Escoffier, Georges Auguste [key], 1846–1935, French authority on cooking. Regarded by some as the greatest chef in history, he went to work at the age of 13 in his uncle's kitchen in Nice. Six years later he became chef at the Reine Blanche in Paris, which was to become the Moulin Rouge. He was later chef at the Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo and finally at the Ritz Hotel in London, where he created some of his most famous dishes, among them peach Melba, named after the Australian singer Nellie Melba. In 1920, the “king of cooks,” as Escoffier was known, was awarded the French Legion of Honor. His best known book is Guide Culinaire (1902).
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