Sauces in French Cuisine. Romeo Brodmann

of styles at the end of the 19th century. Ordering structures were not defined; there was an extensive lack of clarity and ease of understanding. As the initiator of the Grand Cuisine and as the créateur of diverse dishes still used today, Auguste Escoffier left an indelible mark on French cuisine, even though he did not of course invent the cuisine. Work techniques, production practices, types of basic preparation and the most important dishes and creations already existed. The ingenuity of his work lay in the way he merged, straightened, streamlined and structured the existing processes and brought a new, heavily simplified and easy-to-understand order to them. Escoffier was not only a brilliant chef, he was also very obviously an outstanding organiser with exceptional management qualities. He not only reorganised the traditional cuisine with all its national and international styles and influences; he also restructured kitchen organisation with all its work processes into the form that we know today, with its brigade system and allocation of duties at specific locations. It was probably hardly an accident that Escoffier’s work was done at precisely the time of developing classic modernism. At the beginning of the 20th century, a variety of new artistic styles starts to develop that, although they are based on the past, nevertheless revolutionise the present. Cubism, constructivism, Dadaism and surrealism develop. Expressionism, the new objectivity and Bauhaus develop. And behind all of it the striving to comprehend the reality behind things. Escoffier’s work is basically the fundamental disclosure of the logical structure of French cuisine. Its simplicity was and is so ingenious that the Guide Culinaire constitutes both the formal and the practical basis for the Western world’s cuisine because it describes the fundamental reality that underlines a chef’s art.

      

THE BASICS

      Bouillon de Viande / Bouillon a l’Os (Meat Broth / Bone Broth)

      Ingredients for 1 l (1 3/4 pt or 4 1/2 U.S. cups)

      800 g (1 lb 12 oz) beef brisket bones, roughly chopped

      1.5 l (2 5/8 pt or 6 1/2 U.S. cups) water

      500 g (1 lb 2 oz) vegetables: equal amounts of carrots, celeriac, leek, white turnips

      1 pc/s onion

      spices: salt, 1 bay leaf, 1 clove, 5 peppercorns

      Preparation

      Boil beef briskets (blanch): place in boiling water (1:10), let boil for 2 minutes, drain, rinse bones first with hot, then with cold water.

      Cut vegetables into thumb size pieces. Halve the onion (for colour), place in hot pan, cut side down and blacken. Set aside.

      Place beef brisket in pot, cover with 1.5 l (2 5/8 pt or 6 1/2 U.S. cups) of cold water, add salt, slowly bring to the boil, skim frequently.

      Reduce heat, gently boil for 1 hour, then add spices, vegetables and blackened onions and continue to softly boil for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.

      Drain through a coarse sieve, then through a very fine tea strainer. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

      Note

      Blackened onions can be replaced by caramel couleur: put 50 g (2 oz) of sugar in a small pan, heat and blacken, then deglaze with 100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz or 1/2 U.S. cups) of water, let dissolve and cool. Only add amount required to obtain desired colour to broth.

      Bones can be replaced in part or in total by boiled beef, thus turning bone broth into meat broth. The more meat is used, the stronger the broth.

      Add water during the boiling process if necessary (evaporation).

      Bouillon de Viande / Bouillon à l’Os

      A carefully prepared Bouillon de Viande will serve as an excellent basis for different stocks, sauces and dishes due to its strength. Please make sure never to cover a Bouillon de Viande. It will otherwise become cloudy.

      1. Prepare, wash vegetables and cut into thumb size cubes.

      2. Cut unpeeled onion in half.

      3. Place onions in hot frying pan, without adding any oil.

      4. Roast onions until they have blackened.

      5. Add bones to water at full rolling boil.

      6. Add meat, briefly bring water to the boil and drain off.

      7. Rinse bones and meat, first with hot, then with cold water, then place in pot with cold water.

      8. Bring to the boil and gently boil for 1.5 hours. Skim and degrease frequently.

      9. Add vegetables and blackened onions after 1.5 hours.

      10. Add a little salt to the broth.

      11. Add spices. Continue to gently boil for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.

      12. At the end, strain the Bouillon de Viande through a cheesecloth.

      1. Prepare, wash vegetables and cut into thumb size cubes.

      2. Cut unpeeled onion in half.

      3. Place onions in hot frying pan, without adding any oil.

      4. Roast onions until they have blackened.

      5. Add bones to water at full rolling boil.

      6. Add meat, briefly bring water to the boil and drain off.

      7. Rinse bones and meat, first with hot, then with cold water, then place in pot with cold water.

      8. Bring to the boil and gently boil for 1.5 hours. Skim and degrease frequently.

      9. Add vegetables and blackened onions after 1.5 hours.

      10. Add a little salt to the broth.

      11. Add spices. Continue to gently boil for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.

      12. At the end, strain the Bouillon de Viande through a cheesecloth.

      Fond brun / Estouffade (Brown stock)

      Ingredients for 1 l (1 3/4 pt or 4 1/2 U.S. cups)

      20 ml (3/4 fl oz or 1/10 U.S. cups) oil (sunflower or peanut oil)

      400 g (14 oz) brisket of beef with bones or shin

      400 g (14 oz) breast of veal with bones

      100 g (3 1/2 oz) bacon rind

      100 g (3 1/2 oz) knuckle of ham, blanched

      100 g (3 1/2 oz) onions

      100 g (3 1/2 oz) carrots

      20 g (2/3 oz) parsley stalks, thyme

      1.8 l (2 5/6 pt or 6 1/2 U.S. cups) water (consider evaporation during preparation)

      spices: