Modern Brigade System vs Classical
Nayeli Hernandez
Foundations
7/9/13
The classical brigade system vs the modern brigade system
Before the the french revolution great chefs were employed by houses of french nobility. With the revolution and the end of the monarchy, many chefs, suddenly out of work, opened restaurants in and around Paris to support themselves. At the start of the french revolution, there were about fifty restaurants in Paris. Ten years later, there were about five hundred. Another important invention that changed the organization of kitchens in the eighteenth century was the stove. This innovation gave cooks a more practical and controllable heat source than an open fire. Soon enough commercial kitchens became divided into three departments: the rotisserie, under the control of the meat chef; the oven, under control of the pastry chef; and the stove, run by the cook. All the changes that took place in the world of cooking during the 1700's led to, for the first time, a difference between home cooking and professional cooking. One way to understand this difference is to look at the work of the greatest chef of the period following the french revolution, Marie- Antoine Carême. Carême's practical and theoretical work as an author and an inventor of recipes that was responsible for bringing cooking out of the Middle Ages and into the modern period. Georges-Auguste Escoffier's two main contributions were the simplification of classical cuisine and the classical menu, and the reorganization of the kitchen. The basic cooking methods and preparations we study today are based on Escoffier's work. His book Le Guide Culinaire, arranges recipes in a simple system based on main ingredient and cooking method, greatly simplifying the more complex system handed down from Carême. Learning classical cooking, according to Escoffier, begins with learning a relatively few basic procedures and understanding basic ingredients. Escoffier's second major achievement, the reorganization of the
Foundations
7/9/13
The classical brigade system vs the modern brigade system
Before the the french revolution great chefs were employed by houses of french nobility. With the revolution and the end of the monarchy, many chefs, suddenly out of work, opened restaurants in and around Paris to support themselves. At the start of the french revolution, there were about fifty restaurants in Paris. Ten years later, there were about five hundred. Another important invention that changed the organization of kitchens in the eighteenth century was the stove. This innovation gave cooks a more practical and controllable heat source than an open fire. Soon enough commercial kitchens became divided into three departments: the rotisserie, under the control of the meat chef; the oven, under control of the pastry chef; and the stove, run by the cook. All the changes that took place in the world of cooking during the 1700's led to, for the first time, a difference between home cooking and professional cooking. One way to understand this difference is to look at the work of the greatest chef of the period following the french revolution, Marie- Antoine Carême. Carême's practical and theoretical work as an author and an inventor of recipes that was responsible for bringing cooking out of the Middle Ages and into the modern period. Georges-Auguste Escoffier's two main contributions were the simplification of classical cuisine and the classical menu, and the reorganization of the kitchen. The basic cooking methods and preparations we study today are based on Escoffier's work. His book Le Guide Culinaire, arranges recipes in a simple system based on main ingredient and cooking method, greatly simplifying the more complex system handed down from Carême. Learning classical cooking, according to Escoffier, begins with learning a relatively few basic procedures and understanding basic ingredients. Escoffier's second major achievement, the reorganization of the