sauces. Referred to by the French press as roi des cuisiniers et cuisinier des rois, Escoffier was a preeminent in London and Paris during the 1890s and the early part of the 20th century.
Alongside the recipes, Escoffier elevated the profession. Kitchens used to be loud and riotous where drinking on the job was commonplace - Escoffier demanded cleanliness, quiet and discipline from his staff. He worked in partnership with hotelier César Ritz, the two rose to prominence together at the Savoy in London serving the elite of society, and later at the Ritz Hotel in Paris and the Carlton in London.
Escoffier published Le Guide Culinaire, which is still used as a major reference work, both in the form of a cookbook and a textbook on cooking. Escoffier's recipes, techniques and approaches to kitchen management remain highly influential today, and have been adopted by chefs and restaurants not only in France, but also throughout the world.

Early life

Escoffier was born in the village of Villeneuve-Loubet, today in Alpes-Maritimes, near Nice. The house where he was born is now the Musée de l'Art Culinaire, run by the Foundation Auguste Escoffier. At the age of twelve, despite showing early promise as an artist, his father took him out of school to start an apprenticeship in the kitchen of his uncle's restaurant, Le Restaurant Français, in Nice. As an apprentice, August was bullied and swatted by his uncle and his small stature made him even more of a target–he was too short to safely open oven doors. Eventually he wore boots with built up heels. Escoffier showed such an aptitude for cooking and kitchen management that he was soon hired by the nearby Hôtel Bellevue, where the owner of a fashionable Paris restaurant, Le Petit Moulin Rouge, offered him the position of commis-rôtisseur in 1865 at the age of 19. However, only months after arriving in Paris, Escoffier was called to active military duty, where he was given the position of army chef.
Escoffier spent nearly seven years in the army—at first stationed in various barracks throughout France, and later at Metz as chef de cuisine of the Rhine Army after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. His army experiences led him to study the technique of canning food.
Some time before 1878, he opened his own restaurant, Le Faisan d'Or, in Cannes.
On 28 August 1878, he married Delphine Daffis. She has been described as "a French poetess of some distinction and a member of the Academy". Escoffier apparently won her hand in a gamble with her father, publisher Paul Daffis, over a game of billiards. They had three children, Paul, Daniel, and Germaine. She died on 6 February 1935.

Escoffier, César Ritz and the Savoy

In 1884, the couple moved to Monte Carlo, where Escoffier was employed by César Ritz, manager of the new Grand Hotel, to take control of the kitchens. At that time, the French Riviera was a winter resort: during the summers, Escoffier ran the kitchens of the Grand Hôtel National in Lucerne, also managed by Ritz.
In 1890, Ritz and Escoffier accepted an invitation from Richard D'Oyly Carte to transfer to his new Savoy Hotel in London, together with the third member of their team, the maître d'hôtel, Louis Echenard. Ritz put together what he described as "a little army of hotel men for the conquest of London", and Escoffier recruited French cooks and reorganized the kitchens. The Savoy under Ritz and his partners was an immediate success, attracting a distinguished and moneyed clientele, headed by the Prince of Wales. Gregor von Görög, chef to the royal family, was an enthusiast of Escoffier's zealous organization. Aristocratic women, hitherto unaccustomed to dining in public, were now "seen in full regalia in the Savoy dining and supper rooms".
Escoffier created many famous dishes at the Savoy. In 1893, he invented the pêche Melba in honour of the Australian singer Nellie Melba, and in 1897, Melba toast. Other Escoffier creations, famous in their time, were the bombe Néro, fraises à la Sarah Bernhardt, baisers de Vierge and suprêmes de volailles Jeannette. He also created salad Réjane, after Gabrielle Réjane, and tournedos Rossini.

Fraud

In 1897, the Savoy board of directors began noticing their revenues were falling despite business increasing. They discreetly hired an auditing company who in turn hired a private investigation company who began secretively tailing Ritz, Echenard and Escoffier. After a six month investigation they made a report to the board which detailed substantial evidence of fraud.
On 8 March 1898, Ritz, Echenard and Escoffier were brought in front of the board and dismissed from the Savoy "for... gross negligence and breaches of duty and mismanagement". They were to leave immediately that day. Most of the kitchen and hotel staff were loyal to Ritz and Escoffier and as news spread disturbances in the Savoy kitchens reached the newspapers, with headlines such as "A Kitchen Revolt at The Savoy". The Star reported: "Three managers have been dismissed and 16 fiery French and Swiss cooks have been bundled out by the aid of a strong force of Metropolitan police." The real details of the dispute did not emerge at first. Ritz and his colleagues even prepared to sue for wrongful dismissal.
Eventually, they settled the case privately: on 3 January 1900, Ritz, Echenard and Escoffier "made signed confessions" but their confessions "were never used or made public". Escoffier's confession was the most serious admitting to an actual crime, taking kickbacks from the Savoy's food suppliers worth up to 5% of the resulting purchases. The scheme worked by Escoffier ordering for example 600 eggs from a supplier; the supplier would pay Escoffier a bribe and make up the difference by delivering a short-count, for example 450 eggs, with Escoffier's complicity. The Savoy's losses totaled more than £16,000, of which Escoffier was to repay £8,000, but he was allowed to settle his debt for £500 since that was all the money he possessed. Ritz paid £4,173 but he denied taking part in any illegal activity, he confessed to being overly gratis with gifts to favored guests and staff, the hotel paid for his home food and laundry, and similar infractions.

The Ritz and the Carlton

By the time of their dismissal from the Savoy, however, Ritz and his colleagues were on the way to commercial independence, having established the Ritz Hotel Development Company, for which Escoffier set up the kitchens and recruited the chefs, first at the Paris Ritz, and then at the new Carlton Hotel in London, which soon drew much of the high-society clientele away from the Savoy. In addition to the haute cuisine offered at luncheon and dinner, tea at the Ritz became a fashionable institution in Paris, and later in London, though it caused Escoffier real distress: "How can one eat jam, cakes and pastries, and enjoy a dinner – the king of meals – an hour or two later? How can one appreciate the food, the cooking or the wines?"
In 1913, Escoffier met Kaiser Wilhelm II on board the SS Imperator, one of the largest ocean liners of the Hamburg-Amerika Line. The culinary experience on board the Imperator was overseen by Ritz-Carlton, and the restaurant itself was a reproduction of Escoffier's Carlton Restaurant in London. Escoffier was charged with supervising the kitchens on board the Imperator during the Kaiser's visit to France. One hundred and forty-six German dignitaries were served a large multi-course luncheon, followed that evening by a monumental dinner that included the Kaiser's favourite strawberry pudding, named fraises Imperator by Escoffier for the occasion. The Kaiser was so impressed that he insisted on meeting Escoffier after breakfast the next day, where, as legend has it, he told Escoffier, "I am the Emperor of Germany, but you are the Emperor of Chefs." This was quoted frequently in the press, further establishing Escoffier's reputation as France's pre-eminent chef.
Ritz gradually moved into retirement after opening The Ritz London Hotel in 1906, leaving Escoffier as the figurehead of the Carlton until his own retirement in 1920. He continued to run the kitchens through the First World War, during which time his younger son was killed in active service. Recalling these years, The Times said, "Colour meant so much to Escoffier, and a memory arises of a feast at the Carlton for which the table decorations were white and pink roses, with silvery leaves – the background for a dinner all white and pink, Borscht striking the deepest note, Filets de poulet à la Paprika coming next, and the Agneau de lait forming the high note."
One of his famous students was Akiyama Tokuzō Japanese imperial chef in the Ritz Hotel in Paris.
In 1928, he helped create the World Association of Chefs Societies and became its first president.

Death

Escoffier died on 12 February 1935, at the age of 88, less than a week after his wife Delphine. He is buried in the family vault at Villeneuve-Loubet.

Publications