Nouvelle cuisine

Nouvelle cuisine was a French culinary movement that favored fresh ingredients, lighter preparations, shorter cooking times, and restrained presentation over the elaborate conventions of classical haute cuisine.

Haute cuisine: A tradition of elaborate, technically demanding French fine dining with formal service and rich preparations. Nouvelle cuisine rejected its heavy sauces, lengthy cooking, and elaborate presentation.
Henri Gault: A French food critic and journalist who helped popularize nouvelle cuisine. His writing gave the movement a prominent public voice.
Freshness: The sensory quality of food associated with recently harvested or prepared ingredients. Nouvelle cuisine made ingredient quality and seasonal character especially visible.
Cuisine minceur: A lighter French cooking style associated with Michel Guérard that reduces fat without abandoning luxury. It developed within nouvelle cuisine as a focused response to calorie-conscious dining.
French cuisine: The culinary traditions and practices developed in France and shaped by its regions, history, and institutions. Nouvelle cuisine emerged as a modern movement within this broader tradition.
Christian Millau: A French journalist and food critic who co-founded the Gault et Millau guide. He helped shape the movement’s critical reputation alongside Henri Gault.
Seasonality: The practice of choosing ingredients according to their natural harvest periods. Seasonal produce supported the movement’s emphasis on freshness and flavor.
Molecular gastronomy: An approach to cooking that applies scientific investigation to culinary transformations and techniques. Its experimental methods differ from nouvelle cuisine’s emphasis on freshness and restraint.
Cuisine classique: The codified French culinary style associated with elaborate sauces, formal preparations, and Auguste Escoffier. Its rules and rich preparations supplied a direct target for reform.
Gault et Millau: A French restaurant guide founded by Henri Gault and Christian Millau in 1969. Its critics promoted chefs and principles associated with nouvelle cuisine.

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