What is the toque that all chefs wear?
If you’ve ever peered into the kitchen of a high-end restaurant, you may have spotted a chef wearing a tall, white hat. Along with the white chef’s coat and checkered pants, these hats (called toques blanches, or just toques) are an essential part of a chef’s uniform.
How does a toque represent the chef’s status?
The quintessential chef’s hat is called a toque blanche. The choice to wear a white hat usually comes down to matching the white coat that many cooks wear. White is considered the best color for chefs, as it symbolizes the cleanliness of the kitchen. The hat itself can be used to symbolize the prowess of the chef.
What events in the 16th century led to the toque being used by chefs?
According to one origin story, King Henry VIII supposedly beheaded a chef after finding a hair in his meal, so the next chef, and all the chefs after him, were ordered to wear a hat while cooking.
What is the 101 ripples represent in a toque?
A chef hat was originally designed as a tall rippled hat called a Dodin Bouffant or more commonly a toque. The Dodin Bouffant had 101 ripples that represent the number of ways that the chef could prepare eggs.
Why do chefs wear a toque?
The toque is a chef’s hat that dates back to the 16th century. Different heights may indicate rank within a kitchen and the number of folds can also signify a chef’s expertise, with each pleat representing a technique that has been mastered.
Why is chef’s hat so tall?
This tradition started in France in the early 1800s when the well-known chef Marie-Antoine Carême decided that chefs should have a uniform and part of that chef uniform was the toque (chef hat). The size of the chef hat signified the hierarchy of chefs in a kitchen, the taller the hat, the more important the chef was.
Why did Gordon Ramsay lose his Michelin star?
In October 2013, the Gordon Ramsay at The London restaurant in New York lost its two Michelin stars due to issues encountered by the Michelin reviewers.
Why do chefs hats have 100 pleats?
The pleats in a chef’s hat, back in the day, were said to represent the number of ways the chef wearing it could cook an egg – 100 pleats being the ultimate goal and badge of honor, denoting the skill, experience, and rank of the chef.