Jean-Louis-François Collinet
Jean-Louis-François Collinet[1] was a French chef credited with several well-known culinary innovations in the 1830s including Béarnaise sauce and Pommes soufflées.[2]
Béarnaise sauce[edit]
Collinet was the head chef at the Henri IV hotel outside of Paris, where he was widely credited as the creator of Béarnaise sauce shortly following the Second French Revolution.[2] Collinet reportedly developed the recipe in 1836 for the opening of his new restaurant Le Pavilion Henri IV.[2][3][4] Using the traditional recipe for Hollandaise sauce, he replaced lemon juice with white wine vinegar, and added shallots, chervil, and tarragon.[5] Collinet named the sauce in honor of Béarn, the region of France from which his restaurant's namesake Henry IV originated.[4]
Pommes soufflées[edit]
Collinet is also purported to have inadvertently created pommes soufflées on August 24, 1837, a deep-fat fried potato dish which was a predecessor to French fries.[1][5] It is suggested that Collinet was preparing a meal for Queen Marie-Amélie, whose train was delayed causing his fried sliced potatoes to become cold.[1] The chef is said to have returned the potatoes to the hot oil to reheat them, at which point they became puffed and crispy.[2] The origin of the story is circumstantial.[2]
The Pavilion Henri IV continues to operate as a restaurant in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France.
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Boulet, François. Leçon d'histoire de France: Saint-Germain-en-Laye : des antiquités nationales à une ville internationale (in French). DISLAB. p. 156. ISBN 9782952009188. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Hess, John L. (January 10, 1971). "L'Affaire Bearnaise at Common Market: Oil on Troubled Sauce". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2018-12-23.
- ^ Sidney, Deana (January 3, 2014). "Sauce Béarnaise". Center-of-the-Plate.com. Retrieved 2018-12-23.
- ^ a b Waggoner, Susan (January 21, 2015). "What is Béarnaise Sauce?". ForknPlate.com. Retrieved 2018-12-23.