Charles Ranhofer

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Charles Ranhofer (Born November 7, 1836, St.-Denis, France. Died October 9, 1899, New York, United States. Buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, New York.) Chef at famous Delmonico's Restaurant in New York from 1862 to 1876 and 1879 to 1896. Author of The Epicurean, published in 1894, an encyclopedic cookbook of over 1,000 pages, similar in scope to Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire.

Portrait of Charles Ranhofer taken from the flyleaf of his book, The Epicurean.

Ranhofer was sent to Paris at the age of 12 to begin his training by studying pastry-making, and at 16 became the private chef for Prince Henin of Alsace. In 1856 he moved to New York to become the chef for the Russian consul, and later worked in Washington, D.C. and New Orleans. He returned to France in 1860 for a short time where he arranged balls for the court of Napoleon III at the Tuileries Palace, but then came back to New York to work at what was then a fashionable location, Maison Doree. In 1862, Lorenzo Delmonico hired him for Delmonico's, and it was there than Ranhofer made his real fame, though others say that he made the fame of the restaurant as well. At that time, Delmonico's was considered the finest restaurant in the United States. He was the chef at Delmonico's until his retirement in 1896. (Except for a short hiatus from 1876 and 1879 when he owned the "Hotel American" near Paris at Enghen-les-Bains.)

Ranhofer invented or made famous a number of dishes that the restaurant was known for, such as Lobster Newberg, and had a talent for naming dishes after famous or prominent people--particularly those who dined at Delmonico's--as well as his friends, and events of the day. Examples include:

• "Lobster Duke Alexis," named for then Grand-Duke Alexis in 1871.
• "Sarah potatoes," named for Sarah Bernhardt.
• "Lobster Paul Bert," named for Paul Bert.
• "Chicken filets Sadi Carnot," named for Marie François Sadi Carnot.
• "Peach pudding à la Cleveland," named for President Grover Cleveland.
• "Veal pie à la Dickens" and " Beet fritters à la Dickens," named for Charles Dickens in honor of his 1867 visit to New York.
• "Salad à la Dumas," named in honor of Alexandre Dumas.
• "Lobster Newberg", named in honor of sea captain Ben Wenberg then renamed when Wenberg had a falling-out with the restaurant.
• "Marshal Ney", a dessert named in honor of Marshal Ney.

Ranhofer did not invent baked Alaska, but he popularized it in 1876 when he named it in honor of the newly-acquired Alaskan territory. He also experimented with new foods, aquainting New Yorkers with the "alligator pear" (avocado) in 1895, among other things.

Ranhofer and his wife Rose had five children: three sons and two daughters. He died at home of Bright's Disease in 1899.

References

• "Epicurean; Our own Escoffier; One of the 19th century's greatest chefs was American," by Russ Parsons. Los Angeles Times, December 15, 1999, Food Section, Part H, page 1.
• [Charles Ranhofer: Delmonico's chef de cuisine], by Joe O'Connell.
• "Obituary: Charles Ranhofer Dead," New York Times, October 11, 1899, page 7.
• [The Epicurean by Ranhofer.] Feeding America: Historic American Cookbook Project (Michigan State University Library).

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