(Not) For The Servantless American Cook

While Julia Child’s opus, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, has seen a healthy revival in interest thanks to Julie & Julia, the original bible of French cuisine remains under the mainstream radar.

  

Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935) was called “the King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings”. He refined French haute cuisine and virtually created the modern professional kitchen through the development of the brigade de cuisine system. His book, Le Guide de Culinaire, is a veritable encyclopedia of French cuisine—an absolutely invaluable source of haute cuisine protocol, how-to’s and of course, recipes.

Since Escoffier’s intended audience was other professional chefs and chefs-to-be, some of the recipes in Le Guide de Culinaire are difficult to execute in the home kitchen. Nonetheless, Escoffier’s masterpiece deserves a place on the shelves of any home cook who appreciates culinary history and restaurant technique. The new translation (available on Amazon for $44) has gone through a cosmetic revision as well. The chic black and white cover makes the book all the more covetable.