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HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY
published: 28 April 2020
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2020.00042
Frontiers in Nutrition | www.frontiersin.org 1April 2020 | Volume 7 | Article 42
Edited by:
Raimundo Garcia Del Moral,
University of Granada, Spain
Reviewed by:
Gerard Friedlander,
Université de Paris, France
Dontscho Kerjaschki,
Medical University of Vienna, Austria
*Correspondence:
Leon G. Fine
leon.fine@cshs.org
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Eating Behavior,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Nutrition
Received: 18 January 2020
Accepted: 20 March 2020
Published: 28 April 2020
Citation:
Fine LG (2020) The Transformative
Influence of La Varenne’s Le Cuisinier
Francois (1651) on French Culinary
Practice. Front. Nutr. 7:42.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2020.00042
The Transformative Influence of La
Varenne’s Le Cuisinier Francois
(1651) on French Culinary Practice
Leon G. Fine*
Program in the History of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA,
United States
The current proliferation of modern cookbooks targeted to the public at large makes it
impossible to conceive of there being any that could have had an overriding influence on
culinary practice or eating preferences, even at a local level. However, when there was a
historical absence of cookbooks for a half-century, as there was in France in the first half
of the seventeenth century, it is argued herein that the advent of a single cookbook in
1651, Le Cuisinier Francois by La Varenne, could have had a transformational influence
on culinary practice over the ensuing half-century. The book went into more than 50
subsequent editions in the second half of the century. La Varenne stated clearly that his
intent was to provide a guide for professional cooks. However, it is hypothesized in this
article that the widespread and enduring success of the book was due to its attraction to
and acquisition by the general public, including household cooks. This can be ascribed to
(i) the fact that there had been no French cookbook describing novel culinary approaches
in the preceding 50 years, (ii) La Varenne’s concise, uncomplicated, and practical style of
presentation of recipes, and (iii) his selection of principal ingredients, which were within
the reach of the household cook and which reflected the availability of foods at the
time of writing. Furthermore, because Le Cuisinier Francois was laid out according to
widely observed religious practices, finding the best options for the appropriate day of
the month became an easy task for the user. La Varenne initiated a departure from an
earlier style of heavily spiced cooking to one that was based on natural flavors, a limited
use of spices, and uncomplicated cooking methods. Thus, rather than assuming that the
enduring popularity of the book was due to its widespread use by culinary professionals,
it is argued that its style and substance must have imparted a sense of empowerment
and confidence in the home cook and that, in these terms, La Varenne’s influence on
culinary practice was far more widespread and truly transformative, accounting for the
remarkable success of Le Cuisinier Francois.
Keywords: La Varenne, French culinary practice, gastronomy, history, cooking
Fine La Varenne Transforms French Cuisine
INTRODUCTION
It is rare that a single publication can be shown to have influenced
the historical course of a field of endeavor. Examples of this
in physiology and medicine in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries are Vesalius’s De Humani corporis fabrica libri septem
(1543), describing and illustrating human anatomy, and Harvey’s
De Motu Cordis (1628), describing for the first time the
circulation of the blood (1).
In the field of French culinary and gastronomic creativity,
the beginnings of such singular influences emerged. In his
comprehensive survey of cookbooks from 1470 to 1700, Notaker
finds a paucity of French cookbooks prior to the midpoint of the
seventeenth century (2). Starting with the famed publication by
Taillevant (1486), which went into 21 editions, and that of Platina
(1505), which reached 16 editions in the same period, Notaker
identifies only four cookbook publications, described below, in
the first half of the seventeenth century (3).
The vast majority of French books of sustained influence
published in the 1700s and appeared in the second half of
the century. So, is it at all reasonable to argue that a single
publication could have had a transformative influence on the
course of French culinary practice during this period? This paper
argues that this was, indeed, the case, and points out that the
style and content of a single cookbook managed to influence
culinary practice by non-professional and home cooks in France
for at least a half-century. The book was Le Cuisinier Francois,
published in Paris in 1651, and the author, was Francois Pierre,
nom-de-plume La Varenne.
A HYPOTHESIS
This paper does not claim to make the original case that La
Varenne was an innovator and a major figure in transforming
the direction of French cuisine in the seventeenth century. This
case has been ably made by others (3–5). Herein, however, I ask,
why and how did this come to pass? After all, this was just a
single, pocket-sized cookbook, and reading and consulting with
such books were not exactly central in the minds of the French
public of the times (3). How did this publication come to be so
influential in mid-seventeenth century France?
It is my hypothesis that the popularity and influence of La
Varenne’s publication can be best measured by the multiple
editions through which it went, in France and beyond. This could
only have been due to its widespread adoption by the French
public at large, rather than by the professional chefs at whom it
was initially aimed.
For this hypothesis to be substantiated, the following
understandings would need to apply:
1. In mid- seventeenth century France, the public was
particularly receptive to instruction on how to be creative in
the kitchen because an innovative cookbook had not been
published in the half-century prior to the publication of Le
Cuisinier Francois.
2. La Varenne based his recipes on foods widely available to the
French public at this time.
3. The recipes in Le Cuisinier Francois were practical enough
to be adopted and executed by home cooks and caterers,
and were presented in a precise and understandable style.
This enabled translation from recipe to table at a time the
public was already moving toward a lighter and healthier style
of cuisine.
The following sections examine the basis for each of
these contentions:
The Cook
The mid-seventeenth century serves as a convenient starting
point. Whether by chance or as a consequence of events of the
time, a cookbook, Le Cuisinier Francois, authored by Francois
Pierre, nom de plume La Varenne, was published in France in
1651 (6) (Figure 1). La Varenne was born in Chalone-sur-Saone
in Burgundy in 1615, and lived in Dijon for 60 years until his
death in 1678 (Pinkard notes that this nom de plume linked him
to an ennobled cook, Guilleme Fouquet, who was rewarded by
his master, Henry IV, with the title Marquis de la Varenne) (4).
Around the age of 25, he entered into the service of the
Marquis d’Uxelles (Louis Chalon du Ble, died 1658) as a cook,
where he was employed at the time of publication of his book.
During his decade of service, he “found the secret how to make
meates (sic) ready, neatly and daintily” and was able to exercise
his emerging talent to the benefit of the French princes and
marshals, with whom the Marquis associated. He dedicated the
book to the Marquis, assigning to himself the designation “clerk
of your kitchin (sic),” a token of his passion for his service to his
generous master.
Little more is known about the personal life of La Varenne. He
was a member of the fraternity of cooks of the renaissance, about
whom he states: “Of all the cookes (sic) in the world, the French
are esteemed the best, and of all the cookes that ever France
bred up, this may well challenge the first place, as the nearest
and compleatest (sic) that ever did attend the French Court and
Armies” (7). This rather self-congratulatory introduction was not
off the mark since, French cooks in the seventeenth century were
already held in the highest regard due to the innovative food
emerging from their kitchens.
It is worth considering the matter of La Varenne’s creativity
in light of the following statement by Philip and Mary Hyman in
their introduction to the reprint of the 1653 English translation
of Le Cuisinier Francois (7): “La Varenne cannot be credited with
inventing the new cuisine presented in his book.” They go on
to point to his dedicatory letter in the first edition, in which he
states (referring to his master): “I have found the secret how to
make meats ready, neatly and daintily. . . I think that the public
ought to receive the profit of this experience of mine, to that end
it may owe unto you all the utility which it will receive thereby.
I have therefore set down in writing what I so long practiced
in the honor of your service.” They appear to conclude from
these remarks that La Varenne did not innovate his creations,
but acquired them “in the course of his employ.” They go on to
declare that “his great contribution to French cuisine—no small
accomplishment indeed—is to have been the first to set them
down in writing.”
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Fine La Varenne Transforms French Cuisine
FIGURE 1 | Title Page of first edition of Le Cuisiner Francois (1651).
It is my belief that this conclusion fails to recognize the
common practice of the times, when a (sometimes sycophantic)
profusion of gratitude and thanks was conferred upon a master or
patron as a matter of common practice, written in an established
style in a dedicatory letter, and in which exaggerated flattery
was the norm. Naturally, La Varenne must have acquired his
expertise and developed his methods during the period of his
employment of over a decade in a well-resourced kitchen,
learning from experience and from experimentation, as would
be expected of anyone with a sense of having something of
value to impart. He surely must have learned from colleagues
in the kitchen, but it is difficult to accept that he learned his
“culinary secrets” and creations from a master whose nobility
would hardly have allowed him to be drawn into the kitchen
or, heaven forbid, roll up his sleeves to demonstrate his putative
culinary talents to an employee. It is thus my contention
that La Varenne should be regarded as a highly original and
creative individual and as an originator of an important trend in
culinary practice.
La Varenne’s lifetime overlapped with that of Louis XIV
(1643–1715), a monarch whose eating habits and gourmandise
became the substance of legend, and who had often been
observed by hundreds as he dined alone in the gardens of
the Versailles palace. La Varenne learned to cook in the
luxury style expected by the aristocrats of his time. However,
it is argued here that his legacy was established by the fact
that his methods were succinctly and accurately described
in a “cookbook,” which may have been aimed initially at
culinary professionals but was ultimately adopted by a wide
swath of the French public. This legacy is based upon his
transformation of a medieval style of cooking, extant under the
aristocracy of his day, into a fundamentally new French style
of cooking.
The Cookbook
La Varenne’s publishers, no doubt, had much to profit from
this reputation. Realizing its potential significance, an English
publisher released an English language version in 1653 (8), based
upon the second (revised) French edition of 1652, with a title page
that reads: “The French Cook, prescribing the way of making
ready all sorts of meats, fish and flesh, with the proper sauces,
either to procure appetite or to advance the power of digestion.
Also the preparation of all herbs and fruits so as their natural
crudities by art opposed; with the whole skill of pastry-work,
together with a treatise of conserves both dry and liquid a la mode
de France, with an alphabetical table explaining the hard words
and other useful tables. Written in French by Monsieur De La
Varenne, chef of the kitchen to the Lord Marquess of Uxelles and
now Englished by I.D.G. London, May 27. Printed for Charles
Adams and are to be sold at his shop at the Sign of the Talbot
neere St Dunhams Church in Fleetstreet, 1653.” A reprint of this
book was published in 2001 (7).
In Notaker’s comprehensive compendium of French
cookbooks published between 1470 and 1700 (3), he lists only
four cookbooks that were published in France between 1600 and
1650. These were: (1) Olivier de Serres, Theatre de l’agriculture
(9), which focused upon agricultural products with some advice
on food preparation; (2) Lancelot de Casteau, Ouverture de
cuisine (10), which contained 190 recipes for ordinary, daily
dishes and which Notaker judges to have been influenced
strongly by other European food traditions; (3) Le Tresor de sante
(11), a book about foodstuffs, which included recipes; and (4)
Philbert Guybert, Toutes les oeuvres charitables (12), a collection
of recipes for medicines and different healthy drinks, a book
that was re-published in about 40 new editions between 1634
and 1670. These publications recapitulated existing culinary
approaches without adding anything novel to the preceding half
century of cookbooks published in seventeenth century France.
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Fine La Varenne Transforms French Cuisine
Sustained Readership of the Cookbook
Le Cuisinier Francois was aimed at a readership of culinary
professionals, reflective of the dishes La Varenne served to the
aristocratic diners for whom he was cooking, but the success of
the book was nothing short of astounding. The first edition of
1651 was an instant success, with the second being published
the following year and the third, the year after (7). Over the
ensuing decade, the book was republished 18 times. By 1700, Le
Cuisinier Francois had gone through 52 editions (2). Plagiarized
versions abounded. For this level of circulation, the book must
have found its way into the kitchens of non-professional and
home cooks and must have had a substantial influence on the
choice of foods and the styles of cooking by the public at large.
This influence extended beyond the borders of France, with
additional translations in English appearing in 1654 and 1673 and
in Swedish in 1664 and 1684 (3).
In his introduction, La Varenne wrote “for my fellows in
the profession. . . of whom some, lacking experience or a ready
memory, are unwilling or too timid to become involved in
learning what they do not know. . . ” (7). This was an ambitious
project since, traditionally, cooks learned their profession by
instruction, observation, experimentation, and experience. The
advent of print could have been viewed as undermining the
professional chef by making culinary knowledge available to
anyone who might choose to access it. In France, the trade guilds
that regulated professions such as baking, confectionery, and
patisserie guarded their secrets jealously.
Davis points out that the term “cookbook” originally referred
to a wide range of texts that included lists of ingredients,
instructions for preparation of dishes, procedures for food
preservation, medical remedies and tonics, and advice on
managing a kitchen, organizing meals, and table presentations
(13). Ordinary people could now have access to this information.
The price of the 1651 edition was 30 to 40 fr (14), which
translates into a current price of about 3–4 euros, attesting to the
affordability of the book for the home cook. The proliferation
of cookbooks subsequent to La Varenne’s contribution (3) is
testament to such a revolution in the public sphere. Publishers
capitalized commercially from this realization.
An important stylistic element was La Varenne’s use of terms
such as “methode” and “discours” (method and presentation)
in preference to the more traditional terms such as “treatise”
and “doctrine,” which would have been used in more traditional
scientific literature (3). This stylistic change must have made the
book more approachable to the home cook, who would have
shied away from treatises with formidable scientific titles.
As Notaker states, La Varenne was “the first person
to systematically try to realize this ideal of clarity and
understanding. He distinguished between the basic sauces and
preparations and the more elaborate ones, and he also gave cross
references, so that the book appeared to be a coherent totality
codifying the art of cookery” (3).
Attesting to the popularity of the book and its value to
publishers beyond the lifetime of La Varenne is the insight
gained by considering a book published in Lyon in 1680 bearing
his name (15). The title page of this 11th edition, printed in
Lyon, is shown in Figure 2. The text of the first section, entitled
Le Cuisiner Francois, bears no resemblance whatsoever to the
original texts published in 1651 and 1652. It was bound into
a single volume together with previously published sections
entitled Le Patissier Francois (first published in 1653) and Le
Confiturier Francois (first published in 1659). Although these
latter two sections have often been attributed to La Varenne and
bound with his Le Cuisinier, Willan disputes this attribution (5),
arguing that the lengthy and explicit recipe style are not those
which conform to the sketchy style of La Varenne, “who wrote as
if he were dictating while stirring a pot.” She notes that the style
of Le Patissier is remarkably similar to that of Pierre Le Lune (16),
suggesting that a “standard repertoire” was emerging for mid-
century cookbooks. Notaker lists this volume under the heading
L’ecole des ragouts rather than under the name of the author
(2). The publisher, Jacques Canier and Fleury Martin in Lyon,
had published an earlier version entitled L’ecole des ragouts, in
which the name of La Varenne is nowhere to be seen. This is not
surprising, since the text was derived from another (anonymous)
work, Le Cuisinier Methodique, published in 1660 (17). The
publisher then issued an additional version, designated as the
10th edition, in 1675, again lacking the authors name. However,
in the 1680 edition, the same book carried the attribution: “Par
le Sieur de la Varenne.” This, too, was clearly not the work of La
Varenne and was reprinted from Le Cuisinier Methodique (18).
It can only be surmised that the name of the author carried
sufficient currency 30 years after his original publication for the
publisher to feel the need to append his name inappropriately,
an act that almost surely boosted sales to the general public and
home cooks.
Nicolas de Bonnefons, a Contemporary of
La Varenne
In the first half of the seventeenth century, French cuisine was
slowly moving from an avoidance of spices to an increased
adoption of vegetables and more refined flavors. Emphases were
placed on the specific attributes of vegetables and fruits, the
maturity of poultry and animals, and the potential of butter
and salt to enhance the taste of foods. The quality of produce
was related to its cost and the seasons of the year, and use was
therefore was linked to social status. New opportunities existed
for access to a seasonal range of fresh produce throughout the
year, including fruits and vegetables which ripened at different
times of the year.
Into this slowly evolving world of culinary practice entered
two important publications, Le Jardinier Francois (1651) and
Les Delices de la Campagne (1654), authored by Nicolas de
Bonnefons, a “valet de chamber” in the household of Louis XIV.
The first was a book on gardening, reflecting the popularity
of horticulture of the times, but also contained confectionary
recipes. The more consequential follow-up volume, Les Delices
de la Campagne, differed from other cookbooks in that it was
organized into sections corresponding to specific products such
as bread, wine, roots, fish, meat, poultry, etc., rather than
according to sequential courses of a meal (2). Bonnefons opened
the eyes of his readers to the pleasures of the countryside (19).
He encapsulated the notion of allowing ingredients to express
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Fine La Varenne Transforms French Cuisine
FIGURE 2 | The enduring posthumous reputation of Le Cuisiner Francois: Title
page of the “eleventh edition” published in Lyon France in 1680. This reads (in
English translation): “The French Cook, wherein it is taught how to prepare all
sorts of meats, to make all sorts of baked goods and preserves. Reviewed and
augmented by a manual of preserves, dry and liquid, to prepare feasts during
the four seasons of the year. By Mr. De La Varenne, Chef de Cuisine for Mr
Marquess d’Uxelles. Eleventh Edition (published or edited) in Lyon, at Jacques
Canier’s, rue Confort, Chef St Jean 1680. With authorization.” An octavo
volume (5 ×3 inches) containing three sections: (i) Le Cuisinier Francois, (ii) Le
Pâtissier Francois, and (iii) Le Confiturier Francois. It is likely that none of the
three sections were written by La Varenne himself, the attribution having been
added to improve the attractiveness of the book to the buyers who recognized
the name and reputation of the presumed author. The pocket-sized book was
presumably meant to be used in the kitchen (From the library of the author).
their natural tastes, rather than genuflecting to the medieval
practice of smothering natural flavors by complex manipulations.
Le Jardinier Francais (published in 1651, the same year as Le
Cuisinier Francois) set the stage for an expectation that the
informed cooks of the day appreciated the variety of plants
and their seasonal specifics, their ripeness and readiness for the
kitchen, and the physical properties of different species, which
would dictate the most suitable technique of preparation and
method of cooking. In this publication, Bonnefons laid out the
knowledge of the gardener-cook. In Le Delice de la Campagne, he
dealt with the interrelationship between ingredients, preparation
techniques, and seasoning. For instance, it was not enough
to know the species and age of the fowl or beast to be
prepared (20). One also needed to know what parts of the
animal imparted each nuance of flavor, or which differences in
cooking time altered responsiveness to flavoring. All of these
considerations went into the process of selection in the market,
as did the region in France from which it originated, given
that each specialty may have been sourced from a specific
region. Milk, butter, cheese, foie gras, poultry, truffles, and
even water required a knowledge of where and how they
were resourced.
How should one compare the respective contributions of
these talented cooks? La Varenne’s initial intention was to direct
his writings at culinary professionals, whereas Bonnefons aimed
his at the masters and mistresses of wealthy households and at
those who led a noble way of life. It is ironic that La Varenne’s
intention did not play out the way he intended it, since it is
my contention that the durability of La Varenne’s publication,
through its multiple editions, could only have occurred if its
buying public was very broad, involving all levels of society, and
particularly the common citizens. In contrast, the very density
and complexity of Bonnefons’s writing style may have proved to
be far too complex for those who simply wanted to get on with
the job of cooking, thereby making his book less appealing to
home cooks of distinguished households. For instance, Pinkard
compares the number of words in a La Varenne recipe for a
pigeon bisque (88 and 123 in the first and second editions,
respectively) to six pages for the same dish by Bonnefons (4).
Both authors strived for purity of taste, unobscured by
extraneous seasoning. La Varennes’s recipes generally called
for few ingredients, e.g., salt and water for fish dishes, and
roux (emulsified butter, cream, and eggs) to season ragouts
and fricassees. Bonnefons’s dishes were spicier, sweeter, and
more decorative, containing far more information than La
Varenne’s. Both used bread croutons as thickening agents
and both, not surprisingly, clung to old favorites, subtly
altered, which refused to die. Both cautioned about the
excessive addition of acidic ingredients. Bonnefons was far more
obsessive about sourcing, beginning in the garden, and was
cognizant of seasonal difference for fruits, vegetable, poultry, and
even water.
What accounted for the appearances of La Varenne’s and
Bonnefons’s books at roughly the same time in Paris? The answer
surely lies in the cultural and national emergence of Paris as one
of Europe’s most influential capitals. In the mid-1600s, France
was the dominant power in Europe with the largest army, the
largest economy, and a population three times larger than that
of England. The arts were encouraged and supported by its
ministers. The Academie Francaise was established a few decades
before the publications of La Varenne’s book and French was the
language of the elite of many nations. When Louis XIV ascended
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Fine La Varenne Transforms French Cuisine
to the throne and Versailles became symbol of his power, French
cuisine emerged as the classic of the golden era.
French cuisine had been dominant for centuries and,
whereas French cookbooks were translated into many European
languages, no foreign cookbook was translated into French in the
seventeenth or eighteenth centuries (3). French chefs were hired
by the English nobility, with their cookbooks being translated and
their recipes copied and adapted to local products and fashions.
As pointed out above, French cuisine in the first half of the
seventeenth century was slowly moving away from heavy and
intrusive spicing to more subtle and less intrusive tastes, so the
stage was set for an inflection point in culinary practice.
Food Availability in Mid-Seventeenth
Century France
Prior to the French revolution, the average caloric intake per
person was about 2,000 a day. Peasants often sold their best
produce and wheat while they themselves ate millet. They offered
their eggs, kids, calves, and lambs for sale at the market while
they ate salted pork. There was no comparison between what the
common man consumed and the meat, poultry, game, cheeses,
butter, olive oil, fruits, and vegetables available to the rich. In the
sixteenth century, France emerged as the “homeland of fine fare,”
receiving foods from the four corners of Europe, and leading to a
culture of gourmandism and opulence.
To address the hypothesis that availability of specific foods in
the French marketplace played a key role in La Varenne’s choice of
recipes, the following considerations are relevant. All are derived
from Braudel (21).
Grains and Cereals
One of the most important constituents of the French diet of
the time was grain. A hierarchy of qualities existed, determining
which grains were affordable to each socio-economic group.
Wheat was the most desirable, with the grain coming from the
head of the corn being superior to that called “small corn,”
was often mixed with the lesser cereals, i.e., rye, spelt, barley,
and millet. The quality of bread made from these cereals was
accordingly determined by the mixtures used. While there was a
royal monopoly on grain in the latter years of the ancien regime,
this was pushed out by private ownership.
For the common people there was a “monotony of diet,” which
existed when carbohydrates exceeded about 60 percent of the
dietary intake. More bread was consumed in the countryside
than in towns and different grades of bread, e.g., with or without
salt, or made from sifted or unsifted flour, virtually identified
the social status of the buyer. Terms such as “choyne,” “safleur,”
and “reboulet” defined these grades of bread. No more than four
percent of the French population ate white bread; “choyne” was
bread for the rich and “soft bread,” made with brewer’s yeast, was
the finest. At the time of La Varenne, bread was central to the diet,
regardless of region or personal income.
Meat
Meats of all sorts were widely available in France in the sixteenth
century, but after about 1550, fresh meat consumption was
gradually replaced by cereals and smoked and salted meat,
possibly in accordance with the current wisdom to “eat meat four
times a day.” Cookbooks abounded with instructions about how
to add spices such as ginger, cloves, nutmeg, thyme, basil and
pepper to meats of all sorts, since these were reputed to drive off
bloating and to “favor the seed.” La Varenne’s inclusion of recipes
for meat dishes was fairly limited.
Spices, Sugar, and Beverages
In the mid-seventeenth century the spice market was centered
in Amsterdam. At this time, spices, which had been luxury
ingredients, became widely consumed across Europe largely due
to increased availability from the Far East. When prices began
to fall and spices were no longer considered “exotic” additives,
their desirability declined and they appeared less routinely on
household tables. Aniseed, coriander, garlic, and pepper began
to appear on the tables of the poor, while saffron remained a
luxury ingredient.
Sugar was used widely in preparing all sorts of foods including
meats, and what was previously a “medicine” began to be
consumed as a necessary foodstuff. Strong spices were replaced
by chocolate, alcohol, and tobacco as agents that enhanced the
pleasure of a meal. Likewise, chocolate, tea, and coffee were all
available in France prior to 1650.
Dairy Products
Cheese was a principal ingredient of the diet from mid-
sixteenth century. France imported cheese, such as Gruyere, from
Switzerland as a cheap source of protein. However, cookery books
gave little coverage to cheese, with goat and ewe cheeses being
regarded as inferior. Butter, available in European countries, was
used widely in all sauces. Eggs were an everyday food.
Seafood
Religious rulings governed the consumption of fish; fast days,
including Lent, prevailed during the reign of Louis XIV with
consumption of eggs, meat, and poultry being prohibited at these
times. Fresh fish and salted fish were permitted. Fish was obtained
from the Atlantic coast, the English Channel, the North Sea,
and the Baltic Sea. Sardines, anchovies, tunny, and herrings were
in demand. Fresh water fish from the Loire included salmon
and carp. Cod was eaten chiefly during Lent. Seafood is the
predominant main course ingredient in Le Cuisinier Francois.
Vegetables
The fragile and transient nature of ripe vegetables and fruit made
them prized ingredients among those who could afford them.
They were sourced from specialty farmers but also from private
gardens, which were becoming fashionable around the time of Le
Jardinier Francais (22). Experienced gardeners tended the kitchen
gardens of the wealthy, with talents that included the ability to
raise vegetables and fruits out of season. By careful selection of
different species and use of hot beds, it became possible to grow
some species over most of the year.
In the Kitchen and at the Table of the Home
Cook
Well into the sixteenth century, it was not uncommon for one
to rent a house if one wished to entertain guests over a meal.
Tables were set for a predetermined number of guests with knives,
spoons, plates, and goblets. Louis XIV forbade the use of forks,
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Fine La Varenne Transforms French Cuisine
so fingers were the obvious option until forks entered common
usage. Table manners had to wait for another century.
With the advent of a more “thoughtful” and refined cuisine
(23), a home-dining culture evolved led initially by the elite, for
whom polished manners at the table became an expectation if
one were invited into the exclusive company at the table. The
aristocracy set the tone of behavior expected of court society.
These patterns spilled over into bourgeois society in France
to become the new national norm. The evolution of this top-
down diffusion of aristocratic refinement set France apart from
German and English cooking styles, which were determined
by populations whose tastes were determined largely by what
was affordable.
While rank and prestige mattered, personal refinement, love
of beauty, and a broad knowledge of the humanities and national
affairs became the basis for conversation at the table. The dinner
table became the setting for expression of values and ideas where
forthright views and convivial discussions allowed for an equity
of male and female views without a hierarchical seating plan.
Food courses in a typical meal were served a la francaise,
meaning the simultaneous placement of multiple separate dishes
on the table at the outset of the meal. This applied to family
meals as well as to more formal occasions. Without the need for
waiters or servants to serve individual courses, family and guests
would partake of the offerings in no specific order. An obvious
disadvantage of this approach was the loss of heat from warm
dishes as the meal wore on, and their tastes suffered accordingly.
By and large, the dishes devised and presented by La Varenne
were not “fancy” in appearance and did not pander to the need for
elaborate displays and visual effects. Instead, the main ingredient
was complemented by understated sauces and garnishes, which
did not obscure the fundamental taste of the dish.
Never to be denied their gustatory enjoyments, Parisians in
the mid-seventeenth century wanted more than the savory dishes.
They wanted something sweet and something soft, and so the
pâtissier and the confectioner (confiseur) emerged, preparing
pastries and confections in rooms separate from the main kitchen
of the house.
Le Cuisinier Francois Provides an
Exposition of a New Cuisine
From the above it is apparent that the affordability of and access
to fresh produce for the general population would skew selection
to the use of grains, bread, dairy products, eggs, vegetables, fruit,
and spices. The latter options were realistic, since spices were
imported from the East, but the wide selection relegated the
stronger ones such as pepper, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves to be
used less, albeit not to their complete exclusion. Until the mid-
seventeenth century, a wide range of ingredients was boiled in a
common stockpot, which obscured their individual flavors, and
then overloaded with spices (pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cloves)
and acidic or sweet sauces. For example, in his 1615 cookbook,
John Murrel called for sugar in 50% of savory recipes, cinnamon
in 31%, ginger in 27%, and mace in 15% (24).
Apart from the notion of a healthy lifestyle in the countryside
and provision of fruits and vegetables from gardens as
promulgated by Bonnefons, La Varenne placed an emphasis
on the harmony of identifiable flavors. His capon broth
is an example where each of the variations on the recipe
would be identifiable: “chicory slightly bitter, cardoon bitter
and sweet, parsley fragrant and herbaceous” (4). His dishes
almost never called for addition of sugar and rarely for ginger
or cinnamon.
An important contribution of La Varenne was his attention
to detail. For example, preparing to baste throughout the process
was key to dishes such as suckling pig. The danger of overcooking
fish was of importance, given the numerous fish dishes which
dominate his book. Removal from the heat before deboning,
adjusting the cooking temperature according to the size of the
fish and the consistency of the flesh, and creating a court bouillon
(the liquid in which a fish may be poached) were all steps which
required attention to detail. No longer was the fire an appropriate
source of heat since the temperature of sensitive ingredients (egg
yolks) could only be controlled by raising or lowering the cooking
pot, hardly an adequate means of achieving a delicate outcome.
The elevated stove top, which included sections with burners set
at different temperatures, allowed pots to be moved from one
to another and enabled constant stirring, skimming, addition of
ingredients, and deglazing, an essential development.
La Varenne’s style of cooking was inventive, delicate, and
played to the senses of smell and taste by delivering a variety and
diversity of flavors and aromas [We have argued (25) that the
sense of smell is an important activator of the digestive process
prior to a morsel of food entering the mouth]. La Varenne clearly
played to a broad sensorium. The result was the emergence of
a cuisine that was delicate and refined, used only the juices of
the principle ingredient as the basis for sauces and thickening
agents, was augmented by light and subtle sauces, was based
upon butter, cream, eggs, and flour, and highlighted, rather
than obscure, natural flavors. Ingredients could be added at the
table according to individual tastes instead of being considered
essential ingredients.
Many of his dishes required little more than the juices
remaining in the cooking pan. This approach was taken for
roasts of birds, poultry, lamb, pork, rabbit, and other dishes.
Bisques needed only bread croutons. Ragouts needed little more
than wine or cream, or a roux of flour browned in butter. The
resulting smoothness, coupled with the ability of fats (egg yolk)
to enhance flavors, led to a transformation of French cuisine from
being complex, spicy, acidic, or sweet to one that accentuated
natural flavors, representing the refined and thoughtful style of
a culinary practice.
Ragouts and potages were main elements in the repertoire
of La Varenne. A ragout was a method of cooking meat,
cut into pieces, browned and cooked without coloring, and
with or without vegetables, in sauces that could augment their
natural flavors. Such sauces no longer altered the viscosities and
intensities that characterized medieval cuisine, which had used
bread for this purpose. The potage was either a clear bisque or
a category of thickened soup or stew in which meat, fish, or
vegetables are boiled together with water to acquire a thickened
consistency. La Varenne included many options for these for all
days of the calendar.
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Fine La Varenne Transforms French Cuisine
Two methods innovated by La Varenne are worthy of
attention: (a) emulsification and (b) the creation of a roux.
Emulsification was the process of maintaining fine droplets of
oil or fat in a liquid, which assumed a creamy appearance and
slightly viscous texture. The tendency of the two ingredients to
separate required a stirring process and a precise ratio of one to
the other. When mixed with the juices of meats or vegetables,
ajus resulted (Modern French sauces, such as bearnaise or
hollandaise are examples). Even gently heated cream or butter
would serve this purpose, but more often egg yolk was the
usual emulsifying agent. Buttery sauces became the staple of
La Varenne for cooking fish, with only a small number of
recipes requiring additional seasoning ingredients. Not only was
a perception of smoothness imparted, but such sauces also added
a glaze, which enhanced the visual appeal of the dish. The
key to emulsified sauce was precision of temperature control.
Addition of court-bouillon or some acid (vinegar, lemon juice)
to cold beaten butter would make the sauce creamier. Adding
remnants of meat by deglazing the cooking pan with wine or
bouillon and the addition of butter or egg yolks would capture
FIGURE 3 | Table of contents modified from the English translationof the 1652 edition of Le Cuisinier Francois (7).
Frontiers in Nutrition | www.frontiersin.org 8April 2020 | Volume 7 | Article 42
Fine La Varenne Transforms French Cuisine
the essential flavor of the meat in an emulsified sauce. Such sauces
also appear in La Varenne’s recipes for vegetables (asparagus,
cauliflower, artichokes) and seafood (lobster, langoustine). Where
additional flavor was called for, non-intrusive additives such
as chives, orange peel, and nutmeg could be added, and
where an “edge” was called for, a dash of vinegar would do
the trick.
A roux was created by sprinkling flour onto an ingredient
(meat or vegetable) while it was being cooked. The emitted
fats formed a paste with the flour and were augmented by the
ingredient’s juices to form a sauce, which was enhanced by
further cooking. The advantage of this method was that the sauce,
stabilized by the roux, allowed for advanced preparation and even
for storage.
The User-Friendly Layout of Le Cuisinier
Francois
Fundamental to the design and organization of the cookbook,
two key considerations seem to have been in the mind of
La Varenne: the layout of the cookbook, which would best
encourage its frequent perusal, and a selection of ingredients
most likely to be available to its readers and users. His attention
to both points may well explain the basis for the wide appeal
of the book. It was organized around the Christian calendar,
which differentiated between “lean days” (meals without meat),
“flesh days” (meals with meat), and “fasting days,” with Lent
being the longest period of fasting. Depending on the era,
every week had at least 1 day of fasting, usually Friday. In the
original Christian calendar there were between 150 and 250
lean days, meaning that unrestricted eating was permissible for
only the remaining days. This practice became less restrictive
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Meat and fats
were clearly restricted as options for some days. Fish was less
restricted and was included on lean days. Drying and smoking
were also in common use. The creation of preserves was
also described.
Le Cuisinier was thus organized into sections which provided
menu options for flesh days, for lean days, for Lent days, and
for pastries (savory), which could be eaten throughout the year
(Figure 3). Included were potages, ragouts, gelees, roasts, farces,
stews, rissoles, fritters, pates, pies, and fries. Also included were
conserves and pickles.
Delicate flavors abounded. Sauces were made with butter and
eggs. Ragouts were thickened with flour sautéed in fat. Subtle
sauces, using butter and egg yolks as emulsifiers, have lived on
to this day (e.g., hollandaise sauce). The initial assumption of La
Varenne, who was expecting his readers to be the professional
cooks well-versed in the basic techniques of cooking, may
have been that lengthy and detailed descriptions were not
called for. The brevity of his descriptions, however, may well
have worked to his advantage in popularizing the book, in
that inexperienced cooks were less likely to be intimidated by
short instructions than having to wade through lengthy and
tortuous recipes.
The majority of recipes in Le Cuisinier Francois were for
seafood. Recipes for ∼50 different species of fish are presented,
the fish being mainly of the saltwater type and the most
frequent being eel, pike, barbel, carp, salmon, monkfish, flounder,
mackerel, and herring. These were the species most available in
the markets at that time. There are only about 20 recipes for meat,
including those for veal, mutton, beef, and pork, with a smaller
number for poultry, pigeons, partridges, capons, and duck. As
principal ingredients in recipes, there are only 15 for vegetables,
and six for fruits included in the book.
CONCLUSION
The success of Le Cuisinier Francois in 1651 is evidenced by
the large number of editions published over the subsequent
50 years. The case is made that this could only have
occurred if the book was purchased and used by the
population at large rather than being restricted to professional
cooks. This occurred against a backdrop of an almost
complete absence of comparable publications in the prior
half-century.
Explanations for this widespread and enduring success lie
in La Varenne’s precise and uncomplicated style of writing,
his selection of principal ingredients within the reach of the
household cook, and recipes that reflected the foods available
to the French populace at the time of writing. Additionally,
because Le Cuisinier Francois was laid out according to widely
observed religious practices, finding the best options for the
appropriate day of the month became an easy task for the
home cook.
Although other cookbooks began to appear shortly
after its publication in France and the rest of Europe, the
inflection point undoubtedly occurred in mid-seventeenth
century, arguably making La Varenne the most influential
food writer of his time. His book initiated a departure
from a “medieval” style of cooking in France, moving to
one that was based upon natural flavors, a limited use of
spices and uncomplicated cooking methods. This must have
imparted a sense of empowerment and confidence to the
home cook. In these terms, the author and his book were
truly transformative.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
LF originated the hypothesis, designed, and wrote the paper.
FUNDING
Institutional funding supported this work.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful for the helpful comments provided by my colleagues
in the Program for the History of Medicine.
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Fine La Varenne Transforms French Cuisine
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Conflict of Interest: The author declares that the research was conducted in the
absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a
potential conflict of interest.
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