A saucier () or sauté chef is a position in the classical brigade style kitchen. It can be translated into English as ''
sauce
In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French word t ...
chef''. In addition to preparing sauces, the saucier prepares stews, hot
hors d'œuvre
An hors d'oeuvre ( ; french: hors-d'œuvre ), appetiser or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the m ...
s, and sautés food to order. Although it is often considered the highest position of the station cooks, the saucier is typically still tertiary to the
chef
A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a k ...
Georges Auguste Escoffier
Georges Auguste Escoffier (; 28 October 1846 – 12 February 1935) was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Marie-Anto ...
's system of the classic kitchen brigade, outlined in his '' Guide Culinaire'', the saucier is "responsible for all sautéed items and most sauces".
Sauciers in popular culture
The 1979 film ''
Apocalypse Now
''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius and Michael Herr, is loosely based on the 1899 novella '' Heart of Darkness'' by Joseph C ...
'' character, "Chef" Hicks (played by Frederic Forrest) says that he was "raised to be a saucier" in
Iron Chef
is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle bu ...
'') after defeating Elzar in The 30% Iron Chef.
In '' Futurama'', Bender Bending Rodriguez gets a job at Elzar's restaurant (to pay off Planet Express's presumed free meal). He asks Elzar if he can be "pastry chef, ''saucier'', soup guy". Instead, Elzar hands him a toilet plunger, using his catchphrase "Bam!" in Bender Gets Made.
See also
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List of restaurant terminology
This is a list of restaurant terminology. A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money, either paid before the meal, after the meal, or with a running tab. Meals are generally served and eaten ...