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Georges-Auguste Escoffier was a French chef and author who lived from 28 October 1846 to 12 February 1935.

He never worked in private homes; his entire career was spent in commercial, public places. He popularized writing out meal menus in the order in which the items would be served. In the kitchen, he rationalised the division of work between teams, and scrubbed people's image of a chef into one that was clean, meticulous, and that didn't drink, smoke or scream.

He created dishes such as Tournedos Rossini , Melba Toast and Peach Melba. Though most of his cooking would be considered overly elaborate by today's standards, for his time, he did simplify things by getting rid of the over-the-top food displays, and reducing the number of courses. One person who worked for Escoffier was Ho Chi Minh, who in 1914 was preparing vegetables for him.

Escoffier was born at Villeneuve-sur-Loup (later renamed to Villeneuve-Loubet), 9 miles (15 km) outside of Nice. His father was a blacksmith and a tobacco grower.

Escoffier was very slight of build, and his father may not have thought him suited for the blacksmith business. Consequently, in 1859 at the age of 13, the young Georges-Auguste started working for his uncle who, three years previously in 1856, had opened the Restaurant Français in Nice (the restaurant stayed in business until 1910.) In 1865, Escoffier met a Monsieur Bardoux who was visiting Nice. Bardoux invited him to come to work for him in Paris on Antin Avenue at his "Reine Blanche" restaurant (later to gain fame as the most popular summertime restaurant in France under the name "Petit Moulin Rouge".) Escoffier accepted; by 1867, he had become "Chef Garde-Manger" and by 1870, he had become Chief Sauce Person of the restaurant.

In July 1870, Escoffier mobilised as a cook in the French army for the Franco-Prussian War. Not the regular soldiers, though: he was recruited to cook for Marshal Achille Bazaine and other higher-ups stationed on the Rhine. There were two main armies there. One was headed by a Marshal Mac-Mahon, who surrendered his 83,000 soldiers to the Germans on 31 August 1870. This increased the pressure on the remaining army, commanded by Bazaine, forcing it to take refuge inside Metz. Escoffier became part of the besieged French along with 140,000 other French soldiers.

Bazaine surrounded Metz to the Germans on 27 October 1870 (Paris surrendered on 28 January 1871.) Escoffier spent six months at Wiesbaden as a prisoner of war. After the first two months, though, he began working as "chef de cuisine" for Marshal Mac-Mahon and his staff, who were also imprisoned at Wiesbaden (and perhaps overjoyed that Bazaine had finally surrendered so that Escoffier could be sent their way.)

Escoffier was freed in April 1871, and returned to Paris. Sadly, Paris was in the middle of the Paris Commune turmoil, and this time, it was a French army that was about to besiege the city he was in. Escoffier left Paris immediately for Versailles, where the French army was organized from, and went back to work for Marshal Mac-Mahon.

In 1872, all was settled and he was able to return to civilian life. From 1872 to 1878, he worked each winter in the south of France, and each summer as chef de cuisine at the Le Petit Moulin Rouge (formerly the "Reine Blanche.")

In 1874, he started a friendship with the great actress Sarah Bernhardt and remained a lifelong admirer of her. He created "Pêches L'Aiglon" in her honour, and recorded a recipe he called "Sarah Bernhardt's Favourite Consommé."

In 1878, he tried his hand at owing his own restaurant in Cannes, buying a restaurant called "Le Faisan d'Or" (The Golden Pheasant) which he ran for two years.

In 1880 (some sources say 1878), he married Delphine Daffis, a publisher's daughter. He and Delphine would have two sons and one daughter. In the same year, he rented out the Golden Pheasant's building, and went to Paris to manage a catering firm called "La Maison Chevet" located in the Palais Royal; the firm looked after the great banquets held at the Palace. He then worked for Monsieur Paillard at "Restaurant Maire."

In 1884, he moved to Monte Carlo to work there at the Grand Hotel, newly opened by César Ritz. His title was "Directeur de Cuisine." During the ensuing summers, he worked in Lucerne, Switzerland at the Hotel National. Opened in 1870, and purpose-built as a hotel, the Hotel National was considered the hotel to be at during the summer in Europe.

In 1890, he followed Ritz to London, to help at the Savoy Hotel as Head of Restaurant Services (Delphine and the three children stayed in Monte Carlo.) The Savoy had been opened the previous year, 1889, by Richard D'Oyley Carte, an opera producer, but was losing money. Ritz and Escoffier did a re-opening of the hotel in 1890. At the time, women didn't dine out in public places in the Anglo-Saxon world, only men did. Escoffier changed that at the Savoy.

By now, Escoffier had his own team of trusted workers, and he insisted on contracts that allowed he and his team to work other places for 6 months of the year. He and his team went on to Rome, where he oversaw the opening of the "Grand Hotel" there.

In 1897, Escoffier and Ritz were fired from the Savoy, because in 1896 they had opened their own company called the "Ritz Hotel Development Company", which drew on Escoffier's team to help get grand hotels off the ground. But Escoffier merely used the freed-up time to oversee preparations for the opening of Ritz Hotel in Paris in the place Vendôme that year.

In 1898, Escoffier returned to London to oversee the opening of the Carlton Hotel in London by their company, which was to take much business away from the Savoy.

In 1902, Ritz had a nervous breakdown and Escoffier along with Ritz's wife had to take over much of the management.

In 1904, Escoffier was asked by the Hamburg-Amerika ship line to plan the kitchens for their ocean liners. As part of his involvement, he even cooked for German Kaiser Wilhelm II on the their liner called "Imperator."

In 1919, he was made Chevalier d'Honneur in London on 11 November 1919 by French President Poincaré, who was visiting London at the time. Escoffier was the first cook to receive the award.

When he was 73 years old, in 1919 or 1920, Escoffier retired and left London to return to Monte Carlo where his wife and children had been based all those years. He died there at the age of 89 on 12 February 1935 at his home at 8 bis avenue de la Costa, just 16 days after his wife had Delphine died, and was buried at Villeneuve-Loubet .

In 1966, the house he was born in at Villeneuve-Loubet was made into a Culinary Art Museum, an initiative spearheaded by Joseph Donon, one of his former underlings.

His memoirs were first published in 1985 in French.

Books

• 1884 onwards. Wrote for a magazine called "La Revue de l'Art Culinaire"
• 1885. Traité sur l'art de travailler les fleurs en cire. (with his wife, Delphine Daffis)
• 1903. Le guide culinaire (with Philéas Gilbert and Emile Fetu)
• 1910. Projet d'Assistance Mutuelle pour l'Extinction du Paupérisme
• 1911 to 1914. Founded and put out a monthly magazine called "Les Carnets d'Epicure"
• 1912. Le livre des menus
• 1927. Le Riz
• 1929. La Morue
• 1934. Ma cuisine, traité de cuisine familiale

Acknowlegements

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