Many great chefs were influenced by one man with a huge reputation as a chef and organiser. The first part of the 20th century was without a douby the era of escoffier. Auguste Escoffier was born in Villeneuve Loubet in 1846 and began his culinary career at the age of thirteen at his uncles restaurant in Nice. He cooked in Paris, Lucerne, and Monte Carlo before opening the Savoy Hotel in London in 1890. Eight years later he went on to take charge of the kitchens in Londons Carlton Hotel. For all he had done to enhance the reputation of French cuisine, he was made a Chevalier of the legion o Honor in 1920. He died in 1935. Among Escoffiers most famous creations are Peach Melba, named for the Australian diva Nellie Melba, and chaud-froid jeannette, in memory of a ship trapped in polar ice. a. Lived to the age of 90 worked as a chef for 63 years. b. Knowen as the king of chefs and the chef of kings. c. Lived at a time when the great hotels of london came ino existance. d. Moved even further into simplicity, the sauces and pedestals used by soyer and careme became unfashionable under escoffier. e. Refined and created many classical dishes. f. Great organizer who perfected the partie system. g. Escoffier believed that food should look and tast like food. He disliked sauces and ingredients which disguised food, one of the basic features of his cooking was the case of the fumet or essence drawn from the main food item and then used as the base of an accompanying sauce. h. In 1907 he published 'a guide to modern cookery' still highly regarded by professional chefs today. Renowned French chef (born Villeneuve Loubet, 1846; died Monte-Carlo, 1935). He began his career at the age of 13 with his uncle, who ran a famous restaurant in Nice, then worked in Paris, Nice, Lucerne and Monte-Carlo. In 1890, in association with Ritz and Echenard, two masters of the hotel business, he moved to the Savoy Hotel in London and remained in this illustrious establishment until 1898 when, for personal reasons, he gave up the direction of the Savoy kitchens to take charge of those of the Carlton Hotel, then one of the most famous in Europe. Escoffier’s culinary career was brilliant. He was regarded as the emperor of the world’s kitchens, a title conferred upon him by the Emperor William II, who spent some time on the steamer Imperator of the Hamburg-America Line. Escoffier had joined the company to take charge of the imperial kitchens. In the course of conversation, the Emperor, congratulating Escoffier, said: ‘I am the Emperor of Germany, but you are the Emperor of chefs.’ As a reward for all he had done to enhance the prestige of French cooking throughout the world, Escoffier was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1920, and Officer of the Legion in 1928. Escoffier retired in 1921 aged 74, having practised his art for 62 years. In all the history of cookery, there is no other example of such a long professional career. He died in February 1935, nearly 89 years old. The culinary writings of Escoffier are works of authority. The best known are Le Guide culinaire (1903) and Le Livre des menus (1912), both written in collaboration with Philéas Gilbert and Émile Fétu, and Ma cuisine (1934). Other works include Le Riz (1927), La Morue (1929), the magazine Le Carnet d’Épicure (1911), and Les Fleurs en cire (1910, a new edition of Le Traité sur l’art de travailler les fleurs en cire, 1886). Escoffier created numerous recipes in honour of the Australian singer Nellie Melba, most notably peach Melba. His other recipes include chaud-froid Jeannette (in memory of a ship trapped in polar ice), cuisses de nymphe aurore (a dish of frog’s legs) for Edward VII when Prince of Wales, as well as Réjane salad and Rachel mignonettes of quail, in homage to two great actresses of the time. The house where he was born was transformed into a museum of culinary art in 1966, at the suggestion of one of his former cooks, Joseph Donon.