What is Alexandre Étienne Choron?
[[Image:Menu-siegedeparis.jpg|thumb|Choron's 1870 Christmas menu at the restaurant Voisin.]] '''Alexandre Étienne Choron''' ([[Caen]], 1837 – 1924) was a [[France|French]] chef. As ''chef de cuisine'' of the celebrated restaurant [[Voisin (restaurant)|Voisin]] on the rue Saint Honoré, Choron is best known for his invention of [[Choron sauce]], a [[béarnaise sauce]] enriched with [[tomato]] concentrate.<ref>[http://www.foodreference.com/html/walexanderchoron.html FoodReference.com]</ref> Choron is also remembered for the food he served during the [[Siege of Paris]] by the [[Prussia]]ns, which began on 19 September 1870. During the siege, Parisians were reduced to eating cats, dogs, and rats.<ref name=canal>{{Cite web |url=http://www.canalacademie.com/Les-experiences-gastronomiques-du.html |title=Canal Académie - ''Les expériences gastronomiques du siège de 1870'' |access-date=2011-03-10 |archive-date=2011-07-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721112304/http://www.canalacademie.com/Les-experiences-gastronomiques-du.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The bourgeois did not want to eat such ''low'' animals, and the ''de luxe'' restaurants had plenty of customers. As food reserves dwindled, these restaurants, including Voisin, improvised.<ref name=canal /> Choron served exotic animal dishes at Voisin. For the midnight Christmas [[meal]] of 1870, Choron had a [[menu]] mostly of the best parts of the animals kept in the ''Jardin d'acclimatation'' (one of the Paris zoos).<ref name=canal /><ref>[http://www.jardindacclimatation.fr/ Jardin d'acclimatation official website, view ''histoire'']</ref> The menu – stuffed head of donkey, [[elephant]] [[consommé]], roasted [[camel]], [[kangaroo]] stew, [[bear]] shanks roasted in pepper sauce, [[wolf]] in [[deer]] sauce, [[cat]] with [[rat]], and [[antelope]] in [[truffle]] sauce – has become legendary. The menu's wines were [[Mouton-Rothschild]] 1846, [[Romanée-Conti]] 1858 and [[Château Palmer]] 1864.<ref>[http://pagesperso-orange.fr/fdlj/lettres%20de%20Caroline_f