''Haute cuisine'' (; ) or ''grande cuisine'' is a style of cooking characterised by meticulous preparation, elaborate presentation, and the use of high quality ingredients. Typically prepared by highly skilled

gourmet Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have ...

chefs, haute cuisine dishes are renowned for their high quality and are often offered at premium prices.

Early history

''Haute cuisine'' represents the cooking and eating of carefully prepared food from regular and premium ingredients, prepared by specialized chefs, and commissioned by those with the financial wherewithal to do so. It has had a long evolution through the monarchy and the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

and their ability to explore and afford prepared dishes with exotic and varied flavors and looking like architectural wonders. ''Haute cuisine'' distinguished itself from regular French cuisine by what was cooked and served, by obtaining premium ingredients such as fruit out of season, and by using ingredients not typically found in France. Trained kitchen staff was essential to the birth of ''haute cuisine'' in France, which was organized at the turn of the 20th century by August Escoffier into the

brigade de cuisine The kitchen brigade (, ) is a system of hierarchy found in restaurants and hotels employing extensive staff, commonly referred to as "kitchen staff" in English-speaking countries. The concept was developed by Auguste Escoffier (1846–1935). Th ...

. The extravagant presentations and complex techniques that came from these kitchens required ingredients, time, equipment, and therefore money. For this reason, early ''haute cuisine'' was accessible to a small demographic of rich and powerful individuals. Not only were professional chefs responsible for building and shaping ''haute cuisine'', but their role in the cuisine was what differentiated it from regular French cuisine. ''Haute cuisine'' is influenced by

French cuisine French cuisine is the cooking traditions and practices of France. In the 14th century, Guillaume Tirel, a Court (royal), court chef known as "Taillevent", wrote ''Le Viandier'', one of the earliest recipe collections of medieval France. In ...

with elaborate preparations and presentations that serves small, multiple courses prepared by a hierarchical kitchen staff, historically at the grand restaurants and hotels of Europe. The cuisine was very rich and opulent, with decadent sauces made out of butter, cream, and flour, the basis for many typical French sauces still in use today. The 17th-century chef and writer La Varenne (1615–1678) marked a change from cookery as known in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, to somewhat lighter dishes, and more modest presentations. Subsequently,

Antonin Carême Antonin may refer to: People * Antonin (name) Places ;Poland * Antonin, Jarocin County, Greater Poland Voivodeship * Antonin, Kalisz County, Greater Poland Voivodeship * Antonin, Oborniki County, Greater Poland Voivodeship * Antonin, Ostr� ...

(1784–1833) also published works on cooking, and he simplified and codified an earlier and even more complex cuisine. Nineteenth-century French ''haute cuisine'' interacted with the development of

fine dining Fine dining is a restaurant experience that is typically more sophisticated, special, and expensive than at a typical restaurant. The décor of such restaurants features higher-quality materials, with establishments having certain rules of din ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. French master chef, Jassintour Rozea (1721-1783) wrote several culinary books on haute cuisine (The Gift of Comus, 1752, and The Compleat Cook, Market Woman & Dairy Maid, 1756 - Library of Congress, USA) was also master chef to Charles Seymour, 6th. Duke of Somerset and had subsequent positions at the stately homes of the Duke of Montrose, the Duke of Roxburgh, the Lords Hervey & Edgecombe, and later John Hope, Earl of Hopetoun House, Edinburgh. Jassintour was renowned both in London & Edinburgh for his glorious banquets attended by European aristocrats in the expected French tradition. Contrary to popular belief,

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici (, ; , ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian Republic of Florence, Florentine noblewoman of the Medici family and Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to Henry II of France, King Henry II. Sh ...

did not introduce Italian food to the French court to create haute cuisine.

''Cuisine classique''

Georges Auguste Escoffier is a central figure in the modernisation of ''haute cuisine'' as of about 1900, which became known as ''cuisine classique''. These were simplifications and refinements of the early work of Carême, Jules Gouffé and

Urbain Dubois __NOTOC__ Urbain François Dubois (26 May 1818 – 14 March 1901) was a French chef who is best known as the author of a series of recipe books that became classics of French cuisine, and as the creator of Veal Orloff, a popular dish in French a ...

. It was practised in the grand restaurants and hotels of Europe and elsewhere for much of the 20th century. The major developments were to replace service ''à la française'' (serving all dishes at once) with service ''à la russe'' (serving meals in courses) and to develop a system of cookery, based on Escoffier's ''

Le Guide Culinaire ''Le Guide Culinaire'' () is Georges Auguste Escoffier's 1903 French restaurant cuisine cookbook, his first. It is regarded as a classic and still in print. Escoffier developed the recipes while working at the Savoy, Ritz and Carlton hotels fro ...

'', which formalized the preparation of sauces and dishes. In its time, it was considered the pinnacle of ''haute cuisine'', and was a style distinct from ''

cuisine bourgeoise In French gastronomy, ''cuisine bourgeoise'' is the home cooking of middle class (bourgeoise) families as distinguished from elaborate restaurant cooking, ''haute cuisine'', and from the cooking of the regions, the peasantry, and the urban poor. Th ...

'' (the cuisine of affluent city dwellers), the working-class cuisine of bistros and homes, and cuisines of the French provinces. Jacques Lameloise DSCF6580

Nouvelle cuisine

The 1960s were marked by the appearance of ''nouvelle cuisine'', as chefs rebelled from Escoffier's "orthodoxy" and complexity. Although the term ''nouvelle cuisine'' had been used in the past, the modern usage can be attributed to authors André Gayot,André Gayot, "Of Stars and ''Tripes'': The True Story of Nouvelle Cuisine" Henri Gault, and

Christian Millau Christian Dubois-Millot, pen name Christian Millau (, 30 December 1928 – 5 August 2017), was a French food critic and author. Born in Paris, he began his career as a journalist in the "interior policy" department of ''Le Monde'' newspaper. In 1 ...

, who used ''nouvelle cuisine'' to describe the cooking of

Paul Bocuse Paul François Pierre Bocuse (; 11 February 1926 – 20 January 2018) was a French chef based in Lyon known for the quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine. Dubbed "the pope of gastronomy", he was affectionately nick ...

, Alain Chapel, Jean and Pierre Troisgros,

Michel Guérard Michel Robert-Guérard (; 27 March 1933 – 19 August 2024), known as Michel Guérard, was a French chef, author, one of the founders of '' nouvelle cuisine'' and the inventor of '' cuisine minceur''. Early life and education Michel Guérard w ...

Roger Vergé Roger Vergé (; 7 April 1930 – 5 June 2015) was a French chef and restaurateur. He is considered one of the greatest chefs of his time. The Gault Millau described him as "the very incarnation of the great French chef for foreigners". Personal ...

and Raymond Oliver, many of whom were once students of Fernand Point.Mennel, Stephan. All Manners of Food: eating and taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the present. 2nd ed., (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1996), 163-164. In general, ''nouvelle cuisine'' puts an emphasis on natural flavours, so the freshest possible ingredients are used, preparation is simplified, heavy sauces are less common, as are strong marinades for meat, and cooking times are often reduced. ''Nouvelle cuisine'' was a movement towards

conceptualism In metaphysics, conceptualism is a theory that explains universality of particulars as conceptualized frameworks situated within the thinking mind. Intermediate between nominalism and realism, the conceptualist view approaches the metaphysical ...

and

minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

and was a direct juxtaposition to earlier ''haute cuisine'' styles of cooking, which were much more extravagant. While menus were increasingly short, dishes used more inventive pairings and relied on inspiration from regional dishes. Within 20 years, however, chefs began returning to the earlier style of ''haute cuisine'', although many of the new techniques remained.

Early history

''Cuisine classique''

Nouvelle cuisine

See also

References

Further reading