Starting... NOW

Alright, so… about that "chapter a week" thing…

Well, I've officially started. Here we go!

Foreword by Paul Bocuse

Very GQ.

I googled Paul Bocuse, to find he's a pretty big deal in the cooking world, and one of the first proponents of nouvelle cuisine (frilly tiny dishes presented delicately but packed with flavor). He's also a very influential teacher, and the biennial world chef championship, Bocuse d'Or, is named after him. For more info on him, feel free to google him yourself. He seems quite an interesting character, but I should focus on the task at hand: finishing the first page of this titanic volume. 

Surprisingly, for such a long and influential career, Bocuse had little to say that could be described as inspirational. Of course the foreword is in French and English, and the French does have a certain flair that sounds romantic and compelling, but the translation basically says, "Yeah, I visited CIA, it's a great school and this is a great book." Well, he never claimed to be a motivational speaker, just a badass French master chef, making tiny plates of tiny food that will melt your face like opening the Ark of the Covenant, and you're an enthusiastic, yet naive Arnold Ernst Toht.

The second Foreword by Ferdinand E. Metz is far more compelling. Metz is the President of the CIA, Certified Master Chef (there are 60 something CMCs, and you basically have to test your ass off for the American Culinary Federation), and was the President of the American Culinary Federation. In his foreword he delves into what makes a real chef. It's not techniques, equipment, special ingredients, etc etc, but the drive to do great things, and the motivation to explore and understand flavors, and it's "subtleties, harmonies, and contrasts." Very encouraging for an amateur chef. I was additionally comforted and elevated to find his intention with this book is not just to instruct, but to inspire to learn more, "for there is always more to learn." Well said, Ferdie. 

Preface by Tim Ryan, Senior Vice President (Jeez, let me get to the damn book already)

Ryan continues with Ferdie's sentiment, looking to inspire the creativity and intrigue in new students. He outlines the detraction from "formulas" to understanding the building block techniques in order to go out and do one's own damn thing. Creativity alone isn't worth that much, but creativity with the tools to execute is pretty neat (yes, paraphrasing). Well, thanks Tim, we are on the same page, literally. I understand I can feel the force (surrounding, penetrating, etc), but don't worry, I won't leave Dagobah early. 

Acknowledgements, acknowledgements…

PART 1 Introduction to the Profession (wait, didn't we just do introductions?)

Yes, humans are interesting in that we are the only mammals that make eating a social event. We also wear clothes, don't eat our young, and dispose of our poop instead of smearing it all over our living spaces. The image I have in my head while reading about the history of cooking. 

An Historical Perspective

Side note: use of "an" in front of an "h" is fine, it just sounds/looks weird because we pronounce the "h" more. Took me a second of "Hey, is that a typo? Wait… no, I guess that's right."

Here's the setting: In a world, where people like to eat the stuff that's immediately around them, but like to conquer stuff they don't own already, the question of "what do you want for dinner" becomes increasingly difficult to answer. Greeks and Romans conquer and claim foods of the vanquished as their "property," which explains the similarities in leavened breads, sweet wines, and forcemeat (basically grinding up meat with varying fat contents, this includes everything from burgers and sausages, to pates and such), since they controlled Persia, Egypt, Babylon, and India. On the other hand, when kicking in the door of modern Europe, the Romans also spread their own techniques of cookery, which lead to stuff like sauerkraut in Germany. 

However, at the same time (at least through the 13th century), culinary education was rather inaccessible to most, as most texts on cooking were held in monastery libraries, so most people just continued to sit in their dirt hovels and heat stuff up in a big pot. 

Then (of course) America (eh… the Americas/New World) blew the cooking game pretty wide open with chocolate, chilies, corn, potatoes, and such. Funny enough, most people thought these ingredients were largely poisonous. To be fair, potatoes are a member of the deadly nightshade family. But in 1774, French agronomist and general common-sense-r, Antoine-August Parmentier started a pro potato movement. 

Post Dark Ages, the rich got bored and decided to get on their new and improved ships and sail around eating, cooking, and generally being fat, generally dying in their 40s or 50s (unless… you know… plague). Move ahead, rich keep movin' and groovin', gorgin' and cookin', aaaand now we're hitting 18th century. So now we have French food in Russia, and macaroni and ice cream in the U.S. (thank you Thomas Jefferson) and all that. 

Thomas Jefferson's "Macaroni Machine" with instructions

Thomas Jefferson having a mac-gasm

Then we hit the World Wars, and we have solidiers coming home with not only Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but a hankering for Baguettes, Gnocchi, Brats, and Sushi. But how can we get these delicacies without the arduous plane ride (who takes boats anymore - we're making man fly!)? 

Ok, so jump back a bit. When the monarchies and feudal system in Europe started crapping out, the personal chefs to royalty (appointed because how can I cook AND carry this menacingly fluffy cat?) started getting jobs with the new wealthy class, and then eventually the middle class. With all of this class jumping going on, we have a mesh of haute cuisine (fancy cookin), and cuisine bourgeoisie (cookin in the dinged-up old pots and pans at home). 

Food technology/farming stuff… industrial revolution turns the worlds food supply into a landscape of Sinclair's The Jungle…

Nutrition is frustrating because people have access to so much nutritional information but don't have the education to process what it means, therefore leading a horse of a disillusioned public, increasingly interested in health fads, to drink is a pain in the ass. People have a tendency to believe most anything that pops on the tube. One notable example would be the 60 Minutes segment by Morley Safer in 1991 entitled The French Paradox, discussing how the French eat way more fatty stuff than Americans, and drink a ton more wine, yet don't have nearly as many heart attacks as Americans do. 

Fact: The French are always nude.

Also butter is delicious.

Restaurant History

So the first restaurant (the way we see restaurants today anyway) opened in Paris (of course) in 1765. Signature "dish?" Trotters. Sheep feet in a white sauce. Om nom nom. Monsieur Boulanger, the tavern-keeper, was apparently brought to court because another guild had a monopoly on the sale of cooked foods, but he won, and other restaurants started popping up thereafter. Then the French Revolution hit, and chefs of the wealthy, fleeing the chopping block, started opening their own places in other countries. 

Ok so now we have some interesting steps forward/back. Before, we had the fusion of haute cuisine and cuisine bourgeoisie. Now, as restaurants start refining their craft, we have what could be considered a step back to haute cuisine, with grand cuisine. Basically the same thing, except now it's in restaurants instead of in the parlors of folks with powdered wigs and cravats. We also have Antonin Careme, who wrote a bunch of stuff, including La Cuisine Classique, influencing the spread of grand cuisine in restaurants. Menus started changing, varying from table d'hôte, (one page menu, not like those monster volumes from Cheesecake Factory) to a la carte, (suggestions available from the kitchen). 

Important people time

Caterina de Medici (1519-89) was an Italian princess (married Henri II of France before he was Henri), and set standards by using a fork and napkin. Her chefs also used a lot of spinach, which so French chefs jumped on board so they'd be "strong to the finish."

Anne of Austria (1601-66) was the wife of Louis XIII, and her Spanish chefs introduced the use of roux (butter and flour for thickening sauces) and sauce Espagnol (roux and veal or dark stock). 

Pierre Francois de la Varenne (1615-78) was the author of the first French cookbook, Le Vrai Cuisinier Francois, in 1651.

Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) was a French Politician as well as a gourmet, and wrote Le Physiologie de Gout (The Physiology of Taste).

Marie-Antoine Careme (1784-1833) was the founder of grand cuisine, and systemized culinary techniques. He also had a badass nickname: "Chef of Kings, King of Chefs."

Charles Ranhofer (1836-99) was the first chef of an American restaurant, Delmonico's, to be recognized internationally as a boss with knife and pan, and he wrote The Epicurian. 

Georges Auguste Escoffier (1847-1935) was the author of Le Guide Culinaire, codifying classic cuisines. He also simplified the classic menu (like Careme) and started the brigade system, which is how a kitchen is run. I'm sure we'll hit that later. 

Ferdinand Point (1897-1955) was a French chef who took Escoffier's model to the next level, and laid the foundations for nouvelle cuisine (remember, frilly tiny dishes?).

Ok, so we've had our history lesson. For your convenience, I have notes for some of our vocab. terms and such listed below. I hope you have enjoyed the first looking into The New Professional Chef. I know I'm pretty excited, I had a lot of fun reading and subsequently writing this entry. 

Oh yeah, and that whole chapter-a-week thing? That's totally out the window. These chapters are FAT.

Cheers

Lessons Learned

Nouvelle Cuisine: Frilly little dishes that melt faces with their deliciousness

Potatoes: part of the deadly nightshade family

Thomas Jefferson: Macaroni fiend, brought that shit to the U.S.

Haute Cuisine: Fancy cooking

Cuisine Bourgeoisie: Cooking at home with the family

Morley Safer: Needs more excuses to drink red wine

Trotters: Sheep feet

Grand Cuisine: Basically Haute Cuisine, but more 19th century

Caterina de Medici (1519-89): Italian princess, loved forks and napkins and spinach

Anne of Austria (1601-66): wife of Louis XIII, liked her sauces dark and thick (there's… a joke here…). 

Pierre Francois de la Varenne (1615-78): author of the first French cookbook, Le Vrai Cuisinier Francois, in 1651.

Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826): French Politician as well as a gourmet, and wrote Le Physiologie de Gout (The Physiology of Taste).

Marie-Antoine Careme (1784-1833): founder of grand cuisine, and systemized culinary techniques. Codename: "Chef of Kings, King of Chefs."

Charles Ranhofer (1836-99): first chef of an American restaurant, to be considered a BAMF, and he wrote The Epicurian. 

Georges Auguste Escoffier (1847-1935): author of Le Guide Culinaire, codifying classic cuisines, started the brigade system. He's a BIG deal.

Ferdinand Point (1897-1955): laid the foundations for nouvelle cuisine