How Versailles Became The Epicentre Of 18th Century Food | Let's Cook History

The 18th century gave birth to absolutism, which radiated sumptuously from Versailles, under the command of a very powerful Sun King, Louis XIV. The 18th century lauded the mind. History baptised it, the Age of Enlightenment. It encompassed 200 years of accumulated wealth and privileges for the noble classes, of sound ideas and advancement in knowledge, but also great misery for the general people. Two centuries of transition considered as a turning point in human experience, during which France believed it was the centre of the world. France set the example in every quarter of Europe. An element of Gallic genius is seen in the theatre. It has been a hot June day in the year 1658. The cicadas start to calm down, but the colleagues of Monsieur Molière have just come to life. Under the vaults of the castle Cassane, actors from the Oc theatre rehearse a scene from a play by the famous 18th century theatre troupe and actor-manager, author, not yet known as Molière, but simply Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. They had their modern-day Madeleine Béjart, the muse of Molière, to faithfully act out the famous lines. Molière says, Did Monsieur ask his physicians if there was nothing more prejudicial than to eat with excess? Habergon replies, Too true! One has surely to eat so as to live, and not to live so as to eat. This scene from the Miser will one day become a reference and set standards at the Comédie-Française. With this play, Molière described with satirical humour the narrow-mindedness of contemporary people as they faced culinary innovations of the time. There was a radical change in cooking practices since spices were discarded for other modes of cooking. This is clearly expressed by a famous French cook of the time, a certain Monsieur François, who published a book in 1651, stating that a vegetable must taste like a vegetable, meat must taste like meat, an enlightened cook should avoid mixing savours. It's very much like our contemporary cooking when we try to enhance the true texture, aromatic quality of garden vegetables and quality regional products, products such as thyme, watercress, mint. These were widely used. Spices originating from remote countries were totally rejected. The dictates of the master cook François, in reality a certain Monsieur de la Varenne, became a reference in French cooking. His theory became the standard in kitchens of every great house in France. However, such ideas have not yet reached the hostelry of Bas Argent in Pézenas, southern France, where Molière's troupe is supping. Here, the meal is far from flamboyant. A simple fish soup, bouillabaisse, will suffice as a true feast. Composed primarily of pieces of sardines, mackerel, cod and occasionally small cooked mullets, this Mediterranean dish became a tradition for penniless squires and travelling acrobats with a hearty appetite. Living on bouillabaisse after bouillabaisse, water and love, Jean-Baptiste Poclain, alias Molière, was poor but joyful and an ambitious man. In Pézenas, the Prince de Conti, Molière's patron and friend, supports him. He also expects more. He is certain that Molière's talent will take him to Versailles, allowing him to dine at the table of Louis XIV. One can never achieve something extraordinary, grandiose and beautiful than by reasoning more often and better than others. One of Louis XIV's aphorisms, the power of his pretensions led to the building of Versailles. As from 1661, the young monarch contemplated transforming what was a small, stately house of cards, according to the Duc de Saint-Simon, a chronicler of Versailles, under Louis XIV, to an imposing palace. Inside as outside, nothing was left to random. With its buildings and gardens, Versailles combines perfect geometry and the art of symmetry, even when hundreds of guests invade the grounds. And His Majesty's dinner becomes a total, finely regulated spectacle. Being termed an orchestrated dinner, we clearly see that the whole event was very official and very ceremonial. Moreover, King Louis insisted that meals should be truly ceremonial. The king ate opposite his court, either alone or with members of the royal family, the only people allowed at his table. When we look at the menu à la française, we see there were enormous quantities of food. It's always been said that the aristocracy ate in great quantities in the 17th century and that the king of France had to surpass all others. This is not completely true. In the service à la française, all dishes were exposed on the table at the same time. Diners only helped themselves to certain delicacies. The pompous dinners of Versailles would be imitated by others, but never equalled. The famous orchestrated meals with service à la française would influence many noble tables during the reign of the Sun King, as was his design, but also thanks to the magicians labouring in the kitchen gardens. At the time of our ancestors, all parks had their vegetable garden. Such gardens were transformed into parks by our knowledgeable masters. Words not taken from a fable, even if they were from Jean de La Fontaine. The watchful eyes of Monsieur de la Cantigny monitor the king's splendid orchards and vegetable garden. In this month of September 1651, de la Cantigny presents his horticultural innovations to the head manservant of the king, Nicolas de Bonnefont. He has to be aware of all that His Majesty desires to see in his plate. De Bonnefont notes every remark of the kingdom's principal gardener. Having to write so much, de Bonnefont will become the author of The Delights of the Countryside, a true reference for the gardeners as well as cooks. La Cantigny checks the ripeness of the strawberries for a very special supper tonight. His Majesty is receiving Madame de Maintenon in private. The most recent favourite of the king adores strawberries. Hence, the king's kitchen must produce such fruit, even at the end of September. The kitchen garden and orchards remain above all a true garden of Eden, alluring to the royal palate of Louis XIV. Among the different products that La Cantigny worked on, there are strawberries, peas, asparagus. These were all products that were particularly appreciated at the court of Louis XIV. But one of the favourite fruit of Louis XIV was figs. And so La Cantigny decided to invest a lot of time, energy, money into the production of figs. More than 700 fig trees ensure the production of black, purple, yellow, violet and green alias angelique varieties of figs. La Cantigny even manages to offer some to the king as of mid-June. In the king's kitchen gardens and orchards, quantity competes with the geometry tested to the extreme. The garden is composed of 16 square plots of vegetables laid out around a large pond. Surrounding the garden behind high walls are 29 closed gardens containing more than 120 varieties of pear and apple trees. They have been planted randomly or for espalier cultivation. Horticulturists, arboriculturists, botanists, nursery gardeners or simple gardeners are commanded by La Cantigny. They use methods that will become standards in gardening. La Cantigny was not so much an inventor as much as a thorough investigator and someone who really tried to perfect the techniques of production of both fruits and vegetables. And when Louis XIV heard of him and brought him here to Versailles, he had the opportunity to work on a much, much larger scale. He used much more glass, in particular in the form of bells, bells that he could place over the plants to protect them from the cold and to heat them up. Also used what's called chassis, which one could be described as window panes that were used much like the bell glasses to put over the plants and protect them from the cold and to also magnify the heat of the sun. And so try things out concerning hotbeds. Try to produce asparagus out of season, lettuce out of season, radishes, to produce high-quality produce. La Cantigny works relentlessly up to his death in 1688, taking care that his cultivations are perfect. The progress made in horticulture and aboriculture in Versailles will rapidly be admired and adopted by fellow artisans from afar. La Cantigny may have helped the greater population to have access to vegetables, to better vegetables, but not necessarily directly. It's quite possible that his experimentations, his attempts to create more interesting, more tasty, more productive vegetables for the court, created and caused a diffusion of varieties that before then had not been accessible to the general public. A century later, under the reign of Louis XVI, the passion for natural savours originating from early products and choice fruits lived on. But the manner of appreciating them evolved. A new mindset shared the delights of eating meals à la française. In the year 1779, for example, the Descontades family used this banquet method to celebrate the nomination of the elder boy of the family, Erasmus Gaspard, as commander of the Royal Artillery. The young officer is an expert swordsman, but also a gourmet. The tradition had been handed down from his grandfather, the Maréchal Descontades. The dining room of Mont Jauffroy Chateau has been perfectly preserved and retains its gloss of yesteryear for an intimate supper with only four lackeys. Eighteenth-century values called for intimacy, orchestrated meals à la française required many domestics because it was deemed necessary that each guest have his own servant, ensuring the wine service and, in particular, change of plates. People in the 18th century desired to dine with more proximity, discarding the former tradition, and so they invented the now famous intimate suppers and meals. Meals were now orchestrated with a small bell. Now a new tradition makes women, who had been relegated to the function of offering pleasant company in the previous century, as equals to male guests in this period of enlightenment. Women are from now on resplendent, as they organise literary shows. Their intelligence is welcomed at gallant suppers. And the desire to savour increasingly delicate dishes makes quality dominate the palate at Versailles. However, meals at the Decomtades household are still orchestrated à la française with five major courses. A traditional meal always begins with sousse and oile, a light stew. Followed by entrees. The third course consists of a roast. The lackeys present various dishes of roast meats or baked fish in sauce. The fourth course consists of the dessert. Hot or cold, they can take the form of various pies, including a fresh vegetable pie. The passion of the elite class for natural savours now includes peas. They have become essential. The success of Peas with Ladies is such that each year seminaries are organised in their honour. The Marquis de Sévigny wrote, The saga of peas continues. Good people are impatient for the next meal with peas. Then comes the pleasure of having eaten some, and the joy of eating more at the next meal. These are the three points that our princes have been ruminating on for four days. Finally, the fifth course. The large dining tables of noble families, to the joy of the ladies, receive desserts, fruits and patisseries. They have been kept in the wings for this moment. The ladies in their tight corsets have been obliged to spare a small place in their stomach for one more delight, the new gastronomic fad, Chantilly cream. Such large and onerous meals make diners thirsty. This evening, an exceptional wine will accompany the desserts, and exceptionally, it can be drunk pure. At the time, most wines were watered down. This is a vin de sable, a true luxury wine, produced in the seaside town of Cap Breton, southwest France. It has a slightly iodized savour of the Atlantic Ocean, helping digestion, it is said, and freeing tongues for conversation. Perfect for Erasmo Gaspar de Contad, who seems to want his dinner to go on, prolonging the pleasures derived from such a gallant meal. The following morning, around 7 a.m., some commoners or peasants in the service of the Maréchal de Contad, and therefore a little more blessed with fortune, have gathered in the offices of the Château. They have come to purchase choice leftovers of the banquet the night before for a handful of francs. Stews, roasts, patisseries and fine wines cost a great deal of money. Nothing should be wasted. In all the offices of stately houses, organized trade of leftovers and meals is commonplace. In Château Montgeoffroy, the people in the service of the de Contad family manage such goings-on with good humour. On the other hand, in Versailles, during the royal sale of leftovers, there were many a fight to obtain some of the wonders forsaken by the court. This allowed some bankrupt nobles to make a trade and thus sustain their position among the high and mighty. Often, such a trade of royal leftovers proved quite profitable. Thus, if the season allowed for a prolonged state of conservation, a second leftover trade would result. Some of the less fortunate subjects of His Majesty could thus find something decent to eat. Meanwhile, the number of people living in misery continued to grow. The 17th and 18th centuries marked a period of transition. Demographic figures changed considerably. The peasant population increased, but not the land for cultivation. Consequently, the yields were insufficient. The rural population ate little and poorly. The ceaseless wars raging across Europe and the movement of armies destroying so much along their way did nothing to make matters better. To get through the winter, many peasants were often obliged to beg. With the chronic lack of wheat, bread becomes an unsavoury food. Broad beans, acorns and even crushed and ground vine shoots were used to make flour. For so many, it was the only staple food. People soaked up leftover soup or stale wine for want of choice. Europe is reeling from misery, and the Kingdom of France is struck by 13 famines. Excepting the British Isles, where the dish of beef or mutton remained a reality for most of the population, elsewhere in Europe, even in Italy, meat was becoming scarcer. Many butchers closed their shops, not having any more meat to sell, and fewer customers had the means to buy what was available. Salvation for Europe came from the Americas. It began with the return of the first conquistadores to Seville in Spain. They had discovered the potato. The potato would make bizarre inroads to conquer Europe. The Spanish would be the first Europeans to test the patatas. They were fed to human guinea pigs in the poor houses of Seville. Since 1618, at the time of the terrible Thirty Years' War, Spanish soldiers had their German allies discover the kartoffel, as the Germans would call the potato. At the same time, potatoes were grown in England. They were regarded as food unfit for human consumption, and so they were used to nourish livestock. All surplus produce was sold to the Irish, whose population was perpetually struggling to fight famine. At the beginning of the 18th century, the potato had become an established vegetable in Europe, except in Italy and in France, where most of the population continually lacked food and suffered from war. In 1759, during the Seven Year War, an obscure assistant pharmacist of the French army was wounded, then made captive by the Prussians. He was Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, and all the French soon knew what they owed to him and the potato. In two years of captivity, he had time to discover the favourite dish of his jailers and to measure the nutritive values of the potato. He was named director of the pharmacy of the Invalides military hospital in 1772. There, he ordered researchers to study with the greatest care these tubers. Parmentier would even invent marketing. In the fields of Neuilly, then in the green belt of Paris, he oversaw plantations that were surrounded by high walls and covered in mystery, but that did not stop the theft of the plants. They proliferated very quickly in vegetable gardens everywhere. Potato production became a success. Merchants and scientists would turn the experience to profit. There's a scientific context to the period of the Age of Reason. We think of Diderot, of D'Alembert. It is the time when men drew up encyclopedias. Intelligent people tested everything, plants in particular. Bonds were made between thinkers and scientists. At the end of the 18th century, local aristocrats became involved in primitive cooperatives. It was especially the beginning of what one would later call seed production enterprises. Horticulturists would start to organise collections. There's a very precise example which involves Parmentier and Villemarin. We know that at the end of the 18th century, Villemarin had developed 200 varieties of potatoes. Progressively, networks of merchants would take advantage of Villemarin's science, adopt them and distribute production. In a handsome club room overlooking the Thames River, these two young lords are totally removed from the concerns of the lower classes, concerning their survival. Their passion is simple. They are inveterate card players, and they are subjugated by Pharaoh, a very trendy card game of the time. They bet guineas of gold, which would ensure them of a very good dinner, but the passion for gambling nails them to their chairs. Lord Linden wins this round, and his adversary cannot replay. To camouflage his hunger, the losing player orders a slice of ham between two slices of bread. The tormented man, who takes the time to taste a glass of Bordeaux all the same, is Lord Sandwich. His name will henceforth be associated with this mode, an ancestor of fast food. The Sandwich will invade northwest Europe. Its success will make a junction with another invader coming from southern Europe. In 1660, having escaped from pirates and filibusters of all sorts, then benefiting from a lull in a mistral, a schooner unloads the first cargo of coffee in the port of Marseille. A merchant has the idea of opening a drinking house and making a commercial drink of coffee. Such establishments exclusively dedicated to coffee would spread very quickly in all Europe, in spite of warnings from detractors like Dr. Colomb. As a responsible man of Marseille, Dr. Colomb exaggerates the harmful effects of coffee in a thesis. He claims that coffee attacks the brain, causes paralysis, impotence and of horrible loss of weight. He lost his campaign. In 1672, Paris discovers the first coffee house to open on the great boulevard. Some coffee houses are entirely decorated Turkish style. Large coffee houses meet with success such as the Procop in Paris. They become meeting places for all the major intellectuals of the time. Coffee appealed immediately. It may perturb sleep, but certainly it makes conversation easier. It stimulates the brain. Ideas flow more easily. In the 18th century, chroniclers wrote that coffee visibly made people think better. I can imagine all the enlightened philosophers consuming coffee in enormous quantities and attributing heaps of virtues to the beverage, in particular the power of reasoning, and then putting back sleep so as to be able to write at great lengths during the day. Voltaire was a great coffee drinker. In more popular coffee houses such as the Coupe Choux in central Paris, the first newspapers appeared, society games were played and coffee was drunk, infused or filtered. These methods of preparation were preferred in Europe. Middle East and Turkish method were quickly abandoned. Consumption of coffee grew rapidly despite the appearance of a formidable competitor, chocolate. Regardless of its cost and restrictions of consumption dictated by the Catholic Church and a growing reputation of it being a devilish aphrodisiac, chocolate invaded coffee houses and salons. The success of chocolate led to the success of the Sèvres porcelain manufacture. It produced jugs for hot chocolate in great quantity, together with new style coffee and chocolate sets in porcelain. At the time there was no powdered chocolate. Chocolate was bought by the bar. It was crushed and sprinkled in hot milk, which was stirred gently so as to obtain a rich and consistent liquid. Then came the art of serving it. According to the recipe of the chocolate seller and beverage expert Chaillou, he became the first master chocolate maker of France after having obtained a royal appointment in the port town of Bayonne to transform cocoa coming from South America. The aroma of chocolate perfumes the end of the afternoon air, offering these people a pure moment of happiness. But the workers manufacturing chocolate in Europe lived moments of sweat and toil. Manufacturing methods were no better than those used by the Aztecs at the time of Montezuma. Drinking chocolate as we know it, powdered cocoa plus sugar mixed with milk, was brought to Europe from the New World. The equipment to make ground cocoa and manufacture chocolate was a stone Aztec mill. Behind me is a very good example. It is the oldest process known and was called metate. In fact, this ancient American-Indian mechanism was reworked in Europe. Someone in Europe had the idea of placing the stone on a furnace. But how did it work? Well, what else could you do with this type of object? You initially placed cocoa beans, torrified cocoa beans there. Workers knelt behind the stone and ground the beans. These were difficult working conditions. When the beans had been reduced to a paste with an oily base, sugar was added. Progressively, a rudimentary chocolate was obtained. It was worked until one obtained a certain degree of smoothness. According to demand, other ingredients would be incorporated, such as cinnamon or vanilla, ground beforehand with a pestle. The success of chocolate coincided with the democratization of sugar. After having been available only for the elite to sweeten delicacies going to noble tables, sweetened delights were now to be found on sale in the streets of Paris. Pastry cooks, chocolate makers and sellers of jam and sweetmeats appeased the bad smells of the crowded cities and made a fortune by selling caramels, macaroons, among other delights. The riverbanks of large cities such as Paris saw great commercial activity. At the foot of the old bridges in the course of restoration, seafood was unloaded from small vessels and barges. City dwellers began to crave for seafood and phenomenal quantities of oysters were rapidly consumed. They were preferred cooked most of the time. The average diner usually ate four to five dozen. Oysters were kept fresh like all seafood despite the rarity of ice. Refrigerators had yet to be invented. The freshness of seafood was ensured thanks to a fabulous network of land transport called chasse-marée, horse-drawn wagons. On the coasts of the English Channel or North Sea, awaiting the mooring of a fishing boat were fish wagons. They were ready to engage in a race against the clock. Encyclopedias remained baffled by the phenomenon. Diderot, the great French encyclopedist, as a true journalist, reported the activity of the transporters and the joy they brought to Parisians. The packers usually stacked turbos and other precious fish between two layers of steak. Steak remained remarkably fresh, thus conserving the other fish. When the horses are prepared, the fish wagons leave for their destination. They can cover 60 leagues in 40 hours and in summer when they drive out day and night, they cover the same distance 24 hours with relays. From fish wagon to relay, seafood could get to the capital as soon as possible. Seafood buyers could then obtain remarkably fresh products ready to eat. The painter Chardin was very inspired by the freshness of skate. He set up his easel at the port of Louvre on the river Seine to execute this painting. It is a source of inspiration for a major contemporary chef. If you look at this fish, it's still fresh. You may say it's been gutted. You are right. You can see that its flesh is fresh. Skate was very appreciated at the time. It was an easy catch that was then transformed, transferred to a reservoir of seawater in a double hold of a boat. Skate is very resilient. It could withstand the trauma of being transported to Paris and still be alive on arrival. That explains why this fish corresponded with the desire for freshness. This cult of fresh seafood and the abundance of early produce inspired musicians. A symphony was composed with the theme of savour and natural tastes. It contributed to ensuring the fortune and posterity of great cooks of the age. Monsieur de Rouen, for example, received a charming sobriquet. He was called Pierre de Lune. But he was anything but a dreamer. In his kitchen, his brigades of cooks obeyed him to the letter. De Rouen was very methodical. He noted with precision all his creations. He overtly wished to transmit his savoir-faire to those who wished to continue to dazzle the great and the good of this world. De Rouen handed down to us techniques of preparation that are totally valid today. For example, his roux sauce, made of butter and flour and broth, contributing to the success of French cooking over the centuries. His roux sauce was initially made of animal fat. Butter was used later on. The difficulty is incorporating flour and very gently cooking the ingredients to obtain a smooth sauce. This is the contribution of Pierre de Lune to French cuisine. By replacing ground breadcrumbs or almonds as a base to making the sauce, the sautéed flour base was a launching pad for hundreds of sauces as of the late 18th century. In the kitchen of the Château de la Ferté Saint-Aubin, as in most noble houses of the kingdom, the savoir-faire of Pierre de Lune makes many a diner's dream come true, with his eternally popular beef stew with carrots, or, his fritters, of violets. Stéphane Souzain, an acclaimed specialist in culinary history, pays homage to the savoir-faire of Pierre de Lune. For an evening, he assumes the role of master cook to the Marquis de Couet, who had the most modern equipment of the time installed in his kitchen. The kitchen was situated in the mezzanine of the Château. It housed one of the very first automated spit-roasters in the world. Once wound up, its fully automated mechanism could turn a side of meat over a fire, like this leg of mutton, for half an hour. Accompanied by fresh peas and herbs, a roast leg of lamb is prepared in the mode of the master. The search for more delicate and natural sabres demands shorter cooking time and increasingly precise methods. Another secret of the recipes inspired by Pierre de Lune are these famous bunches of herbs. Cardamom, malagueta, hot pepper and saffron were discarded. Only cinnamon was retained for desserts. Parsley, chervil, tarragon, basil, thyme, bay tree leaves or chives were the chosen herbs of the day. Garlic and shallot were widely used and often decorated the gourd family of vegetables that were much appreciated and generally served cooked, such as these cucumbers in a white roux sauce. After having been blanched in salted water, the cucumbers are sautéed in a frying pan with bacon cubes, fresh herbs, salt, pepper and nutmeg. The white sauce is prepared. It is made with egg yolks and a generous amount of cream blended in. The preparation is gently heated for two to three minutes. The final touch, according to the humour of the host, is to add a spoonful of vinegar at the last moment to give a slightly acidulous note. The master cook could also concoct a pumpkin with cream of mushroom sauce. This recipe would suffice to allow cucumbers to enter the pantheon of savours. Melons were glorified by generally being poached in red wine. In the kitchens of the Age of Enlightenment, a new character, often dressed in black, would become more important than master cooks. The maître d' or head butler. He takes the role of directing cooking operations. He also develops a very sure nose when assessing the quality of dishes such as melons from Avignon in south-central France. The maître d' is a man of responsibility and power, a true director staging his domestics. The function of the maître d' was very different from that of the head cook at the time. The maître d was to some extent an intendant. He was charged with managing the supply chain of the kitchen. He was responsible for signing the bills of delivery. The most renowned maître d in French history was a man called Vattel. He committed suicide because an order of seafood was not delivered on time. It is extremely difficult to cite other names of illustrious maître d's of the period since we paradoxically have more facts about master cooks and culinary anecdotes than maître d's and their lives. The maître d was probably one of the first to test and appreciate a new ingredient, butter, that became an essential ingredient in the creation of new savoirs. It was delivered in a mound, more or less salted according to conservation needs. Rapidly it became the central ingredient to use. Vattel was responsible for the rise to fame of another significant personality of the art of cooking. It sparked the apotheosis of gourmandise to ending a meal. The great French pastry cook Francois made his name in culinary history around the mid-18th century. He registered his work in a treatise, the first of its kind, on the art of making pastry. Distinguishing itself clearly from other culinary writings of the time, master cooks and critics concentrated on the science of preparing great pasta, whether salted or sweetened. Francois set the pace for a new profession and a burgeoning trade, that of the pastry cook. Compared to the trade of pastry cooking of today, past masters of the time experimented with extremely salted recipes. Pierre de Lune had developed a considerable variety of salted or sweetened pastries. A young and as yet promising pastry cook, bearing the name of Bailly, preferred the recipe for preparing lemon tart. As a complement to the usual and generous dose of butter, the refinement of the lemon tart was due to the peel of crystallised lemons or finely cut zest of lemons that lined the pie crust. Without delay, one had to cover this base with an unctuous cream made up of 80 grams of butter, 6 eggs and 260 grams of fresh cream and the same quantity of sugar. But one could go further. Basing his preparation on the given recipe, the young apprentice pastry cook would produce the idea of combining the acidic savours of lemons by topping the base with the softness of a meringue. We can thus imagine why the young Bailly was going to become a very famous pastry cook. What an idea, beating egg whites with powdered sugar, then harmoniously laying the mousse on the contents of the tart. 30 minutes in a hot oven and the genial dessert is ready. This was the product of an imaginative maitre d' who proposed an idea and of a budding pastry cook who composed the ingredients. Three centuries later, countless events have changed the face of society, but the Age of Enlightenment still influences many a dining table. Hélène Darros, granddaughter of a master cook and daughter of a respected chef, gets great pleasure from reading a cookery book especially written for women. The title can be translated as A Bourgeois Wife's Guide to Cookery. It was published by a certain Menon in 1746. How curious! Good parsley roots are a thing of the past. We rarely find them in good dishes these days. A two-star chef, Hélène Darros commands a rare female presence in a world dominated by men from time immemorial, maybe because there's always been more profit and fame to such a profession than battling to manage a household. Hélène has resisted all the remarks made about female chefs. Here we cook with a lot of intuition, not too much thinking. I always privilege intuition in relation to technique, which is not easy for the people who work with me. Perhaps our recipes are more accessible to enthusiastic cooks at home than most of the recipes published by some of the great chefs today. Madame Masterchef has also developed her common sense. Her good housewife cuisine, as she defines it, combines very structured creations and home-cooking philosophy. In my cookery book, you can find a recipe for frozen oysters in a green apple jelly accompanied by foie gras and caviar. But besides that recipe, there are simple ideas that come from my grandmother. I'm thinking of a sauce in fresh garlic for a dish of chicken leftovers, for example. Simplicity and talent, a brilliant demonstration of a woman chef and her creative, non-flamboyant cooking. She keeps a sharp eye on her preparation of a peel of caviar, fresh cookie Saint-Jacques and velvety cream of cabbage, all going to make a cappuccino of cabbage with a tartare of cookie Saint-Jacques and caviar. Madame keeps a low profile, akin to the 18th century French humanist philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who said that the soul of a gourmand is in his palate. Radical political and social changes sweeping across Europe and the effects of the guillotine contributed to ending the age of dinners à la française. Napoleon would set the trend of eating quickly and austerely. English armies returning to European soil would import the trend for eating beef. The bourgeois class would adopt the Russian taste for eating preserves. Revolutionary times would also devastate eating traditions. But coffeehouses, the tradition of dining out in restaurants and the art of preparing sumptuous sauces to accompany the main course, legacies from the age of enlightenment would survive.