He is the “Chef of the Kings and the King of Chefs”
Georges Auguste Escoffier was born on the 28th of October 1846 at Villeneuve-Loubet in France. At the age of 13, his father took him to Nice where he apprenticed at a restaurant owned by his uncle.
His culinary career started at Le Petit Moulin Rouge restaurant in Paris and then he moved between Monte Carlo, Switzerland and London. During the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, Escoffier served in the army as Chef de Cuisine; this is when he discovered the need for long shelf life food to feed the army which motivated him to start studying different techniques of canning and preserving meats and vegetables.
In Monte Carlo, he met Cesar Ritz with whom he brought significant changes to the hotels’ industry. At the Savoy Hotel in London where Escoffier was the Head of Restaurant Services, he created in 1893 the famous dessert “Pêche Melba” in honor of the famous singer at that time, Nellie Melba when she was staying at the hotel.
In 1899, He moved to the Carlton Hotel where, based on what Antoine Carême started before him, Escoffier built up a fabulous reputation for Haute Cuisine. His main achievements during his years in London consisted mainly on modernizing the menu, revolutionizing the art of cooking and organizing the professional kitchen.
Throughout his career, Escoffier published a good number of books, many of which are still considered valuable documents until our days, out of others we name: Le Guide Culinaire (1903), Le Livre des Menus (1912), and Ma Cuisine (1934).
Escoffier worked on other subjects like the organization of programs to feed the hungry and other programs to financially help retired chefs.
In 1920 the French government made him a Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur, and later an officer in 1928.
With his wife, Delphine Daffis, he retired to Monte Carlo in 1921 where he died on February 12, 1935.