Caréme...Escoffier...Shaffer?

Today we got into a little history. We learned that up until the 1800s, there were no restaurants. If you were noble, you employed a chef, but other than that, you ate whatever you made at home. Marie-Antoine Caréme was the first person to really open a restaurant. He created Haute Cuisine (High Cuisine). This is the guy we have to thank for the architectural design of food - piéce montées. This is the guy we have to thank for banquets. He was the first to assemble courses - well, he would send out 20 courses all at once. He once set up a Venetian-style banquet where he put high tables and chairs in a hall. Then flooded it. Yep. The guests were greeted at the door in a gondola and boated over to their table.

Then it was on to Georges-Auguste Escoffier. This was the guy. "The Father of Modern Cuisine". He simplified a lot of the stuff that Caréme did. That is to say that he put those 20 courses into a logical order - cold app, hot app, soup, etc. He is also credited with the reorginization of the kitchen - the classical brigade system. He assigned a head chef, sous chef, saucier, grillardin, garde manger, and a bunch of other fancy French words. He was the chef to Napoleon III. He began canning to feed the military. He designed the standard chef uniform. He opened the Ritz in Paris and The Savoy in London (from which he was fired for embezzling). Escoffier was the first chef inducted into The French Legion of Honor. I could go on and on about this guy. I probably will later.

Then we talked about kitchen equipment. You don't need to hear about that.

Week one is in the books kids! I didn't think it was possible for me to be more excited than I was the day before I started, but I don't get to cook for 5 more weeks and I am MORE excited than I was before I started. I'm not sure if I'll do any posts this weekend or not. You'll just have to wait and see.