page_title: Eugénie Brazier
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Eugénie Brazier / Career
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Restaurant Mère Brazier, 12 rue Royale à Lyon ( intersection de la rue Royale et de la Rue Eugénie Brazier
context_page_description: Eugénie Brazier, known as "la mère Brazier" was a French chef who, in 1933, became the first person to attain a total of six Michelin stars, three each at two restaurants: La Mère Brazier on Rue Royale, one of the main streets of Lyon, and a second, also called La Mère Brazier, in the Alpine foothills at Col de la Luère. This was unmatched until Alain Ducasse was awarded six stars with the publication of the 1998 Michelin Guide. She was also the first woman to earn three Michelin stars.
  Born in La Tranclière in the département of Ain near Lyon, she opened her first restaurant, La Mère Brazier, in 1921, obtaining help from the food critic Curnonsky. Brazier developed Lyonnaise cuisine, a tradition with which Paul Bocuse later found a worldwide success.
context_section_description: In order to increase her income she started working for Mère Filloux, another of the Mères Lyonnaises, one whose kitchen employed only women. During her time at La Mère Fillioux she learned to make volaille demi-deuil, also called poularde de Bresse demi-deuil (chicken in half-mourning), her version of which would make her famous. The dish consisted of a Bresse chicken with slices of black truffle inserted under its skin that was then poached in bouillon. When it was cooked, the truffle showed through the white skin of the chicken so that the overall appearance was black-and white; hence the name half-mourning. She also learned how to cook various types of game such as larks, ortolans, and partridges.
  Brazier found Filloux difficult to work for. During August La Mère Fillioux would close down, and Brazier would go back to work for another restaurant, the Brasserie du Dragon. 
  In 1921, when she was 26, she opened her first restaurant, at 12 Rue Royale. She was hired to prepare a cold buffet for participants in Spido, an annual horse race, and the race's director was so pleasantly surprised by her cooking that he asked her to come to Pairs to prepare the event's banquet every year. This established her reputation.
  She was famously picky about ingredients; her chicken vendor once joked that soon he would be expected to give the birds manicures before she would accept them. She was equally demanding about cleanliness, emptying storage areas daily for cleaning. She avoided waste, creating staff dinners from trimmings and saving anything left on diners' plates to feed the pigs. Her menu changed as required by seasonal availability. When there were few vegetables, she served a macaroni gratin. 
  She expanded her premises on Rue Royale twice and finally opened the second restaurant in 1932, west of Lyon in Le Col de la Luere, in a former hunting camp. The building had no water, gas, or electricity when she purchased it. Michelin awarded the new restaurant two stars that year. 
  In 1933, both restaurants were awarded three Michelin stars, the first time any chef had held six stars. The record was only matched 64 years later in 1997, by chef Alain Ducasse.
  During the Second World War she was fined and imprisoned for breaking rationing laws.
  Paul Bocuse apprenticed with her there starting in 1946 when he was 20, becoming commis. web|url=https://www.eater.com/2016/8/12/12382076/eugenie-brazier%7Ctitle=Eugénie Brazier Is an Unsung Hero of French Cuisine|last=Reid|first=Deborah|date=2016-08-12|website=Eater|language=en|access-date=2020-02-16}}</ref> Bernard Pacaud apprenticed with her starting in 1962, crediting her with inspiring him to become a cuisinier.
  Michelin removed one of the Le Col de la Luere restaurant's stars in 1968. Four years later, Brazier retired. It was 50 years before Michelin awarded a third star to another woman.
  As of 2001 the Rue Royale restaurant was being run by Brazier's granddaughter. As of 2020 the Lyon restaurant was in operation under the ownership of Mattieu Viannay, who bought it in 2008. The restaurant in Luere no longer exists.
caption: La Mère Brazier
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