Alexandre Étienne Choron (1837 in

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

, Calvados – 1924) was a French chef. As ''chef de cuisine'' of the celebrated restaurant

Voisin Voisin (French for "neighbour") may refer to: Companies *Avions Voisin, the French automobile company :* Voisin Laboratoire, a car manufactured by Avions Voisin * Voisin (aircraft), the French aircraft manufacturer * Voisin, a Lyon-based chocol ...

on the rue Saint Honoré, Choron is best known for his invention of Choron sauce, a sauce béarnaise enriched with tomato concentrate before reduction. Choron is also remembered for his dishes served during the Siege of Paris by the

Prussians Prussia () was a German state that formed the German Empire in 1871. Prussia or Prussian may also refer to: *Prussia (region), a historical region on the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea that lent its name to the later German state Count ...

, which began on 19 September 1870. During the siege, Parisians were reduced to eating cats, dogs, and rats. The bourgeois were not content to eat such ''low'' animals, and demand at the ''de luxe'' restaurants remained high. As food reserves dwindled, these restaurants, including Voisin, improvised. Choron eyed the animals kept at the local zoo, and served exotic animal dishes at Voisin. For the midnight Christmas meal of 1870, Choron proposed a menu principally composed of the best parts of the animals kept in the

Jardin d'acclimatation The Jardin d'Acclimatation () is a children's amusement park in the northern part of the Bois de Boulogne in western Paris, alongside other attractions. History Opened on 6 October 1860 by Napoléon III and Empress Eugénie, this Paris zoo wa ...

(one of Paris' zoos) – stuffed head of donkey, elephant

consommé In cooking, a consommé is a type of clear soup made from richly flavoured stock or broth that has been clarified, a process that uses egg whites to remove fat and sediment. Consommé has three English pronunciations: traditionally in the UK ...

, roasted

camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

stew,

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

shanks roasted in pepper sauce,

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

sauce, cat with

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

, and

antelope The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...

truffle A truffle is the Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, one of the species of the genus ''Tuber (fungus), Tuber''. More than one hundred other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including ''Geopora'', ''P ...

sauce – has become legendary. The menu's wines were Mouton-Rothschild 1846,

Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti is an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) and Grand cru (wine), Grand Cru vineyard for red wine in the Côte de Nuits subregion of Burgundy wine, Burgundy, France, with Pinot Noir as the primary grape variety. It is situa ...

1858 and

Château Palmer Château Palmer is a winery in the Margaux appellation d'origine contrôlée of the Bordeaux region of France. The wine produced here was classified as one of fourteen ''Troisièmes Crus'' (Third Growths) in the historic Bordeaux Wine Official Clas ...

1864. Choron also garnered fame for his dishes containing elephant: ''Trompe d'éléphant in sauce chasseur'' and ''Éléphant bourguignon''. After the elephant at the ''Jardin d'acclimatation'' graced the Christmas table, the two elephants (Castor and Pollux) at the Paris' ''jardin zoologique'' were consumed on 31 December 1870 at Voisin. In early January, it was the elephant at the ''

Jardin des Plantes The Jardin des Plantes (, ), also known as the Jardin des Plantes de Paris () when distinguished from other ''jardins des plantes'' in other cities, is the main botanical garden in France. Jardin des Plantes is the official name in the present da ...

'' (Paris' botanical garden) which was sent to the abattoir. It was bought by Choron for his restaurant at the price of 15 francs per pound. By 13 January, Voisin was out of elephant meat and substituted horse. The siege was lifted two weeks later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choron, Alexandre 1837 births 1924 deaths Businesspeople from Caen French chefs French male chefs