What Concept Was Auguste Escoffier Attempting to Develop Through His Work?

Name: Hyun Seok (Hayden), Kim

Date: September 2, 2014

Class: ECE444V

                 What concept was Auguste Escoffier attempting to develop through his work?

        Unlike other scientists and cooks, Auguste Escoffier attempted different ways to cook. One of them was to use veal stock which at that time no cooks were going to use for their food. He focused on what every other cooks didn’t consider such as the tops of celery and the scraps of tendon and oxtail. Also, unlike the tendency to see cooking as a semi-mystical endeavor, he was trying to feel tastes of food and follow his sensations. He especially emphasizes on how we taste food with the tongue. Even he said that the only important thing is the experience of the dish. However, those ways are not the factors of Escoffier. Escoffier tried to make his dishes taste haute by relying on his precious collection of stocks. Besides, in order to give a depth and density of flavor he used deglazing which was the secret of Escoffier’s success (Jonah Lehrer, 2008).

        When it comes to the veal stock, there was a special reason why veal stock made any food taste good. It was L-glutamate in veal stock that made food taste better. This was the result of the effort of Escoffier to try to learn how we taste food. One story in textbook explains about L-glutamate. In Japan, dashi has been widely used for cooking like the same way Escoffier used stock for cooking. When all other scientists kept insisting that tongue sensed only four flavors: sour, sweet things, bitter flavors, and saltiness, the Japanese guy, Ikeda, said there are other flavors that people can sense for cooking. Ikeda tried his best to discover the secret of the taste of the dashi. Finally, it turned out that his secret molecule was glutamic acid, the precursor of L-glutamate which was in the veal stock of Escoffier. According to the textbook (p 62), “our human body produces more than forty grams of glutamate a day, so we constantly crave an amino acid refill”. Endless patience and efforts of Escoffier to take experiences seriously led to discovery of new taste which every scientists ignored but human beings instinctively cannot help but like.

        On top of the veal stock, Escoffier didn’t want to make his food with complicated ways. Because he thought food was meant to be eaten, what he focused on was to make food as fast and simple as possible. Service a la russe system showed well what he favored. Today’s course menu is originated from the Service a la russe. He hated seeing cooking as just ostentatious food displays, so that he tried to streamline the design of cooking and to decrease the courses. These changes of style of cooking led to changes of kitchen organization. He combined all personal sections to cook as simple and fast as possible.  Also, there was another culinary method which was to make food be served hot. According to him, “The customers finds that the dish is flat and insipid unless it is served absolutely boiling hot.” (Jonah Lehrer, 2008)