the history of fine dining

8/3/2019 The History of Fine Dining

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The History of Fine Dining: Haute, Nouvelle, & Fusion

Escoffier and Eliminating the Unessential

Although Carme was the undisputed star of the first half of the 19th century his influence was

eclipsed by a brighter star in second half, Georges-Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), whoseinfluence still permeates almost every area of gourmet cooking. But there were still a few factorsthat were needed to set his stage.

In 1869 Russian table service was introduced into France, under the influence of another great

chef, Felix Urbain-Dubois, who introduced the concept that each guest and course should be

served individually to maximize the taste experience. Prior to this innovation the French hadbeen serving 3 courses. But the first contained all the hot dishes, which cooled; the second

contained all the cold dishes, which warmed prematurely and the third was for desserts. Serving

each dish individually optimized the temperature and textures at the moment of consumption.

A second influence on Escoffier came from Prosper Montagn, another prestigious French chef.In contrast to Carme he believed that the unessential should be discarded. This novel concept, at

first resisted, was completely embraced Escoffier, who became a zealot for dining reform.

Without Escoffier, Montagns ideas might have languished as an eccentric off beat idea.However because of Escoffiers prestige, it quickly became mainstream.

Escoffier refined and modified all aspects of Dining. He accelerated service, shortened menus,

and developed a kitchen team with clearly defined duties - chef, sous chef, meat, fish, appetizers

and pastry cooks. He also named dishes after celebrities and wealthy patrons. For instance PeachMelba, was named after a famous actress of the day. This has become a well-established

tradition. His innovations still dominate Dining.

Born in 1846 and beginning his training at the age of 12, he continued working for 62 years,

finally retiring at the age of 74. His term of active service was exceptionally lengthy even byFrench standards. He had achieved a worldwide reputation by the time he died in 1935. He has

been called the king of chefs and the chef of kings. One of his clients Emperor William II said

I am the emperor of Germany but you are the emperor of chefs.

What were the circumstances of his rise to global fame? For the answer to this question we must

introduce the most famous Maitred the world has ever known - for their partnership was the key

to their international influence.

Cesar Ritz, the ultimate Maitred

Escoffiers front man was Cesar Ritz (1850-1918), who was so influential during his day that hisname has become synonymous with elegance and luxury. Ritzy, putting on the ritz, are just a few

of the ways his name is used.

Ritz became the Maitred hotel at the Hotel Splendide in Paris in the 1870s. During his term

there he came in contact with the celebrated and the wealthy - including Cornelius Vanderbilt


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and JP Morgan. He acted as their personal guide to continental taste. Ambitious he then became

the General Manager of the Grand Hotel in Switzerland and then GM of their Monte Carlo

branch, where he met Escoffier. Love at first sight.

Embracing their destiny together they opened a restaurant in Baden-Baden Germany. Escoffier

tended the Back of the House, the food, while Ritz tended the Front, the service - the idealrestaurant relationship. Impressed with what they were doing, a wealthy patron, Richard Doyly

Carte, invited them to the Savoy Hotel in London. This is when England was at the height of herpower - when the sun never set on British soil - prior to the collapse of their colonial Empire.

Although the prosperous English businessman and aristocracy had plenty of money, the food that

was available remained substandard.

With Escoffier as his chef Ritz converted London society to the practice of dining out. As oneinternational traveler exclaimed, their restaurant made London a place worth living in. This is

the type of Maitred that every restaurant hopes for - suave, sophisticated, charming,

international.

The Ritz Carlton and Haute Cuisine

The Dining experience they offered was such a universal success that the French wanted Ritz to

establish his culinary formula in France. With a loan from Marnier La Pestelle, who invented

Grand Marnier with Ritz suggesting the name, he purchased an old mansion. Ritz personally sawto the refurbishing of this old building with its 210 rooms. His Ritz Hotel opened in 1898 to a

crowd of diners. Due to the immediate success of this establishment, Ritz returned to London to

purchase the Carlton Hotel. It was at this time that Escoffier left the Savoy Hotel, where hed

worked since 1890, to become the chef of the Carlton Hotel, where he stayed for the remainderof his career from 1900 until 1920.

Based upon their international acclaim Ritz and Escoffier established a string of luxury hostelries

located in most of the major Western cities - including London, Paris, Rome, Madrid, New York,Budapest, Montreal, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. They had controlling interest in all nine

establishments, which spanned 7 countries.

The extent of their collective and widespread influence on the Dining traditions of the West

firmly established Escoffiers haute cuisine as The Cuisine of the wealthy and sophisticated. Dueto their international exertions Escoffiers renown came to surpass that of Carmes.

Unfortunately due to the stress of his international business dealings and globe trotting Ritz

suffered a nervous collapse in June 1902. Although he helped open the Ritz in London heremained an invalid, weak with illness for the last 16 years of life. However he left his nameupon the luxury hotel chain that he founded - the Ritz Carlton, which still remains one of the

fanciest resorts in the world.

Larousse Gastronomique


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Escoffier also wrote many books to propagate his philosophy of Dining, including Ma Cuisine,

publishednear the end of his life in 1934. While his books were popular when written, his

aforementioned friend and fellow chef, Prosper Montagn, wrote the most influential Frenchculinary classic, Larousse Gastronomique. It has been variously described as a basic

encyclopedia of French cooking - a kaleidoscopic combination of an encyclopedia and cookbook

- an anthology of haute cuisine. Although initially published in 1938, a few years after his death,Escoffier wrote the forward to this Bible of Haute Cuisine, which was based in part upon his

monumental influence. He writes that the history of food is equivalent to painting a portrait

evoking a countrys whole civilization. This gives some indication how serious the French areabout their food.

It has been translated into myriad languages, the first American edition coming out in 1971, and

has never been out of print. It is continually revised and updated just like any other encyclopedia

- with new recipes by contemporary chefs added as recently as 1984. It is still recognized as thedefinitive reference book for amateur and professional cooks alike - a mandatory part of the

library of every French chef.

Nouvelle Cuisine

However nothing remains the same for long in our transitory world. In the late 1950s a group of

young French chefs - Paul Bocuse, Michel Gurard, the Troisgros Brothers, Alain Chapel - brokewith the guidelines of haute cuisine, which had rigidified due to Escoffiers massive prestige.

They dared to go free form, but only in the sense that modern composers broke with classical

music traditions. These innovators disregarded the codification and philosophy of haute cuisine,but not its rules or essence. Plate presentation, refined sauces, and high quality ingredients still

were retained. Just the manifestations varied. This break with tradition was called nouvelle

cuisine, a phrase coined by the influential restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau.

A major difference between haute and nouvelle was the basic sauce. In the attempt to avoid richsauces for health reasons, rouxs, the standard of the old guard, were replaced by reductions,

which used no flour as a filler or butter to thicken. Further these groundbreaking chefs employed

novel combinations in small quantities, using only the best quality and ever on the search forunique ingredients. This led to a greater focus upon the purchasing of food. Perhaps more

importantly in breaking the chains of the past, these creative and inventive practitioners

established the chef as a creative artist in his own right, rather than someone who was an expertat duplicating the masters of the past.

Fusion

This break with traditions led inevitability to the next culinary wave - fusion, which could be

called an extension of nouvelle. In this style international cuisines are mixed in creative ways.

This differs from the nouvelle style, which was still predominantly French. For instance fusionmight mix Asian and European techniques but in the French Dining setting with wine paring,

courses, and the same attentive service, albeit more casual - not quite so formal. However quality

ingredients prepared creatively and served properly are still of utmost importance.


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To indicate the importance of this movement it has been suggested that one of Frances 3 Star

chefs committed suicide partly at least because he didnt have the background to move into

fusion. A rising star in the nouvelle tradition he was unable to continue on the crest of theculinary wave because he was so grounded in the French tradition that he had no international

culinary experience.

According to some the French Dining ritual is the only structured and organized system of

cuisine in the world. While this view has some merit, I think it is a bit ethnocentric. Platepresentation with specific courses is very much a part of most of the sophisticated cultures of the

world - perhaps not as codified, but, as weve seen, even the French system has been subject to

variation. However the one element that sets French cuisine apart from the rest is the beverageparing with the courses - specifically wine. And while the Asians have their sake, there are no

vintages - no aging - which eliminates an entire dimension of complexity.

The universality of the restaurant experience

Despite the relatively recent beginnings of dining out, at present the restaurant experience isuniversal. Most of us would be hard put to find someone who has never had a restaurant

experience. While not everyone has worked in a restaurant, almost everyone has eaten at a

restaurant of some level, whether Coffee Shop or Fine Dining. I think it would be safe to say that

the Restaurant experience is nearly universal in most of the United States, perhaps in much of thecitified world.

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