Art presupposes solid craftsmanship. Salvador Dali learnt to paint in the true classical manner before he embraced surrealism and abstract art. The pianist Lang Lang interprets the most difficult pieces as lightly as a feather because he learnt classical piano playing from a sound base. You can only become a virtuoso by continually practicing the fundamentals.
Craftsmanship means working on the foundation repeatedly and understanding the reasons why the basics work so well; you cannot adapt them until they are second nature. According to Escoffier it is essential to truly understand the sauces and their structural composition as one of the most important bases of French cuisine.
Always start at the beginning to really learn the basics of the chef’s profession. You only become a star chef or chef to the royal household by constant practice, learning, extending your knowledge, and developing further. You can only become a virtuoso when you have really understood the basics and appreciate the science of cooking – why heat will produce one reaction and cold another. To be able to feel a passion for cooking, with heart and soul, is the intrinsic condition of being a great chef.
“I really welcome this book and know that, within a short space of time, the copy I will be putting in the kitchen at Mosimann’s will certainly become not only well-thumbed, but also sauce-splattered; surely the essence of a great and important book!”
Anton Mosimann, OBE
The schematic representation of the sauces
| Basic Products | Basic Sauces | Minor (compound) Basic Sauces | Variations |
| Brown Sauces | |||
| Brown StockBrown Veal Stock (Gravy)Veal Gravy | Brown Basic Sauce (Demi-glace) | Variations | |
| Thickened Brown Veal Gravy | |||
| Thickened Veal Gravy | |||
| Thickened Brown Gravy, based on Duck | |||
| Brown Game Stock | Thickened Brown Gravy, based on Game | ||
| Tomato Sauces | |||
| Tomatoes-Concassée | Sauce Portugaise | ||
| Sauce a la Provençale | |||
| Tomato Sauce | |||
| White Sauces | |||
| White Veal Stock | Veal Veloute | Sauce Allemande (also known as Sauce Parisienne)Veal Veloute + Egg Yolk and Cream | Variations |
| Chicken Stock | Chicken Veloute | Chicken Veloute(Chicken Veloute + Cream) | Variations |
| White Fish StockConcentrated White Fish Stock (Fumet de Poisson) | Fish Veloute | White Wine Sauce(Fish Veloute + Cream) | Variations |
| Milk | Sauce Béchamel | Variations | |
| Butter Sauces | |||
| Egg Mass + Butter | Bavarian Sauce | ||
| Béarnaise Sauce | Variations | ||
| Hollandaise Sauce | Variations | ||
| Tyrolienne Sauce | Variations | ||
| Water and ButterThickened with Roux | Bastard Sauce | Variations | |
| Frothy Butter, warm Sauces | Frothy Sauce | ||
| Solférino Sauce | |||
| Hot English Sauces | |||
| Hot Englisch Sauces | |||
| Cold Sauces | |||
| Egg Yolk + Oil | Sauce Mayonnaise | Variations | |
| Vinegar + Oil | Vinaigrette (Sauce Ravigote) | ||
| Oil | Other Oil Sauces | ||
| Whipped Cream | Cold Sauces based on Cream | ||
| Cold Englisch Sauces | |||
| Aspic Jellies and Chaud-Froid Sauces | |||
| Ordinary Aspic Jelly + Brown Stock | Brown Chaud-froid Sauce | ||
| Chicken Aspic Jelly + Brown Gravy, based on Duck | Brown Chaud-froid Sauce for Ducks | ||
| Game Aspic Jelly + Brown Gravy, based on Game | Brown Chaud-froid Sauce for Game | ||
| Ordinary Aspic Jelly + Brown Stock + Tomato Puree | Tomato-flavoured Chaud-froid Sauce | ||
| Chicken Aspic Jelly + Béchamel or Chicken Veloute + Tomato Puree | Pink Chaud-froid Sauce (Aurora Chaud-froid Sauce) | ||
| Chicken Aspic Jelly + Béchamel or Chicken Veloute + Herb Puree | Green Chaud-froid Sauce | ||
| Chicken Aspic Jelly + Béchamel or Chicken Veloute | White Chaud-froid Sauce | ||
| Ordinary Aspic Jelly + Mayonaise | Jellied Mayonnaise | ||
| Ordinary Aspic Jelly + Mayonaise | Whipped Mayonnaise, Russian Style | ||
| Compound Butters and Flavoured Oils | |||
| Butter + Ingredients | Compound Butters | ||
| Oil + Ingredients | Flavoured Oils | ||
Georges Auguste Escoffier
Born on 28 October 1846 in Villeneuve-Loubet, France
Died on 12 February 1935 in Monte Carlo, Monaco
As far as is possible to tell from the records, Escoffier, the king of chefs, was a calm and equanimous chef de cuisine who spent a good 60 years of his life at the stove.
1859 | Started his apprenticeship at the age of 13 in the kitchen, table service and buying of produce in the restaurant belonging to his uncle. Then first jobs as a chef at the Hotel Belleveue near Nice and in the Petit Moulin Rouge in Paris.
1866 | Chef de cuisine in the French general staff, among others during the Franco-Prussian War (1870 to 1871). Prisoner of war.
1872 | Return to Nice as the chef de cuisine at the Hotel Luxemburg.
1873 | Then to Paris, as the chef de cuisine at the Petit Moulin Rouge.
1876 | Opening of his own restaurant Le Faisan doré in Cannes.
1878 | On 28 August marriage to Delphine Daffis, with whom he had three children Paul, Daniel and Germaine.
1879 | Took over the management of the Maison Chevet at the royal palace in Paris.
1880 | Chef de cuisine in the Casino in Boulogne-sur-Mer and in the Restaurant Maire in Paris.
1884 | César Ritz recruits Auguste Escoffier as chef de cuisine. First attempts to rethink traditional French cuisine.
1890 | Took over the management of the kitchen at the Savoy Hotel in London, where important creations such as the Homard à l’américaine, Poire Hélène or Pêche Melba were developed.
1897 | Disputes with the owners of the Savoy. Escoffier leaves the Savoy with the majority of his team and returns to Paris where he was recruited by César Ritz for the reopening of the Ritz on the Place Vendôme for the organisation of the kitchen. The European gourmet community already follows him everywhere.
1899 | Reorganisation and management of other kitchens on behalf of César Ritz, among others that of the Ritz in London. The arrangement to manage the kitchens of the hotels in London and Paris for César Ritz lasted until 1920. Escoffier works on his culinary guide, the «Guide Culinaire».
1903 | His work Guide Culinaire, a culinary guide, is published.
1919 | Escoffier is appointed an Knight of the Legion of Honour by the French President Raymond Poincaré. In the same year, Escoffier, who is now 73, writes his memoirs «L’aid-mémoire culinaire». The first edition appears in 1923.
1920 | Escoffier retires with his wife.
Guide Culinaire
The content of the culinary guide, or to give it its original title in French «Guide Culinaire», still appears very simple, streamlined, extremely contemporary and above all timeless, even today. Even more than a hundred years after the first edition, the content and language of every teaching manual of the present is based on Escoffier’s culinary guide. Even if the basics already existed back then, the culinary foundations were still an unordered