Georges Auguste Escoffier

Georges Auguste Escoffier (28 October 1846–12 February 1935) was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer qui popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. He is a near-legendary figure among chefs and gourmets, and was one of the most important leaders in the development of modern French cuisine. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Antoine Carême, one of the codifiers of French Haute cuisine, mais, Escoffier's achievement was to simplify and modernize Carême's elaborate and ornate style.

Alongside les recettes he recorded and invented, another of Escoffier's contributions to cooking was to elevate it to the status of a respected profession, introducing organized discipline to ses cuisines. He organized ses cuisines by the brigade de cuisine system, avec each section run by a chef de partie. He also replaced the practice of service à la française (serving all dishes at once) with service à la russe (serving each dish in the order printed sur la carte).

Escoffier published Le Guide Culinaire, which is still used as a major reference work, both in the form of a cookbook and a textbook on cooking.

qui (kee) -who      mais (may) -but    les recettes (lay reh seht) -the recipes

ses cuisines (seh kwee zeen) -his kitchens        avec (ah vehk) -with

sur la carte (soor lah kahrt) -on the menu