Dost Muhammad-GDICA48-TERM-01
Dost Muhammad-GDICA48-TERM-01
GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN
CULINARY ARTS
RESEARCH STUDENT
DOST MUHAMMAD
GDICA-48
GDICA-480312
SUBMITTED TO:
AMBREEN SOHAIB
RESEARCH SUPERVISOR:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2. Table of Contents 2 to 3
3. Introduction 4 to 5
8. References 38
CULINARY ARTS
INTRODUCTION:
Culinary arts, in which culinary means ―related to cooking‖, are the cuisine arts of
food preparation, cooking, and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. Table
manners ("the table arts") are sometimes referred to as a culinary art. The ultimate goal of this
art form is to create a dining experience. Expert chefs are responsible for producing this
experience by preparing meals that are as pleasing to the eye as they are to the palate. To do
this they are required to have knowledge of not only food science but also nutrition, diet and
even a little psychology. A domestic chef means literate in all the tasks that must occur to
prepare the experience.
Culinary arts cover a wide spectrum of disciplines. These include food science and
nutrition, the quality of the ingredients, seasonality, flavors and textures, styling and color on
the plate, and more. Under this vast umbrella, there are many specialties, niches, and job
titles. Despite the term, culinary arts are actually part art and part science. Understanding
what‘s happening on a chemical or cellular level when cooking can give cooks and chefs
more freedom to experiment and come up with unique and clever recipes, pairings, and
plating as well as make ingredient substitutions, as is common in the plant-based culinary
arts.
Therefore, culinarians are disciplined creative that combine science and art to make
something distinctive. While the taste of the food is obviously important, the culinary arts
encompass all of our senses to create a rich and multifaceted experience. A culinary art refers
to everything that goes into a meal, from the appetizer through the entree. This could include
breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks. It can include soups, salads, proteins, grains, veggies, and
more. And the service style could be plated, family-style, small plates, passed appetizers, or
buffet.
Baking and pastry, on the other hand, includes desserts like cakes, pies, petit fours,
chocolates, and more. It also includes breads, pastries, croissants, biscuits, and other baked
goods. Why separate the two? The difference is generally attributed to the way the two arts
are approached. In culinary arts, the recipes can often be open to interpretation and tweaks
made on the fly-a little extra salt, a slightly longer cooking time. In baking and pastry, each
recipe is a scientific formula that must be followed to the letter. It‘s much more precise, and
therefore does not allow for the same kind of adjustments.
The origins of culinary arts began with primitive humans roughly 2 million years
ago. There are various theories as to how early humans used fire to cook meat. According
to anthropologist Richard Wrangham, author of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us
Human, primitive humans simply tossed a raw hunk of meat into the flames and watched it
sizzle. Another theory claims humans may first have savored roasted meat by chance when
the flesh of a beast killed in a forest fire was found to be more appetizing and easier to chew
and digest than the conventional raw meat.
Culinary techniques improved with the introduction of earthenware and stoneware, the
domestication of livestock, and advancements in agriculture. In early civilizations, the
primary employers of professional chefs were kings, aristocrats, or priests. The divide
between professional chefs cooking for the wealthy and peasants cooking for their families
engendered the development of many cuisines.
A great deal of the study of culinary arts in Europe was organized by Jean Anthelme Brillat-
Savarin, a man famous for his quote "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are",
which has since been mistranslated and oversimplified into "You are what you eat". Other
people helped to parse out the different parts of food science and gastronomy. Over time,
increasingly deeper and more detailed studies into foods and the culinary arts has led to a
greater wealth of knowledge.
In Asia, a similar path led to a separate study of the culinary arts, which later essentially
merged with the Western counterpart. In the modern international marketplace, there is no
longer a distinct divide between Western and Eastern foods. Culinary arts students today,
generally speaking, are introduced to the different cuisines of many different cultures from
around the world.
The culinary arts, in the Western world, as a craft and later as a field of study, began to
evolve at the end of the Renaissance period. Prior to this, chefs worked in castles, cooking for
kings and queens, as well as their families, guests, and other workers of the castle.
As Monarchical rule became phased out as a modality, the chefs took their craft to inns and
hotels. From here, the craft evolved into a field of study.
Before cooking institutions, professional cooks were mentors for individual students who
apprenticed under them. In 1879, the first cooking school was founded in the United States:
the Boston Cooking School. This school standardized cooking practices and recipes, and laid
the groundwork for the culinary arts schools that would follow.
The term ‗restaurant‘ first appeared in the 18th century in France. It referred to a
reinvigorating meat broth which people ate to refortify the body. It was not until the French
Revolution and subsequent industrialization that culinary establishments such as we know
them t oday began to appear and develop. However, the modern restaurant is not an entirely
new creation. The activity of eating outside the home has existed for thousands of years.
During Classical Antiquity, thermopolia served food and drink to customers of all social
classes. Archaeological digs uncovered more than 150 such places in the city of Pompeii,
highlighting the importance of this type of establishment. The rather
basic thermopolium served food in bowls carved into an L-shaped counter.
The Middle Ages and Renaissance period saw the emergence of the tavern and inn in Europe,
precursors to the modern restaurant. Often located on the side of a road, they offered food and
shelter to travellers. The meal cooked was at the discretion of the chef and travellers had to
settle for the single dish of the day. Meanwhile, under the Song dynasty (960-1279) in China,
the Empire‘s capital city was filled with establishments serving their customers a range of à
la carte dishes.
In the 17th century, going out specifically to eat a full meal was not yet commonplace. From
the latter half of the 18th century, Paris became the capital of the modern restaurant.
According to legend, in 1765 a man by the name of Monsieur Boulanger was the first to open
an establishment offering a choice of restorative broths and even used the term ‗restaurant‘ on
the sign over his door: ―Boulanger provides divine sustenance.‖ Then, in 1782, Antoine
Beauvilliers opened his eponymous restaurant, which made his reputation. The famous
French gastronome Brillat-Savarin praised him highly. It was one of the first luxury
restaurants aimed at a wealthy clientele. With the outbreak of the French Revolution, chefs
working for the aristocracy found themselves out of work. Those who escaped the guillotine
opened their own restaurants to satisfy the refined tastes of their new clientele, the rising
bourgeoisie.
In Switzerland, the first restaurants appeared only in 1880. In the 20th century, lifestyles
changed and eating in restaurants at lunchtime became commonplace for many workers.
Restaurants started to specialise and target their clientele. Eating in a restaurant in the
evening began to be associated with a leisure activity combining discovery, pleasure and
conviviality, an outing with family or friends away from the household dining room.
Most people today have no clue as to how food in the past was prepared and served for the
traveler, or just hungry diners with money, home or away from home. The professional
trained chef is relatively recent in the historical scheme of things. The development of the
restaurant as we know it only occurred at the end of the 18th century in France. Instead of
one menu for everyone, this new innovation called a restaurant produced numerous dishes for
different diners at different times of the day.
In much of Europe, and France in particular, food preparation outside aristocratic households
was done by various guilds, who had a monopoly on certain kinds of preparations. One
preparation was a "restorative," highly flavored and rich soups or stews. In fact, the word
restaurant comes from the French word restaurer, meaning to restore. Their original purpose
was to restore strength and vigor. So during the reign of King Henri IV (1553-1610) there
were guilds for rôtisseurs who cooked main cuts of meat, vinaigriers, who made
sauces, pâtissiers, who cooked pies and poultry, tamisiers who baked bread, and the
like. Taverns and inns typically served food prepared by these guilds. Food was not the
main focus of these establishments: drinking and a place to sleep was. Food was an
afterthought, and there was a very limited selection. Food was prepared at the guild and
brought in. Diners would share a common table and eat family style.
The first restaurant opened in Paris in 1765 when a tavern keeper, Monsieur Boulanger, hung
a sign advertising his restorative: sheep feet in white sauce. After winning a lawsuit brought
by a guild who thought they had the monopoly on soup and stew preparation, the restaurant
went on to prosper. Boulanger's innovation was to focus on food, offer a selection of
prepared food instead of just a preselected, limited menu, and the food was prepared on
site as you waited. Since it was a restorative, it had a kind of medical application. As time
progressed, this medical aspect was dropped in favor of a diverse selection of ordinary food.
During the French Revolution (1789-1799) the guilds were abolished, as well as the
aristocracy. Their private chefs and kitchens were scattered, but some of the well trained,
sophisticated chefs started restaurants.
The Grande Taverne de Londres opened in Paris in 1782 by Antoine Beauvilliers, the former
steward to King Louis XVIII (1814 to 1824). His innovation was to offer food service
during fixed hours as well as a printed menu. A wait staff was impeccably trained and
patrons sat at small tables instead of a communal table.
By the middle of the 19th century, several large, grand restaurants in Paris were serving elaborate
meals which recalled the days of grande cuisine of the aristocrats. Antonin Carême perfected this
trend of dozens of courses, elaborately prepared and painstakingly garnished and sauced. Cuisine
had become an art form. There were not, however, just restaurants serving grande cuisine. Some
restaurants combined grande cuisine with cuisine bourgeoisie to create a simpler menu.
César Ritz
In the late 19th century, hotels offered the finest restaurants. César Ritz opened restaurants,
first in London at the Savoy, and later the Paris Ritz and London Carlton. He allied
with August Escoffier to make the hotel restaurant a destination, the showpiece of his
hotels. Escoffier refined and simplified Carême's cuisine, and organized the kitchen and wait
staffs in a hierarchical system, with division of labor to make food preparation more
efficient. The first American internationally known chef, Charles Ranhofer (1836-1899)
opened Delmonico's restaurant in New York City. Restaurants were now shaped into the
form we are familiar with today.
In England, Cesar Ritz and Auguste Escoffier were brought over to the Savoy Hotel in
London by owner Richard D'Oyly Carte, the impressario of Gilbert and
Sullivan operettas. Ritz wanted to make the Savoy's restaurant a magnet for London society,
not just the luxurious appointments of the hotel. When they arrived, women seldom dined
out. Highborn women would instead dine at their estates. Even for the men, dining out was
mostly done at one's club, not a restaurant. Ritz worked to change that. He knew that men
and women dressed up and dined out frequently in Paris, Vienna or the Côte d'Azure, for
example, but once one crossed the English channel, a different set of social mores
ruled. Women did not dine out in public, nor was it proper to dine out on Sundays. Ritz
started a campaign for dining in the evening after an evening of the theatre. He enlisted the
help of Lillie Langtry, (former mistress of the future Edward VII and stage superstar) who
helped to get the liquor licensing regulations changed so liquor could be served until 12:30 in
the morning. Gradually, it became more chic for men and women to be seen at the Savoy
Restaurant than in their own homes. But Escoffier's stoves were a key attraction in making
the hotel restaurant a fashionable place to go. Sunday night dinners after the theatre, with
society dressed to the nines, became the event of the week. At the Savoy Restaurant they
mingled with actors and actresses (Sarah Bernhardt), opera divas (Nellie Melba), composers
(Sir Arthur Sullivan) and other artists. So, Auguste Escoffier, one of the greatest French
chefs in history, had a hand in getting women out of their homes and into public restaurants
in England.
People have been eating outside of the home for millennia, buying a quick snack from
a street vendor or taking a travel break at a roadside inn for a bowl of stew and a pint of
mead. In the West, most early versions of the modern restaurant came from France and a
culinary revolution launched in 18th-century Paris. But one of the earliest examples of a true
restaurant culture began 600 years earlier and halfway around the world.
According to Elliott Shore and Katie Rawson, co-authors of Dining Out: A Global History of
Restaurants, the very first establishments that were easily recognizable as restaurants popped
up around 1100 A.D. in China, when cities like Kaifeng and Hangzhou boasted densely
packed urban populations of more than 1 million inhabitants each.
Trade was bustling between these northern and southern capitals of the 12th-century Song
Dynasty, explains Shore, a professor emeritus of history at Bryn Mawr College, but Chinese
tradesmen traveling outside their home city weren‘t accustomed to the strange local foods.
―The original restaurants in those two cities are essentially southern cooking for people
coming up from the south or northern cooking for people coming down from the north,‖ says
Shore. ―You could say the ‗ethnic restaurant‘ was the first restaurant.‖
These prototypical restaurants were located in lively entertainment districts that catered to
business travelers, complete with hotels, bars and brothels. According to Chinese documents
from the era, the variety of restaurant options in the 1120s resembled a downtown tourist
district in a 21st-century city.
―You could go to a noodle shop, a dim sum restaurant, a huge place that was fantastically and
opulently put together or a little chop suey joint,‖ says Shore.
The dining experiences at the larger and fancier restaurants were strikingly similar to today.
According to a Chinese manuscript from 1126 quoted in Dining Out, patrons of one popular
restaurant were first greeted with a selection of pre-plated ―demonstration‖ dishes
representing hundreds of delectable options. Then came a well-trained and theatrical team of
waiters.
―The waiter took their orders, then stood in line in front of the kitchen and, when his turn
came, sang out his orders to those in the kitchen. Those who were in charge of the kitchen
were called ‗pot masters‘ or were called ‗controllers of the preparation tables.‘ This came to
an end in a matter of moments and the waiter—his left hand supporting three dishes and his
right arm stacked from hand to shoulder with some twenty dishes, one on top of the other—
distributed them in the exact order in which they had been ordered. Not the slightest error
was allowed.‖
In Japan, a distinct restaurant culture arose out of the Japanese teahouse traditions of the
1500s that predated today‘s ―seasonal‖ and ―local‖ movements by half a millennium. The
16th-century Japanese chef Sen no Rikyu created the multi-course kaiseki dining tradition, in
which entire tasting menus were crafted to tell the story of a particular place and season.
Rikyu‘s grandsons expanded the tradition to include speciality serving dishes and cutlery that
matched the aesthetic of the food being served.
Despite centuries of trade between the East and West, there‘s no evidence that the early
restaurant cultures of China or Japan influenced later European notions of the restaurant.
Around the same time that Japanese chefs were creating full-sensory dining
experiences, a separate tradition took hold in the West known in French as the table d’hôte, a
fixed price meal eaten at a communal table. This type of meal, eaten in public with friends
and strangers gathered around a family-style spread, might resemble one of today‘s hip farm-
to-table establishments, but Shore says it wasn‘t a real restaurant in several senses. First, only
one meal was served each day precisely at 1 pm. If you weren‘t paid up and sitting at the
table at one, you wouldn‘t get to eat. There was no menu and no choice. The cook at the inn
or hotel decided what was prepared and served, not the guests.
Variations on the table d‘hôte first appeared in the 15th-century and persisted beyond the
arrival of the first restaurants. In England, working-class communal meals were called
―ordinaries‖ and Simpson‘s Fish Dinner House, founded in 1714, served up a popular ―fish
ordinary‖ for two shillings consisting of ―a dozen oysters, soup, roast partridge, three more
first courses, mutton and cheese,‖ according to Dining Out.
Legend says that the first French restaurants popped up in Paris after the French
Revolution when the gourmet chefs of the guillotined aristocracy went looking for work. But
when historian Rebecca Spang of Indiana University looked into this popular origin story, she
found something completely different.
The word restaurant comes from the French verb restaurer, ―to restore oneself,‖ and the first
true French restaurants, opened decades before the 1789 Revolution, purported to be health-
food shops selling one principle dish: bouillon. The French description for this type of slow-
simmered bone broth or consommé is a bouillon restaurant or ―restorative broth.‖ In her
book, The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Gastronomic Culture, Spang explains that
the very first French restaurants arrived in the 1760s and 1770s, and they capitalized on a
growing Enlightenment-era sensibility among the wealthy merchant class in Paris.
―They believed that knowledge was obtained by being sensitive to the world around you, and
one way of showing sensitivity was by not eating the ‗coarse‘ foods associated with common
people,‖ says Spang. ―You might not have aristocratic forebears, but you can show that
you‘re something other than a peasant by not eating brown bread, not relishing onions and
sausage, but wanting delicate dishes.‖
Bouillon fit the bill perfectly. It was all-natural, bland, easy to digest, yet packed full of
invigorating nutrients. But Spang credits the success and rapid growth of these early bouillon
restaurants not just to what was being served, but how it was served.
―The restaurateurs innovated by copying the service model that already existed in French café
culture,‖ says Spang. ―They sat customers at a small, cafe-size table. They had a printed
menu from which people ordered dishes as opposed to the tavern keeper saying, ‗this is
what‘s for lunch today.‘ And they were more flexible in their meal hours—everybody didn‘t
have to get there at 1 p.m. and eat whatever was on the table.‖
Once the bouillon restaurants caught on, it didn‘t take long for other items to show up on the
menu. A little wine, perhaps, some stewed chicken. By the late 1780s, the health-conscious
bouillon shops had evolved into the first grand Parisian restaurants like Trois Frères and La
Grande Tavene de Londres that would serve as the archetype of fine restaurant dining for the
next century.
As shown by the history of restaurants in both China and France, you can‘t have
restaurants without a large and hungry urban population. So it makes sense that the first fine-
dining restaurant in America was opened in New York City in the 19th century.
Delmonico‘s opened its doors in 1837 featuring luxurious private dining suites and a 1,000-
bottle wine cellar. The restaurant, which remains at the same Manhattan location (although it
closed its doors during the 2020 Covid-19 crisis), claims to be the first in America to use
tablecloths, and its star chefs not only invented the famous Delmonico steak, but also
gourmet classics like eggs Benedict, baked Alaska, Lobster Newburg and Chicken à la
Keene.
Marie-Antoine Carême has been considered the first ‗celebrity‘ chef. He was also
known as the ―king of cooks and cook of kings‖ (Kelly 2003: 225). Along his maturation into
the culinary world, his cooking and creativity helped to develop haute cuisine. Haute
cuisine or Grande cuisine is the ―rich, intricate and elaborate cuisine of the 18th and
19th century French aristocracy and upper classes. It is based on the rational identification,
development and adoption of strict culinary principles. By emphasizing the how and why of
cooking, Grande cuisine was the first to distinguish itself from regional cuisines‖ (Labensky
et al 2007: 5). Carême followed strict principles in creating a genealogy of sauces which he
categorized into béchamel, velouté, espagnole, and allemande. In the simplest form they are
thickened milk, thickened stock, thickened dark stock with tomato, and egg/acid emulsion
like Hollandaise (Kelly 2003: 201). These rules are evident and discussed in his five volume
encyclopedia on cookery called L‘Art de la cuisine which is basically a ‗how-to‘ book
on haute cuisine. How did Marie-Antoine Carême become this great chef and create a new
cuisine for the world?
Marie Antoine-Carême
Marie-Antoine Carême was born in Paris, France on June 8, 1784 to the poorest of
parents. He was named after the infamous Queen of France which he would become known
as Antonin for the rest of his life. Carême was part of a large family that might have ranged
from eighteen to twenty-five children of Marie Jeanne Pascal and Jean Gilbert Carême. Many
of his early records were destroyed in 1871 from the Franco-Prussian war so that is why there
is such a large range of siblings. There are many stories of Antonin‘s departure from his
family. The basis of his story is that Carême was abandoned on the streets of Paris and so to
be fortunately picked up by a local cook. Was this fate or a lucky circumstance that placed
one of the future great chefs of the world in the hands of cook? Whether it was fate or a
lucky happenstance that landed Carême into the household of a chef, this new life facilitated
his future into the exciting culinary world. Antonin lived and worked with his ‗new‘ family
for six years until he was the age of fifteen. He worked to earn his keep in the new household
as lowly kitchen-boy in a chophouse that was where the cook who took him in was
employed. The work in the chophouse was basically the bottom of the Paris food chain while
the top or most prestigious was the confectioners or pâtissiers. This would add another
chapter in Carême‘s story of becoming a great chef to the world.
At the age of fifteen, Marie-Antonin Carême started his journey into the world of
pastry. Carême began his apprenticeship with Sylvain Bailly who was a pâtissier in Paris on
the rue Vivienne (Kelly 2003: 35). This was a very fashionable section of Paris and in view
for many locals that would pass the windows of this patisserie. All this work in this shop
may have started Antonin‘s health demise. He worked in conditions that were very unhealthy
because that was the design of the day. The kitchens existed below the house in the late
18th century and some even lived below the street level. Though his work days were long,
hot and foul smelling, Carême would spend his afternoons studying and reading at
the Bibliothèque Nationale where he would research ancient and foreign foods. Along with
studying foods from around the world, his other passion was architecture which would
influence his pastry centerpieces or as they were named extraordinaires.
While working at Bailly‘s patisserie, one of its patrons of Carême‘s windows was another
gourmand named Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. These public displays of his works would
have a big influence on chef Carême‘s culinary life. Talleyrand was a significant French
diplomat which he served from Louis XVI to Napoleon I and other leaders of
France. Carême partnered and cooked for Talleyrand for twelve years. Talleyrand did not
visit Bailly‘s patisserie, but Carême‘s talent was noticed by Talleyrand‘s maitre d‘ named
Boucher. Boucher persuaded Carême to leave his position at Bailly‘s to take a post with
Gendron. Antonin was not of legal age when he joined Gendron, but he worked out a deal
that he could do some free-lance work. Most of these special jobs came from
Talleyrand. These two men had much in common such as both were abandoned by their
parents. Their friendship would last for more than thirty years (Kelly 2003: 49). In
Talleyrand‘s employ, Carême mainly made his extraordinaires, but he gained experience in
both banquet cooking along with his confectionery skills. As time went on, Talleyrand
introduced Carême to many of his influential friends. Through these meetings, Carême
cooked for Napoleon‘s sisters, and by 1803 and with the money he earned from his sugared
centerpieces, Carême opened his own patisserie. At his own place, Carême could create new
desserts. This was where Antonin started to pipe meringue through an icing bag which
nobody did before. Meringue was formed by using two spoons to get the shape that you
want. He ran that business until 1815 or 1816, but it remained an establishment, in name,
until 1863.
Antonin Carême‘s career was gaining notoriety among the powerful and with the nouveau
riche. And with Talleyrand‘s connection to Napoleon, Carême got to make the food
preparations for his wedding banquet along with designing and making the cake. After his
time creating for Napoleon, Carême began his connection to the Tsar of Russia, Alexander I
who was the grandson of Catherine the Great. A few years later Carême worked for the
crowned Prince of Great Britain who later became George IV. With all these influential
people that Carême worked for, he got to travel to many different countries. He worked and
visited countries and cities such as Great Britain, Russia, and Vienna, Austria.
Marie-Antonin Carême contributed many ideas, dishes, and techniques to the culinary
world. One of his main contributions was to the chef‘s uniform. Carême updated the uniform
and introduced a new style of hat worn by chefs. This hat is called the toque. This form of
hat is still worn by chefs today. Carême was the first chef or person to create categories for
the sauces in the culinary milieu. These became the four mother or leading sauces which are
mentioned above in this paper. He also helped to create a new cuisine that branched away
from local or regional cuisine, and it was name haute cuisine. Influenced by what Carême
witnessed in Russia, he changed his service of meals from service à la française with service
à la russe. This modernized the way people served food from all at once on the table to bring
out each dish according to the menu. Carême was also credited with ―introducing cream as
alternative to vinegar in Russian sauces‖ (Kelly 2003: 167). Carême not only had influence
on techniques and dishes, he had some influence on future chefs such as Auguste
Escoffier. Escoffier took Carême‘s haute cuisine and modernized and simplified it along with
adding another leading sauce to the list.
During his last days, Carême wrote in total five books on cookery and desserts. Most doctors
said that he had intestinal tuberculosis, but the main reason Carême was dying was because of
his life in the kitchen. Antonin endured with a low-level carbon-monoxide poisoning from his
days in a charcoal smoked filled kitchens that had no ventilation system. On January 12, 1833
Marie-Antonin Carême suffered a stroke and passed away just a few months from fifty years
of age.
By working at Webster‘s Prime in Kalamazoo and in the culinary world, I believe that it is
very important to learn the history of the kitchen. We as chefs can learn from the past to
move our career and field to new levels of the art of cookery. Today‘s kitchen is still
influenced by Carême by the uniform we wear and the sauces we make, plus the way we
serve our menu in course instead of all at once. I will leave this blog with a quote from
Carême to all chefs, future chefs, and to everyone:
―Advice to young chefs: young people who love your art; have courage,
perseverance…always hope…don‘t count on anyone, be sure of yourself, of your
talent and your probity and all will be well.‖
Georges Auguste Escoffier was born October 28th, 1846 in humble circumstances in
the French village of Villaneuve-Loubet, not far from Niece. He began his culinary career at
the age of 13 in his uncle's restaurant. In those days, working in a kitchen was a hot thankless
job. At the time, the culinary profession was not held in high regard. Kitchens were unclean,
disorganized, and a safety hazard. This was true of private aristocratic estate kitchens, as well
as inns, taverns, and the newly developed place to eat, a restaurant. Young Auguste, as he
preferred to be called, was not coddled but was given rigorous and disciplined training in his
apprenticeship.
In 1865, he moved to Paris and began working for another restaurant, Le Petit Moulin
Rouge. When the Franco Prussian War broke out in 1870, he became an army chef. Auguste
noticed how the military was organized in a hierarchical system and thought he could apply
this kind of structure to the kitchen to gain more efficiency, reduce duplication of effort, and
identify specific staff functions. He organized what today is called the Brigade System with
its clear chain of command.
Auguste applied the Brigade system to the hotel kitchens he worked for. Moving to England
in 1890, working with César Ritz, he transformed the Savoy Hotel in London, then the Paris
Ritz (1898) and then the London Carlton Hotel in 1899. He invented new dishes for celebrity
patrons who stayed at these hotels. The organized kitchen was essential to luxury liners such
as the Titanic, and his menus inspired the last menu in the first class dining room when the
Titanic sank in 1912. He met Kaiser Wilhelm II on board the SS Imperator who told him, "I
am the Emperor of Germany, but you are the Emperor of Chefs."
Besides organizing the kitchen, Escoffier simplified the elaborate recipes and procedures of
his predecessor, Antonin Carême (1784-1833). Carême was a pioneer in French Grande
Cuisine. He worked closely with aristocrats like Talleyrand, the future King George IV and
Tsar Alexander I, and wrote several cookbooks. He is known for large, intricate and
decorative centerpieces and elaborate and involved recipes. Escoffier simplified Carême's
classifications. For example, he distilled Carême's detailed classifications of sauce down
to Five Mother Sauces. He believed that the grandeur of French cuisine came from the
sauces.
Escoffier wrote eight landmark books, including his most famous, Le Guide Culinaire which
is still used today and has over 5000 recipes. The Guide has been translated into English: The
Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery. Recipes stress using the freshest ingredients,
local ingredients that are in season, and simplified preparation that allowed for flexibility that
carries over to our time.
So, why are we concerned with a man whose heyday was over a hundred years ago? Because
so much of what he did still remains with us. He abolished the system where all food came
out at the same time and replaced it with its delivery in courses. He developed canning of
tomatoes, vegetables and other methods of food preservation. He invented the bouillon cube.
Kitchens became organized, cleaner, more hygienic and safer. He elevated cooking to an art
and a profession that workers could be proud of. He was aware of social concerns in the
kitchen. He created a kind of social security for his kitchen staff and was concerned about
their welfare. He created recipes, such as Peach Melba, that are famous even in our time. He
championed fresh, wholesome ingredients from farm to table. His cookbooks are still a
foundation of French Haut Cuisine. He fed the poor because he did not believe in leftovers,
preferring instead to start each day anew in the kitchen, and so donated what remained from
the previous day to the hungry.
In his day, there was a lot of drinking alcohol and smoking in the kitchen. He banned
smoking and drinking and even asked a French doctor to develop a healthy barley drink to
relieve the unbearable heat of the kitchen. The toque or hat and neckerchief were introduced
to prevent drops of sweat falling into the food. Most importantly, Escoffier brought a sense of
calm and order to the kitchen. "Above all, keep it simple" is one Escoffier's famous maxims.
His first concern was the pleasure and comfort of the customer.
Escoffier retired in 1920 and moved back to the Mediterranean area of France. He was made
a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. In retirement he continued to write, his last
book, Ma Cuisine, dealt with cuisine bourgeoisie. He died at Monte Carlo, Monaco, on
February 12, 1935, the pre-eminent chef of France.
When the Franco Prussian War broke out in 1870, Escoffier became an army
chef. While in the service, Auguste noticed how the military was organized in a hierarchical
system. He thought he could apply this kind of structure to the kitchen to gain more
efficiency, reduce duplication of effort, and identify specific staff functions. He organized
what today is called the Brigade System with its clear chain of command. This streamlined
and reduced duplication of effort in hotel kitchens. There were two main divisions in a
restaurant: The Kitchen Brigade and the Front of the House, or Dining Room Brigade. Each
station has clear cut responsibilities. Today, with modern equipment, or a smaller
establishment, the number of positions can be reduced. Maintaining a well-organized kitchen
was key for Escoffier who could be managing up to 60 or 80 members of staff at any one
time. The aim was to cut down on waiting times and to ensure that food was served
efficiently at exactly the right temperature. Most importantly, Escoffier brought a sense of
calm and order to the kitchen. The Brigade system is only for large kitchen staffs, but even
smaller professional kitchens will adopt some portion of Escoffier's organization and division
of labor even today.
At the top was the Chef de Cuisine (executive chef), responsible for all kitchen operations
and all those under him. He developed the menus, the theme of the restaurant and set the
tempo and tone. Beneath him was the Sous-Chef, or second in command. He was directly
responsible for scheduling the staff, placement and changing staff at the different stations,
and sometimes relaying orders from the waiter to the kitchen. Next came the Chefs de
Partie or station chefs (Commis). In the old system, duplication would occur at this point
because each station made what they needed. You could have more than one station making
the same sauce, for example. Now roles were clearly defined at each station.
The Saucier (sauté and sauce station chef) held one of the most important and exacting
stations, demanding experience and expertise in making sauces and sautéing most
dishes. The Rôtisseur (roast station chef) were responsible for roasting and
jus. The Poissonier (fish station chef) was responsible for fish and shellfish. The Potager was
responsible for stocks and soups. The Pâtissier (pastry chef) was responsible for all baked
items, such as bouchées and puff pastry, and supervised the Boulanger (bread baker) who
made rolls and breads. There was an Entremetier (hot vegetable chef), a Garde-
Manger (pantry chef) responsible for cold food preparations, salads and cold appetizers, and
a Chef Tournant, or relief chef. Under these chefs, responsible for a certain station, were
the demi-chefs (assistants) and the Commis (apprentice), in English known as cooks.
The front of the restaurant also had its hierarchy of authority. Even today, students at culinary
institutes study both the front and the back of the house.
The Maître d'Hôtel, or Maître D, is in charge of the dining room and is responsible for
operations in the front of the house. He or she trains and manages the service and wait staff,
works with the Chef de Cuisine to develop menus, is responsible for the wine list, and seating
of patrons.
The Sommelier or Wine Steward's duties include all aspects of the wine service: selecting
and purchasing wines, printing a wine list, assisting guests in selecting the best wines based
on customer preference, price and affinity for the food selected, and the proper opening and
serving of the wine. Wines may need to be decanted at tableside. Some restaurants have a
Beverage Manager
The Chef de Salle, or Head Waiter, is in charge of the service and waiters for the entire
dining room.
The Chef d'Étage or Captain deals with the guests once they are seated. He or she explains
the menu, answers questions and takes the order. Should there be tableside food preparation,
the Captain does it.
The Chef de Rang or Front Waiter sets the table for each course, ensured that the food is
properly delivered, and that the guests' needs are promptly and courteously met.
The Demi-chef de rang or Commis de Rang (Busboy) fills water glasses, clears plates
between courses, fills bread baskets and assists the front waiter or Captain as required.
Sauces are the glory of French cuisine, and his predecessor, Antonin Carême had
previously set forth four grandes sauces as the basis of French cooking: béchamel, espagnole,
velouté, and allemande. Escoffier modernized this list with his five mother sauces by
dropping allemande sauce, which is a variant of velouté, and adding hollandaise and tomato
sauce.
Let's start by defining just exactly what a sauce is. A sauce is a thickened liquid used to
flavor and enhance other foods. A good sauce adds flavor, moisture, richness and visual
appeal. A sauce should compliment food. It should never disguise it A sauce can be hot or
cold, sweet or savory, smooth or chunky. A mother sauce is the base or starting point for
making other secondary sauces. Three of the mother sauces use roux, or flour and butter, as a
thickening agent. A roux is equal parts clarified butter and flour, sautéed for various lengths
of time. The longer you sauté it, the more brown it becomes. For a white sauce, you would
sauté the roux for only a short time, for example, enough to take away the floury taste. Each
sauce has a different flavored liquid as its base. Here are Escoffier's five mother sauces.
1. Béchamel Sauce is probably the simplest of the mother sauces because it doesn't require
making stock. If you have milk, flour and butter, you can make a very basic béchamel.
Béchamel is made by thickening hot milk with a simple white roux. Clarified butteris the
preferred fat to be used. Clarified butter is heated butter where the milk solids and water are
poured off, resulting in a translucent golden butter fat.
The sauce is then flavored with onion, cloves and nutmeg and salt, then simmered until it is
creamy and velvety smooth. Daughter sauces (secondary sauces) made from Béchamel sauce
includes Mornay Sauce (cheese added), Crème Sauce (cream instead of milk) and Nantua
Sauce (shrimp butter instead of plain clarified).
2. Velouté Sauce is another fairly simple sauce whose liquid can vary from chicken stock to
veal or fish stock. Again, the liquid is thicken with a roux. Daughter or small
sauces include Normandy Sauce (fish stock, chopped mushrooms thickened with egg yolk
and cream) for seafood dishes, Mushroom Sauce, or Suprême Sauce (chicken Velouté Sauce
with cream).
3. Espagnole Sauce, also known as Brown Sauce, is a more complex sauce. It starts with
meat stock which was prepared with beef bones that were browned in the oven. This roasting
adds a deep brown color and more flavor than if you just put the bones in water to make a
stock. Espagnole also uses a roux, cooked until the flour is dark brown, but it then
adds tomato purée and a mirepoix. A mirepoix is a mixture of finely chopped onion, celery
and carrots. Roasting this vegetable mixture first adds even more flavor. Since Espagnole
sauce simmers for a long time, the vegetables have time to release their flavors. Secondary
sauces made from this mother sauce include Marchand de Vin Sauce (red wine
sauce), Madeira or Port Sauces, Bercy Sauce (white wine and shallots) Mushroom Sauce,
and Demi-Glace. Demi-Glace, the crown glory of French cuisine, is a reduction of
half brown stock reduced by 50%, and half Espagnole sauce and is the basis of many meat
sauces.
4. Hollandaise Sauce does not use a roux as its thickening agent. It is an emulsified sauce
where the liquid is hot clarified butter and the thickening agent is egg yolks. An emulsion is a
mixture of two liquids that would ordinarily not mix together, like oil and vinegar. In the
case of Hollandaise, it is the lecithin in the egg yolks that acts as the emulsifier. Lecithin, a
fatty substance soluble in both fat and water, will readily combine with both the egg yolk and
the butter, essentially holding the two liquids together. Daughter sauces include Mousseline
Sauce (whipped cream), Dijon Sauce (mustard), Béarnaise Sauce (tarragon leaves, shallots
and tarragon vinegar), and Choron Sauce (tomato paste added to Béarnaise),
and Mayonnaise.
5. Classic Tomato Sauce is the fifth mother sauce. This sauce resembles the traditional
tomato sauce that we might use on pasta and pizza, but it's got much more flavor and requires
a few more steps to make.
First the chef renders salt pork and then sauté aromatic vegetables. Then tomatoes are added
along with stock and a ham bone, and simmered in the oven for a couple of hours. Cooking
the sauce in the oven helps heat it evenly and without scorching.
Traditionally, the tomato sauce was thickened with roux, and some chefs still prepare it this
way. But in reality, the tomatoes themselves are enough to thicken the sauce. Here are a
few small sauces made from the classic tomato sauce: Spanish Sauce (sautéed green onions,
green peppers, garlic and mushrooms), Creole Sauce (same as before but cayenne pepper and
no mushrooms), and Provençale Sauce (sautéed onions, garlic, capers, olives and Herbes de
Provence).
These five mother sauces, then, give birth to hundreds of other sauces. With the addition of
different meats, vegetables, herbs and spices, these small or daughter sauces can enhance an
infinite variety of food.
EVOLUTION OF CUISINES
Haute cuisine is a French term that literally translates as ―high cooking.‖ When you
picture fine dining in high-end restaurants today, chances are you‘re thinking of some of the
key elements of haute cuisine.
When it comes to ingredients used in a haute cuisine establishment, you‘re probably going to
see only premium meats, dairy, vegetables, and herbs — all sourced from high-quality
suppliers. And the preparation of those ingredients? Chefs trained in haute cuisine will
employ complex culinary techniques, like advanced knifework and multi-layer assembly.
Then there‘s the taste to consider. Haute cuisine features pleasurable and harmonious flavors,
with balanced seasonings and rich sauces. There‘s typically nothing wildly spicy or overly
sweet involved in haute cuisine as the focus tends to be on symmetry and equilibrium,
making the meal a smooth and agreeable experience.
Finally, there‘s the presentation factor; haute cuisine is nothing if not elegant and artistic,
with meticulous arrangements and small to moderate portion sizes.
Initially, haute cuisine was enjoyed only by French monarchs and the bourgeoisie in the
1600‘s. Prior to the movement, portion sizes tended to be grandiose, but that changed around
the time that French Chef François Pierre de la Varenne was working for Marquis d‘Uxelles,
a French general and Foreign Minister. La Varenne prepared dishes in smaller portion sizes
than were previously presented, using higher-quality ingredients.
Varenne‘s popularity gave rise to French cuisine‘s new focuses on taste, premium ingredients
sourced out of season and from other countries, and more extravagant methods of cooking
and assembly. There was also a heavier emphasis on the use of rich, flavorful sauces.
Other chefs like Antonin Carême influenced the movement as well. In fact, he and Varenne
published cookbooks, like the famed L‘art De La Cuisine Française Au Dix-Neuvième
Siècle and Le Cuisinier François, documenting many of the recipes and culinary practices that
many chefs still use to this day.
At the turn of the 20th century, Auguste Escoffier had an immense influence on shaping
haute cuisine as we know it today. The entire purpose of Escoffier‘s brigade de cuisine, or the
highly trained hierarchy of kitchen staff, was to successfully prepare the fine dishes and
elaborate presentation that was defining this type of cuisine.
During Escoffier‘s time, haute cuisine was still a hallmark of the wealthy, and inaccessible to
most everyone else. After all, it was the monarchs and upper crust of French society who
could afford to staff a kitchen, provide the tools and equipment necessary for preparing the
exorbitant dishes, and obtain the ingredients used for this type of lavish dining.
2. CUISINE CLASSIQUE:
introduced different meal courses. This practice took much of the stress off of restaurant
kitchen chefs and allowed them to work as teams overseen by a head chef.
Many of Chef Escoffier's ideas for his certain cooking style are found in a comprehensive
guide he wrote and titled Le Guide Culinaire. In addition to the cuisine classique method of
restaurant organization, his book details specific steps for preparing various staples of French
cuisine. Ingredients, recipes, and detailed cooking tips for a variety of dish components can
be found in Le Guide Culinaire. Examples include sauces, garnishes, and frozen desserts
from scratch. Chef Escoffier's goal in writing this cooking guide was to make the process of
learning French cooking both streamlined and authentic to cultural cuisine traditions.
Additional practices in cuisine classique come from Chef Carême's ideas of refining
restaurant meal service by listing courses on the menu in the order they would be served to
guests. He also authored several cooking guides that are still frequently used along with Le
Guide Culinaire in many culinary schools. Chef Dubois' techniques for artistic pastry-making
make up another contribution to the cuisine classique tradition. Several of his ideas were
added to later editions of Le Guide Culinaire to teach aspiring chefs how to make detailed
and high-end desserts with the same quality and efficiency as the rest of the meal courses
coming out of a brigade-run restaurant kitchen.
3. NOUVELLA CUISINE:
French dishes prepared by famous chefs Menon, Vincent La Chapelle and Francois Marin in
the 1740s were the first ones referred to by this terminology. The legendary Auguste
Escoffier generally considered the impetus behind the development of modern French
cuisine, often had the term applied to his creations in the 1880s and 1890s. In the next
century, the term re-emerged almost every time a new French chef took center stage in the
culinary world.
Acclaimed French chef Paul Bocus, along with other cooking masters, created the menu and
prepared the food for the maiden flight of the Concorde airliner in 1969. Celebrated
cookbook authors Henri Gault and Christian Millau used the term nouvelle cuisine to
describe the dishes served on the historic voyage. They praised the menu‘s sophisticated
offerings and complimented the chefs on the simplicity and lightness of the ingredients they
chose. This observation spawned the term cuisine minceur, which translates to ―thin
cooking.‖ The term became somewhat synonymous with nouvelle cuisine. When the
terminology became more common, its meaning began to more frequently refer to menu
items that were less fattening than classic French cuisine.
Cookbook authors Gault and Millau are commonly credited with defining the ten traits that
characterize genuine nouvelle cuisine. The preparation must be simple and require a minimal
number of steps. Cooking times should be reduced to maintain the natural tastes of
vegetables, meat, fish and poultry. Only the freshest possible ingredients should be used in
this cuisine style.
Other qualifying traits for nouvelle cuisine include short menus and lighter food item choices.
Strong marinades, for example, are normally replaced by lighter versions in this style. Heavy
sauces made with dairy products and starches are traditionally replaced with light sauces
created with lemon juice and fresh herbs in this type of cooking. More regional dishes using
local ingredients also are typically preferred for nouvelle cuisine creations.
Unlike former cooking styles, nouvelle cuisine promotes the use of modern equipment and
techniques. The style also requires the chef to consider the best dietary choices for diners in
terms of fat, sodium and salt. Nouvelle cuisine also requires cooks to develop innovative
pairings of foods.
4. MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY:
Molecular gastronomy is a scientific discipline within the culinary arts that involves
preparing food in a way that highlights the physical and chemical reactions between different
food ingredients. This discipline of modernist cuisine encourages chefs to experiment with
avant-garde flavor combinations and food presentation methods. Popular molecular
gastronomy cooking techniques include the gelification of a purée or turning a liquid into
foam.
Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti and French chemist Hervé This came up with the term
‗molecular and physical gastronomy‘ in 1988, and just a few years later it was being taught in
cooking workshops in Italy. Since then, modern cuisine restaurants focusing on molecular
gastronomy have surfaced all over the world, with chefs constantly introducing innovative
molecular cooking techniques.
1. Dehydrating:
2. Spherification:
caviar. The tapioca pearls in bubble tea (or boba) are an example of spherification used in
food.
3. Foaming:
4. Flash-Freezing:
5. Carbonating:
6. Sous Vide:
7. Thickening:
improve their texture without exposing them to heat or additional aggressive cooking
methods which can drastically change their flavor.
8. Glueing:
There are many different forms of molecular food preparation that can create an added layer
of flavor dimension to meals. Here are a few examples of dishes that involve molecular
gastronomy.
2. Creme Brulée: Creme brulee uses a small flame torch to heat the top layer of sugar until it
crystallizes and forms a sweet, crunchy coating.
3. Foam Foods: Chefs have been able to craft foams out of a wide array of ingredients,
coming up with creations such as pineapple or even lobster foam.
4. Smoked Cocktails: Burning wood like hickory or applewood and adding it to a cocktail is
referred to as a ‗smoked cocktail.‘ Adding smoke to beverages can give the overall flavor an
added layer of dimension.
5. Salad Dressing: Chefs specializing in molecular cuisine may turn balsamic vinegar and
olive oil into pearls that you can add to salads in place of traditional liquid dressing.
6. Ice Cream: When ice cream is freeze-dried, the ice crystals in the ice cream become
vapor, transforming it into a form of dehydrated ice cream that is hard, and crumbles when
you bite into it.
Cookery is not chemistry. It is an art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact
measurements!
Culinary Arts is a completer program that offers students an introduction into the foodservice
industry. Through theory, practical and hands on learning, the program is designed to provide
students with the basic skills and knowledge to prepare them for successful careers in the
world of food. Students will progress through a program that includes hands-on education in
food production, while developing professionalism and proficiency in cooking, baking, cost
control, nutrition, sanitation and food marketing. Students in this program gain practical
experience through clinical, school-based enterprises and/or work-based learning in the
culinary industry.
Upon completion of the program, students will have the knowledge, professionalism, and
skills to succeed in the food service industry. Whether it is to further their education, work
their way through college, or go right out into the work force, students will always have the
knowledge and skills of a successful profession that is growing each and every year.
The current focus in food preparation, from hospital kitchens to epicurean restaurants is
trending toward use of more natural ingredients, because everyone wants better tasting, more
nutritional meals. It‘s an exciting time to become a culinary professional!
Culinary professionals need a strong skillset, based on education and experience as well as a
personality that lends itself to the rewards – and, yes, the stress – of working in one of today‘s
top service/hospitality industries. The culinary arts profession is very competitive, and you
know who your biggest competitor will be? You! If you want to join the fast-paced world of
professional food preparation, you‘ll spend the rest of your life experimenting, testing, and
modifying your own recipes.
Your Attributes: The Right Personality + a Good Set of Skills = Recipe for Success
Your personality is what it is, but you can learn ways to communicate with your employees,
employers, and clients. You can develop a better understanding of working with diverse
populations, and you can learn to be polite when a customer complains.
Skills require education and practice. Culinary professional George Krumov says, ―Only if
you become a real chef will you get to experience the beautiful sensation of creating art,
experience, love, madness, and pleasure all in one dish!‖ It‘s worth your time to learn more.
Giulia Simolo is a South African journalist who shares the following personality traits that
can be developed to become a culinary professional:
Effective communication – Your employees will come from varied backgrounds, and you‘ll
need to be careful when communicating. What you think is funny could be an insult to
another. When a client is irrational and angry, you‘ll be understanding and polite. When an
employer wants the impossible, you find a workaround.
Emotional strength – You may have to work long and unusual hours. For example, many
pastry chefs work all night and sleep during the day. You may have to cope with a great deal
of pressure every day.
Flexibility – You‘re finally Head Chef! You worked hard to get there and take pride in your
accomplishments. But if the dish washing employee fails to show, guess what? You wash
dishes. If the delivery of a necessary ingredient is delayed, you change the recipe. Flexibility
may be the most valuable personality trait you‘ll develop.
Organization – You need to know where everything is located instantly. ―Everything in its
place and a place for everything.‖ Your ability to be successful depends on this.
Physical strength – You will be on your feet, moving rapidly for many hours, almost every
day. Stamina and good health are necessary attributes you‘ll need to have to remain focused.
Excellence . . . is a Skill
Chefs need skills ranging from food preparation to napkin-folding to employee training
and more. Much more! Employment professional Alison Doyle shares a detailed list
of chef skills from A-Z, and they should be required reading for every culinary
professional. Here are a some necessary skills to be a successful chef:
1. Cleanliness – You know safe food handling is important, but your work area itself
should be clean, from floor to ceiling.
3. Culinary experience – With time, you will recognize the variety of flavors and how
to use them as well as become more proficient at using knives and other food
preparation and delivery equipment.
5. Good business sense – A culinary professional should always think about ways to
lower costs and increase profits, no matter what industry he or she serves.
6. Motivated – Not only should you have the drive to succeed, you should be able to
motivate others in your kitchen to perform above-average and to take pride in their
work!
7. Multitasking – A chef has – literally – a lot of irons in the fire. You‘ll need the
ability to organize and supervise several tasks at the same time.
8. Team player – No matter what your specialty or where you work, you need others
and they need you. You‘ll want to be supportive of your co-workers and work
effectively with other staff and management.
References:
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Culinary_Arts/Introduction
https://www.escoffier.edu/blog/culinary-arts/what-are-the-culinary-arts/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culinary_arts
1. Rupp, Rebecca. "A Brief History of Cooking With Fire". National Geographic. National Geographic.
Retrieved 22 March 2019.
2. ^ Wringham, Richard. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human.
Labensky, Sarah, Alan M. Hause, Steven Labensky and Pricilla Martel. On Cooking: A
Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals. Upper Saddle River: New Jersey, 2007.
https://webstersprime.wordpress.com/2014/04/11/marie-antoine-careme-the-first-celebrity-
chef/
https://www.iwfs.org/americas/wine-food---friends-1/articles/auguste-escoffier--founder-of-
modern-cuisine
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine
https://www.google.com/search?q=IMPORTANE+OF+CUISINE&rlz=1C1CHZL_enPK978
PK978&ei=5IY1Y5yGDsH06AO5lafYAQ&ved=0ahUKEwiciKCM-
https://www.escoffieronline.com/what-is-haute-cuisine/
https://www.delightedcooking.com/what-is-cuisine-classique.htm
https://www.delightedcooking.com/what-is-a-nouvelle-cuisine.htm
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/molecular-gastronomy-guide
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