CHEFS

Marie-Antoine Car me

Marie-Antoine Car me became known as the king of cooks and cook of kings . He wore a toque blanche (chef s hat). It was based on the hats that were worn by French magistrates. He had an interest in creating architectural models out of sugar. In 1815 the Prince Regent appointed him to be his chef. He stayed for two years and then moved to the Court of St Petersburg.

Auguste Escoffier

The French chef Auguste Escoffier modernised the five mother sauces of French cuisine - b chamel, espagnole, hollandaise, tomato, and velout . In 1890 he was appointed to be The Savoy hotel's first maitre chef des cuisines. He had served in the French military. His brigade system of running a kitchen was based on how an army unit was organised and operated. He improved kitchen working conditions, forged the modern image of the chef, and set the tone for modern cooking with his maxim Faites simples . He wore high heels - so that he could see into the pans on the back ranges. Escoffier created the peach melba for the soprano opera singer Dame Nellie Melba, who was appearing in Wagner's Lohengrin at the Royal Opera House. He and Cesar Ritz, the hotel s manager, were sacked by The Savoy's owners after they had admitted to having engaged in systematic fraud at their expense.

Location: Savoy Court, WC2R 0EZ (red, blue)

See Also: HOTELS The Savoy Hotel

Les Roux

Albert Roux worked as a chef in the British Embassy. In 1959 he moved to Kent to become the chef of the Cazalet family. In 1963 his brother Michel moved to Britain to work for the Rothschild family. In 1967, with financial backing from the Cazalets, the brothers opened Le Gavroche. Chefs who trained at the restaurant included Rowley Leigh, Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing, and Marco Pierre White.

Location: Le Gavroche, 43 Upper Brook Street, W1K 7QR (orange, red)

Website: www.le-gavroche.co.uk

Molecular Gastronomy

In 1969 Nicholas Kurti (1908-1998), a Hungarian-born, University of Oxford physicist, delivered a lecture at the Royal Institution that was entitled The Physicist In The Kitchen. This marked a foundation of molecular gastronomy , a term he coined in order to secure academic funding. He used microwave absorption to cook a reversed baked Alaska that had an inside that was hot and an outside that was cold.¹

Location: 21 Albemarle Street, W1S 4BS (red, brown)

¹. In 1995 Heston Blumenthal opened The Fat Duck restaurant at Bray.

Post-French Classical

In 1987 both The River Caf and Kensington Place opened. Both broke with the classical French style.

Location: Kensington Place, 201 Kensington Church Street, W8 7LX (blue, brown)

The River Caf , Thames Wharf, Rainville Road, W6 9HA

Website: www.rivercafe.co.uk

Marco-Pierre White

Marco-Pierre White had worked at Le Gavroche, Le Manoir and Pierre Koffmann's La Tante Claire.

White cooked in a classical French style.

The initial brigade at Harvey's included Gordon Ramsay, Phil Howard, and Stephen Terry.

In 1994 White became the first British-born chef to be awarded three Michelin stars, as well as the youngest to receive the distinction up to that time.

Website: www.marcopierrewhite.co.uk

David Backhouse 2024