What does the term haute cuisine mean?

Haute cuisine or fine cuisine refers to the cuisine of high-end establishments, gourmet restaurants and luxury hotels in France.

Haute cuisine

is characterized by meticulous preparation and careful presentation of food, at a high price, accompanied by rare wines. In addition, cooking is also usually associated with a variety of broths and sauces, in particular béarnaise, coulis and remoulades. Haute cuisine differed from normal French cuisine by what it was cooked and served, by obtaining top quality ingredients, such as fruit out of season, and by using ingredients that are not usually found in France.

For this reason, primitive haute cuisine was accessible to a small demographic group of rich and powerful people. Professional chefs were not only responsible for creating and shaping haute cuisine, but their role in the kitchen was what set it apart from regular French cuisine. In general, nouvelle cuisine emphasizes natural flavors, so the freshest possible ingredients are used, preparation is simplified, heavy sauces are less common, as are strong marinades for meat, and cooking times tend to be reduced. In its time, it was considered the pinnacle of haute cuisine and was a different style from bourgeois cuisine (the cuisine of wealthy city dwellers), working-class cuisine in bars and homes, and the cuisine of the French provinces.

However, within 20 years, chefs began to return to the previous style of haute cuisine, although many of the new techniques remained. The cuisine was very rich and opulent, with delicious sauces made from butter, cream and flour, the basis of many typical French sauces that are still used today. Haute cuisine represents cooking and eating carefully prepared food with regular, high-quality ingredients prepared by specialists and commissioned by those who have the financial means to do so. Later, Antonin Carême (1784-183) also published works on cooking and simplified and codified an earlier and even more complex kitchen.

As such, the term is commonly used to refer to foods that are prepared with special attention to appearance, that are used at large celebrations and especially for high-ranking members of society, and require extremely complex cooking methods. Georges Auguste Escoffier was a central figure in the modernization of haute cuisine starting in 1900, which became known as cuisine classique. The term is most correctly used to refer to classic French cuisine that dates from the period between 1750 and 1975. It's an isolated phenomenon because most restaurants in the country don't serve haute cuisine or don't offer local products, I just hope that (the phenomenon) inspires others to do the same.