Egon Ronay suggests that Gordon Ramsay should behave more like Escoffier, the celebrated chef who penned Le Guide Culinaire. Unfortunately, there seems to be some areas he forgot o address:

In a letter today to the Guardian Egon Ronay compares Gordon Ramsay unfavourably to César Ritz (1850-1918), the best-known inn-keeper in history and Auguste Escoffier (1849-1935), the most celebrated chef who ever lived.

Escoffier codified the food served in establishments such as his own Savoy Hotel restaurant. From his “Le Guide Culinaire” any chef could learn the correct basic preparation and garnish of the hundreds of dishes that constituted classic haute cuisine. He is a hero to today’s chefs, because he preached the maxim that became today’s kitchen mantra, “faites simple”, and actually put it into practice, rediscovering the fumets and reductions of ancient French cookery that are the basis for today’s lighter sauces.

So Escoffier appears to be a good candidate for the chef as champion. The only difficulty is that he and Ritz were crooks. Escoffier himself was chiefly guilty of taking bribes and kickbacks from suppliers (then a common practice, as it may still be in some big institutions). But there were huge sums involved – not much short of £1m in today’s money. Mr Ronay neglects to mention that Escoffier and Ritz were sacked by their employers at the Savoy on 28 February, 1898.

[From Should Gordon Ramsay really behave more like Escoffier? | Life and style | guardian.co.uk]

Before you go bashing me for bashing Escoffier, I’m not arguing his talents as a chef in the slightest. without Le Guide Culinaire the world would be a much sadder place in terms of our culinary habits and experiences. I do however, agree with the author of he article in that Ramsay’s business practices are, in comparison, exemplary.

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