The fine kitchen
The fine kitchen is a cookbook written by Jules Gouffé in 1867, which is still considered a standard work today. The French original title is Livre de cuisine , the German title is complete: The fine kitchen: Complete instruction and manual of the art of cooking, kitchen bakery and canning in all its scope .
content
Half of the book describes the higher art of cooking, the other half a more traditional cuisine . It contains detailed lists of ingredients and deals extensively with the most banal aspects of cooking, for example in the chapter “Chemical-physical processes”, how water is brought to the boil and what sensory perceptions occur: “At 75 degrees there is a slight drumming noise, at 80 degrees the noise is clearly audible ” . From breaking the napkin to the correct setting to the attractive arrangement of a “fruit basket”, every detail is determined. The other end of the sitter is his instructions for a gala dinner for 600 people.
The book contains over 2500 recipes. According to z. B. by Vincent Klink you can still follow these recipes, which are provided with precise quantities. Ingredients, preparation steps and cooking times are listed. For the time of publication, that was unusual in professional circles.
The recipes are numbered consecutively. Partly they are based on each other, in the form that z. B. No. 314 ( crab soup with truffle dumplings ) is based on no. 53 (crab soup) and this in turn is based on no. 12 ( fish broth ).
Spelling and grammar correspond to the time of creation. Likewise typical of the time, the work is illustrated with woodcuts and color lithographs . The new edition has over 900 pages.
New edition
In 2009 the work was reprinted in facsimile at Gerstenberg Verlag Hildesheim. It has 960 pages and is bound in half-linen. The orthography and Gothic script were adopted unchanged.
reception
The French version was published for around 50 years. The book was translated into German for the first time in 1872 and was published by Moritz Schäfer, Leipzig. Gouffé's achievement is unanimously recognized as a groundbreaking new kitchen and as a special landmark. His work is referred to as an opus magnum , recipe encyclopedia , epochal manual and also the bible of cooking or gourmet bible .
At the time of publication, Jules Gouffé was overshadowed by Auguste Escoffier , whose work together with Charles Ritz as manager of the Savoy Hotel in London attracted media attention. Therefore, Escoffier is actually considered to be the founder of modern cuisine.
ISBN
ISBN 0-543-88558-5 (paperback)
ISBN 0-543-88557-7 (hardcover)
Web links
- Description of the author in the English language Wikipedia
- Description of the author in the French language Wikipedia
Individual evidence
- ^ University of Leeds Library: The royal cookery book (le livre de cuisine) . London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1883 ( archive.org [accessed March 10, 2019]).
- ↑ a b Vincent Klink in his blog on October 25, 2009
- ↑ http://www.gerstenberg-verlag.de/index.php?id=detailansicht&url_ISBN=9783836925976
- ↑ a b On the Art of Cooking , Die Welt , August 5, 2009
- ^ Volume I Elibron Classics series