Culinary Notes

I have to read 5 chapters before next week, from the book Professional Cooking 7th ed. by Wayne Gisslen. I'm going to highlight the chapter hopefully I'll remember it better if I share it with someone else.
A History of Modern Food Service:
Cooking is as much a science as an art. cooking techniques aren't based on rules that chefs made up, but they're based on the understanding of how different foods react when heated in various way, when combined in various porportions and so forth.

The Origins of Classical and Modern Cuisine:
I found this section really interesting. I learned that modern food service is said to have begun shortly after the middle of the 18th century. Food production in France was controlled by guilds and people held licenses to prepare specific foods. In 1765 a Parisian named Boulanger began advertising he served soups, which he called restaurants or restoratives - which meant fortifying. The guilds challenged in court but he won.
The French Revolution in 1789 also changed food service. Up til then, the great chefs were employed by the nobles, after the revolution they found themselves out of jobs and the revolutionary government abolished the guilds so these chefs opened restaurants.
An important invention - the stove changed the organization of kitchens in the mid-eighteenth century. The kitchen was then divided into thirds - the rotisserie - the meat chef; the oven under the control of the pastry chef and the stove run by the cook who was in charge of the whole kitchen.

Careme
the greatest chef of the period following the French Revolution. His many books contain the first systematic account of cooking principles, recipes and menu making. He was the first real celebrity chef - he was famous as the creator of elaborate, elegant display pieces and pastries.
He emphasized procedure and order. His goal was to create more lightness and simplicity in his dishes. The same principles are still used by professional cooks around the world today.

Escoffier (1846-1935) the greatest chef of his time. considered the father of twentieth-century cooking. He made two main contributions.
1) the simplification of classical cuisine and menus. he called for order and diversity and emphasized the careful selection of one or two dishes per course. Those dishes that followed one another harmoniously and delighted the taste with their delicacy and simplicity. Lerning cooking according to Escoffier, begins with learning a relatively few basic procedures and understanding basic ingredient.
2) he reorganized the kitchen reulting in a streamlined workplace.

Modern Technology:
today's kitchen look very different than those of Escoffier day in though our basic cooking principles are the same. The process of simplification and refinement is ongoing, adapting classical cooking to modern conditions and tastes.

I never thought of food service as having much of a history, but there's more and I'll find some highlights. I have to know this stuff in a week so hang on and I'll share with you what I learn.