How valiant! Another good one: The hundred folds in a chef's toque that tall, pleated hat represent the hundred ways to cook an egg. Bon Appetit 's April issue egg primer provided us an excuse to explore that adage. Where did the saying come from? If it's true, did the French have a certain one hundred egg techniques in mind?
They do love their rules. The first person to turn to in any quest regarding esoteric French cooking wisdom is Auguste Escoffier, arguably the most famous figure in the history of French cuisine. While Escoffier didn't popularize the toque as culinary headgear that was the work of "chef of kings and king of chefs" Marie-Antoine Careme back in the 19th century , Escoffier was instrumental in elevating the status of chefs, in part by professionalizing their uniforms.
Unfortunately, Escoffier's Guide Culinaire , the bible of French cooking throughout most of the 20th century, contains no mention of the relationship between toques and egg cookery.
It does, however, contain egg recipes. Next, Larousse Gastronomique , the great encyclopedia of French cuisine. But here, too, we struck out. Today, some kitchens choose to wear dark colored hats, especially in an open kitchen, for that very same reason.
Although this is not always the case in modern kitchens, the tallest hat in the kitchen still usually belongs to the most senior executive chef. In the early days of the toque blanche, it was said that the number of pleats would often represent how many techniques or recipes a chef had mastered.
For example, a chef would have pleats in his hat to represent ways he could prepare eggs. It has a straight sided crown of various heights based on seniority, with a floppy top. This type of toque is often now made of paper, which absorbs less heat than cloth hats, and is meant to be disposable when it becomes soiled.
These flat-topped hats are popular in bakery settings. They are very lightweight, usually made of cotton, and easily washable. Some modern designs have a mesh top for better air circulation. They are a bit looser and slouchier in comparison to a tighter fitting skull cap. At one time, a chef's number of pleats would correspond to the number of dishes they had mastered for a particular ingredient.
In many versions of the tale, that ingredient is eggs. However, the true origin behind the haute headwear is lost in the mists of time. Famed French chef Auguste Escoffier did write of the many ways to prepare an egg, but never actually made a connection between that and the hats. Let's see: poached, boiled, fried Now its your turn, "The more we share The more we have". Share our work with whom you care, along with your comment Kindly check our comments section, Sometimes our tool may wrong but not our users.
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