George Auguste Escoffier
Birth Year: October 28, 1846
Death Year: February 12, 1935
Escoffier took over the mantle of Antoine Careme; taking the old styles and cuisines and incorporated new styles.
As a young boy, Escoffier grew up in happy family surroundings.
His father was a blacksmith and his mother was a plain homemaker. They lived in Villeneuve Loubet, a village which nestles peacefully below medieval castles, in the neighborhood of Nice, in the Province region.
Escoffier was known to be good-humored, strong and pleasing man. His fine physique, slim and strong body and open smiling face convey feeling of health and friendliness which made him popular to everyone.
Escoffier loved and admired his grandmother; when he was a child, he played with her in the kitchen, and perhaps his constants stay in his grandmother’s kitchen influenced his devotion to the creation of artistic delicacies.
As a growing boy, he displayed his talents in art and showed deep enthusiasm for drawing.
Escoffier was 13 yrs old when his father decided to support his interest in art and took him to Nice where his uncle opened “Le Restaurant Francais.”
Life was hard in the kitchen those days, all the more, for an apprentice. His uncle gave Auguste no special favors. Escoffier experienced all the hardships of the other apprentices. Apart from the work in the kitchen, he did the washing of pots and pan, he went to markets to buy ingredients, and he mopped floors and did all the other physical works in the kitchen.
From his experienced with his uncle, known as a strict and straightforward man, he learned the values of discipline, hard-work, honesty and loyalty. Escoffier always remembered with gratitude the strict discipline and severity of his training. He would always remember with pride the hardships he experienced as an apprentice and would always attribute his success to those experience.
In one of his writings he wrote “honesty serves it purpose and open doors of opportunities but humility keeps a man into reality.”
When he was 19, Chef Ulysee Rohart of the Le Petit Moulin Rouge, the most fashionable restaurant in Paris, noticed his discipline, professional attitude and his passion to arts. Chef Rohart invited him to join his team, first as commis de rotisseur and then as saucier. There, he stayed until 1870 and later joined the military durinf the Franco-Prussian war.
In 1870, while he was in the military, he was appointed chef de cuisine at the fortress of Metz. Out of necessity to feed the military, Escoffier thoroughly studied the technique of canning meats, vegetables and sauces.
He returned to Paris in 1871 as the chef for Colonel Comte de Waldner; in 1872 he joined the Hotel du Luxembourg in NIce.
Escoffier returned to Le Petit Moulin Rouge as chef from 1873 until 1878, he opened his own restaurant, Le Faisan d’Or (the golden peasant), Cannes. After Le Petit Moulin Rouge, he managed Maison Chevet, a fashionable restaurant in Paris.
In 1880, Escoffier married Delphine Daffis, daughter of a publisher. In 1884, they went to Monte Carlo, city in Monaco on the Mediterranean coast, to work as Directeur de Cuisine in Grand Hotel National in Lucerne, Switzerland, during this summer.
In 1890, Escoffier and Ritz were called to the Savoy Hotel in London as general manager and head of restaurant services, respectively. The success of their tandem was beyond expectation. Hotels all over the world grew out their famous partnership. Many hotels throughout the world were establised on the guarantee of their reputation; the names Ritz and Carlton were synonymous with the highest degree of quality.
Cesar and Escoffier openeed the hotel Ritz in Paris, in 1898; a year after, they opened the Carlton hotel in London, He supervised a 60 strong kitchen team serving 500 guests every meal period. Here he introduced the concept of a’la carte.
In 1902, he wrote Le GUide Culinarie and a year after, he founded l’Assocaition Culinarie de Secours Muteuls, an association of French chefs working in England.
In 1904, German shipping company, Hamburg – Amerika Lines, opened Ritz Carlton restaurant, an a’la carte restaurant for the illustious passengers. Escoffier was appointed to plan and organize the kitchens.
8 years after (1912) , while Emperor William II of Germany was on board the Hamburg – Amerika Lines, he exclaimed, “I am the Emperor of Germany, but you (Escoffier) are the Emperor of chefs” Then on, he was known as the “King of Chefs”
Around 1919, he was 73 yrs old, Escoffier decided to leave the Carlton Hotel to retire and rejoin his wife in Monte Carlo. In Monte Carlo, he met the wife of his friend, Jean Giroix. Together, they managed the Hotel De I’Ermitage. During this time, he also helped in the development of the Riviera Hotel in Upper Monte Carlo.
On March 22, 1920, the commander of the legion of honour and the director of technical education conferred on Escoffier the “order of officer of the legion of honour.” Escoffier was the first chef to be awarded with such an honor.
In 1928, Escoffier received the “rosetta of an officer of the legion” by the German Emperor William II.
On the 12th of February 1935, few weeks after the death of his wife, George Auguste Escoffier, 89 yrs old at that time, died in his home, La VIlla Ferdinand, 8 bis Avenue de la Costa, Monte Carlo
Some of Escoffier’s classic creations are peach melba, cuisses de mymphe aurora, moure au beurre noir ou beurre noisette, gigot de mouton a la braise, filet de Poulet saint germain, chaud-froid jeannette
Escoffier as a Leader
Escoffier was noted for his obsession to cleanliness of work area and the hygiene of his employees. He is known for his compassionate but extremely strict and disciplined leadership. His kitchen brigade would remember him saying that a true leader is on that leads by example. He encouraged his cooks to dress and behave even better outside the kitchen. He was concerned too, with his employees’s educational status, and advised them to acquire professional training. His contemporaries would always prefer to Escoffier as a great man whose greatness is based on humility and honesty.
