* ‘ Almanach des Gourmands, servant de guide dans les moyens de
faire excellente chi^re. Par un vieil amateur.’ Paris, 1802-1812, 8 vols.,
12mo. The first six volumes are dated 1802-1808, the seventh is dated
1810, the eighth 1812. This volume has a dedication to the shade of
Vatel, cook of the great Cond^, who committed suicide with a sword
because the fish did not arrive in time from the sea coast, when his master
was entertaining Louis XIV. The second series is entitled, ‘ Nouvel
Almanach des Gourmands,’ etc., as above. ‘ Dedie an Ventre. Par A. B.
de Perigord.’ Paris, 1825.
THE HISTORIC LITERATURE OF COOKERY 37
‘Manuel des Amphitryons,’ 1808, p. 291). In his early
days the third Baron Grimod was an impious son and
grandson, and at his banquets perpetrated coarse practical
jokes, in which he treated the memory of his great-grand-
father, the charcutier, with contempt. His extravagance
compelling his father to put him under some restraint, he
was, under a lettre de cachet, banished to Lorraine, but his
father dying six months afterwards, he came into possession
of the ancestral fortune, which had been squeezed out of
the Prench taxpayers. The Revolution ‘ retorqueated,’ and
Eeyni^re’s fortune having changed proprietors, he luckily
remained in possession of his head, and took to literature
for the purpose of making a living. He began the
‘ Almanach ’ in the last year of the Republic, and continued
it during the prosperous years of the Empire, and after a
long pause during the Restoration. This publication thus
appeared in two series, the first terminating with the eighth
volume (it had not been an annual for four years) in 1812 ;
the second series began in 1825. The first series contained,
besides general essays, critical reviews of Parisian culinary
establishments, which are praised or condemned, and in
such a manner that it is probable that praise could be had
for a consideration, and those who did not advertise were
at least not praised. The coarseness of the conceptions
and the extent of the exaggerations contained in these early
volumes have not influenced the practice of good society,
but have helped to make the Paris style of cooking compli-
cated and overladen. The ‘ faisan Lucullus ’ of Vuillemot
is perhaps the acme of exaggeration in this direction. In
later publications Reynike overcame these faults, and his
‘ Manuel des Amphitryons,’ Paris, 1808, is a work of great
historical and practical merit, and written in a. most
polished and attractive style, a monument of the refinement
of the eighteenth century, which perished in the Revolution,
and is not likely soon to be revived.
38
THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY
Page 35
Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
* ‘ Almanach des Gourmands, servant de guide dans les moyens de faire excellente chi^re. Par un vieil amateur.’ Paris, 1802-1812, 8 vols., 12mo. The first six volumes are dated 1802-1808, the seventh is dated 1810, the eighth 1812. This volume has a dedication to the shade of Vatel, cook of the great Cond^, who committed suicide with a sword because the fish did not arrive in time from the sea coast, when his master was entertaining Louis XIV. The second series is entitled, ‘ Nouvel Almanach des Gourmands,’ etc., as above. ‘ Dedie an Ventre. Par A. B. de Perigord.’ Paris, 1825.
‘Manuel des Amphitryons,’ 1808, p. 291). In his early days the third BaronGrimod was an impious son and grandson, and at his banquets perpetrated coarse practical jokes, in which he treated the memory of his great-grandfather, the charcutier, with contempt. His extravagance compelling his father to put him under some restraint, he was, under a lettre de cachet, banished to Lorraine, but his father dying six months afterwards, he came into possession of the ancestral fortune, which had been squeezed out of the French taxpayers. The Revolution retorted,’ and Reynière's fortune having changed proprietors, he luckily remained in possession of his head, and took to literature for the purpose of making a living. He began the ‘ Almanach ’ in the last year of the Republic, and continued it during the prosperous years of the Empire, and after a long pause during the Restoration. This publication thus appeared in two series, the first terminating with the eighth volume (it had not been an annual for four years) in 1812 ; the second series began in 1825. The first series contained, besides general essays, critical reviews of Parisian culinary establishments, which are praised or condemned, and in such a manner that it is probable that praise could be had for a consideration, and those who did not advertise were at least not praised. The coarseness of the conceptions and the extent of the exaggerations contained in these early volumes have not influenced the practice of good society, but have helped to make the Paris style of cooking complicated and overladen. The ‘ faisan Lucullus ’ of Vuillemot is perhaps the acme of exaggeration in this direction. In later publications Reynike overcame these faults, and his ‘ Manuel des Amphitryons,’ Paris, 1808, is a work of great historical and practical merit, and written in a. most polished and attractive style, a monument of the refinement of the eighteenth century, which perished in the Revolution, and is not likely soon to be revived.