THE TOQUE BLANCHE!!!!

If you ask someone, what is the name of the chef´s hat?.....I´m totaly sure that nobody knows, but this hat is so important when you are a chef, that for me is a pleasure to tell the story behind this culinary icon.

Long before molecular gastronomy, new tecnics and innovative cooking, was the "TOQUE  BLANCHE" invented, The word  comes Arabic, but it has been known in English since 1505.
The Toque Blache is a type of hat with a narrow brim or no brim at all. They were popular from the 13th to the 16th century in Europe, especially in France. Today, it is known as the traditional hat for professional cooks.

This white hat is the most important culinary icon in the gastronomy history. It is a tall, round, pleated, starched. The many folds on a Toque Blanche are believed to signify the many ways that a chef can cook an egg. ((It has exactly 101 pleats))   :0

In the gastronomy history the toque was the result of the gradual evolution of head coverings worn by cooks throughout the centuries. Even in that time the hygiene was important. Boucher, the personal chef of the French statesman Talleyrand, was the first to insist on white toques for sanitary reasons.

Their roots are sometimes traced to the casque a Meche wear by 18th-century French chefs. The color of the casque a Meche denoted the rank of the wearer.

The modern toque and the complete uniform was created by  the famous French chefs Marie-Antoine Carême and Auguste Escoffier.