a brief History of French gastronomy

It was around 1350 that found the first treaty in French cuisine: the Viandier of Taillevent, head cook (‘chef’) of the dolphin and the Duke of Normandy, the future Charles V. This book covers all food (the meaning of ‘meat’ to the sixteenth century), but insists on cooking roasted and boiled and the sauce very spicy.

In soups, Taillevent uses cinnamon, ginger and saffron to accompany poultry and gibiers. Often based on tricks and mince, food is here to stay long on the preparation of menus at the court of the Kings. C’esy when Catherine de Medicis will bring a change in the preparation of food thanks to chefs from Florence. From that moment, one sees a diet enriched with broccoli, artichokes and vegetables. The Ates are also discovered at the same time with the dumplings and meat veal.
From 1651, a new era comes to light by the talent of Varenne and his cook François will extend until the end of 1790.
Thus is formed a company of the “order of the hills”, through the finest palaces of France. Are emerging also refined tableware, cutlery and scheduling of porcelain.

The modern kitchen. . .

Festin bourgeois

the  French Revolution effected a significant change in cuisine. Through the “maitres queues” at the service of the great aristocrats and princes, will appear the “modern restaurants” .. . In 1782, opening of the Great Tavern of London Rue Richelieu in Paris, a restaurant renowned for its time, with the talent of Antoine Beauvillier.The kitchen here called “bourgeois” designed by Menon in the middle of the eighteenth century. This raises the same time, better movement of goods between provincial lands and their integration into the menus of the Great of the time. Crafts born, he became an art thanks to the poem by Joseph Berchoux, judge and amateur cooking.

The disciples of the great kitchen acquire the skills and knowledge to be teachers by learning effective. The famous “Tour de France” of the province and apprentices learn their specific cuisine.

Sophisticated works of Marie-Antoine Carême, chef de Talleyrand before going to serve the Czar, or the impact worldly creations of Adolf Dugléré form a legacy that the development of lavish banquets accompanied by research and a certain scientific approach. So, while the culinary splendor, the French offer significant advances in dietary practice, as Appert canned that designs for Napoleon’s armies and Chaptal that streamlines wine fermentation.

The language does not remain silent before such pleasures and literature seized the menus and recipes to make texts difficult. If Alexandre Dumas is dedicated to the colorful compilation of recipes for his great dictionary, a work that embraces all aspects of nutrition, gluttony to chemistry and the art of hospitality to the sensuality of the famous dish is Physiology the taste of Brillat-Savarin, which honors the invention of men and the prodigality of nature. This gourmet for which “a feast is an abstract of the world” combines the research of science and the intoxication of tastes. As a true anthropologist, he draws the display of knowledge that combines art and gourmet varieties of situations in which man, when he eats, feels, dreams develop or meditate.

The French influence. . .

To access a universal recognition of French cuisine, enjoy the turn of the twentieth century, the effort to Auguste Escoffier. This chef specializes in luxury hotel catering, cook MacMahon, was also a practical student supplying the troops, the conservation of collaborating in the tomato soup recipe “Kub” of Maggi.

Cook millionaires, however Escoffier invented the fixed price menu. His career in the most prestigious hotels of the Riviera, Paris or London alongside Ritz (the founder of the famous hotel), which gives it a reputation he make French products traveling with him. The “Epicure dinners” that he held simultaneously in 140 cities of the two worlds have thousands of guests, the same dishes and mark the advent of the great French cuisine.
After taking the league by gourmets that anima, the foundation that bears his name continues to organize exchanges among French chefs.

From the year 1930, the Lyon region defends its originality with the mother or Brasier Fernand Point, decentralize some excellence in French. The work and the scrupulous attention paid to seasonal ingredients are the base of the engineering firm that defends the kitchen. Fernand Point, the figure of uncompromising energy for the large kitchen, illustrates this appetite for knowledge working large caps, “When it comes to food, one must read everything, see everything, hear everything try, observe, to remember at the end a little bit. ”
Taking its sequel, and the Troisgros brothers Chappe will introduce whole lines of chefs dedicated to this tradition while Bocuse, Guérard Senderens or defend in the 1970’s exoticism and innovation of a “nouvelle cuisine”. Today, the land continues to experience success, but globalization is running: great restaurants in Europe, Asia and U.S. have set up shop, the food absorbs new flavors Foreign (as it did previously) while a food revolutionary invented eccentric, playful and colorful.