Le Répertoire de la cuisine

Le Répertoire de la cuisine

3rd French edition (1923)
Author	Louis Saulnier, Théophile Gringoire
Language	French
Subject	Culinary Arts
Genre	non-fiction
Publisher	Groupe Flammarion
Publication date	1914
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	book
Pages	240
ISBN	978-2082000192 (2010 edition)

Le répertoire de la cuisine is a professional reference cookbook written by Théophile Gringoire [fr] and Louis Saulnier and published in 1914; it has gone through multiple editions and been translated into multiple languages. It summarizes Le Guide culinaire by Auguste Escoffier, and adds a significant amount of Saulnier's own material.

History

Louis Saulnier, a follower of Auguste Escoffier, wrote the Répertoire as a guide to Escoffier's Le Guide culinaire.^[dubious – discuss] It is a standard reference for classical French haute cuisine and has been translated into multiple languages.[1]

Its first edition was published in 1914 by the Maison Allard in London and its 32nd in 1976 by Flammarion.[2] Saulnier was a chef entremetier[3] and the secretary of the Union des Cuisiniers, Pâtissiers et Glaciers Français de Londres;[4] Gringoire (a pseudonym for Victor Thomas [fr]) was a writer and the editor in chief of Le Carnet d'Épicure (1911-1914), a gastronomic monthly in London under the auspices of Escoffier.[5]

The first English translation was by Édouard Brunet in 1924;[6] the 15th English edition was published in London in 1979.^[citation needed] The 1976 American edition has an introduction by Jacques Pépin.

Format

The style of Le Répertoire is highly condensed, even in comparison with the brevity of its inspiration; it is a sort of aide-memoire for combinations of base ingredient, sauce, and garnish,[7] a codification of conventional or standard names for the combinations used in classical cooking.[8][9][10]

The recipes provided are little more than simple descriptions of dishes, and assume a great deal of background knowledge, saying nothing about cooking techniques, timings, or proportions.

It follows the structure of Escoffier's original to simplify cross-referencing.^[further explanation needed]

For example, this is the complete recipe for Poulet sauté Bonne-Femme (in the section on poulet sauté):

Sauter. Déglacer vin blanc et jus lié. Garnir lardons, petits oignons, pommes cocotte.

Sauter. Deglaze with white wine and thickened juices. Garnish with lardons, small onions, and cocotte potatoes (olive-sized, blanched and browned in clarified butter).

Reputation

The Culinary Institute of America instructor Uwe Hestnar mentions Le Répertoire alongside Larousse gastronomique and the works of Escoffier and Carême as required reading for anyone interested in classical French cooking.[11]

References

1. Antonio Pérez, translator, Gallo Press; 1st edition, 2012, ISBN 9942117458
2. Gringoire, Th. (1976). "Le Répertoire de la cuisine". Worldcat. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
3. Auguste Escoffier (2011). Ory, Pascal (ed.). Souvenirs culinaires (Le Temps retrouvé, format poche). Internet Archive (French ed.). Mercure de France. pp. 14 (preface). ISBN 978-2-7152-3559-5.
4. "Le Carnet d'Épicure. Revue mensuelle des arts de la table, littéraire, philosophique et gourmande". Gallica. 1911-06-15. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
5. Gringoire, Th., ed. (1911–1914). Le Carnet d'Épicure: Revue mensuelle des arts de la table, littéraire, philosophique, et gourmande [The Epicure's Notebook] (in French). London.
6. Saulnier, L. (1924). Le répertoire de la cuisine (1st English ed.). London: Maison Allard.; see "OldCooksBooks.com". www.oldcooksbooks.com. Archived from the original on 2025-01-01. Retrieved 2025-01-01.
7. Mennell, Stephen (1996). All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the Present. University of Illinois Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-252-06490-6.
8. Hoffman, Peter (2021-06-08). "Cook Here Now". What's Good?: A Memoir in Fourteen Ingredients. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-64700-009-7.
9. Gillespie, Cailein; Cousins, John (2012-05-23). European Gastronomy into the 21st Century. Routledge. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-1-136-40494-8.
10. Sikorski, Elaine (2012-11-06). Cooking to the Image: A Plating Handbook. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-1-118-07597-5.
11. Ruhlman, Michael. Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking. New York: Scribner, 2009, ISBN 978-1416566113. p. xxii.

External links

• Full text online (3rd edition) at Gallica digital library