It is not by accident that France is the world center of fine
food and drink, but largely because of her geographical location
and direct inheritance of dishes and drinks from Roman occupa-
tion, Spanish conquest and the influence of sea-faring Portuguese
along her coast. Not only these, but also Greek and Arabic con-
tributions in the Midi, Basque sturdiness of Pyreneese dishes
flaming with applejack, Flemish fashions from Flanders and the
downright German cuisine of Alsace-Lorraine, where Teutonic
beer and Latin wine flow together. Besides, Napoleonic conquest
brought in foreign food fashions and filled Paris with Generals
and diplomats who had plenty of gold to encourage the restaura-
teurs. War as well made thrifty fare imperative for the op-
pressed masses, so they were forced to making the best of giblets,
dressing up lungs and tripe into toothsome delicacies, even as our
poverty-stricken slave negroes turned chitterlings and possum
into celestial dishes. Cheap cuts and round steaks of horse the
Parisians turned into near-sirloins of beef, pig's ears they meta-
morphosed into silken sausages. Alley cat they substituted for
wild hare with great cleverness.
By now, all of these foreign and making-the-best-of-it influ-
ences have merged, in two universal centers of epicurianism,
Paris and Lyons. Lyonnaise potatoes and Parisian bceuf a la
mode, along with Julienne potatoes, soup Julienne and mayon-
naise are as common international fare as chop suey or spa-
ghetti. In the matter of potatoes alone, the whole world eats
273
274 THE EUROPEAN COOKBOOK
them in French style, au gratin, a la Napoleon, en robe de
chambre (in their dressing gowns) or plain French fried.
Everybody eats table d'hote or a la carte and the menu
everywhere is in French, of course, and about all the French that
many of us know. In the esperanto of dining we have adopted
the French name for every course, from hors d'ceuvres, through
soup, salad, piece de resistance and sauce all the way to dessert
and liqueurs. But though French table customs and words have
run round the world, this universal usage of them is compara-
tively recent in origin. For not more than a century and a half
ago the taverns of London and ristorantes of Rome made meals
more distinguished than any served up in similar caravansaries of
Paris. The very beef, which as bceuf a la mode became the name
of a pioneer Parisian restaurant in the Palais Royal, was adopted
from old England, while the surpassing dishes au gratin which
helped heavily in establishing the Parisian cuisine, were out and
out Italian.
The first great restaurant of Paris was established in the
Palais Royal in 1786 and called "Les Trois Freres Provencaux,"
after the three rustic brothers of Provence who came to town to
start it. Then Careme, the father of all chefs, came along and
cooked ten years for Talleyrand, who was known as "the first
fork of his time." It was either Careme or Talleyrand who set
the international pace of cooking thus early by importing Par-
mesan from Italy and sprinkling it in the soup, by fetching dry
Madeira from its distant island and drinking it after the soup.
Page 113
Presented as published in 1936. 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
It is not by accident that France is the world center of fine food and drink, but largely because of her geographical location and direct inheritance of dishes and drinks from Roman occupation, Spanish conquest and the influence of sea-faring Portuguese along her coast. Not only these, but also Greek and Arabic contributions in the Midi, Basque sturdiness of Pyreneese dishes flaming with applejack, Flemish fashions from Flanders and the downright German cuisine of Alsace-Lorraine, where Teutonic beer and Latin wine flow together. Besides, Napoleonic conquest brought in foreign food fashions and filled Paris with Generals and diplomats who had plenty of gold to encourage the restaurateurs. War as well made thrifty fare imperative for the oppressed masses, so they were forced to making the best of giblets, dressing up lungs and tripe into toothsome delicacies, even as our poverty-stricken slave negroes turned chitterlings and possum into celestial dishes. Cheap cuts and round steaks of horse the Parisians turned into near-sirloins of beef, pig's ears they metamorphosed into silken sausages. Alley cat they substituted for wild hare with great cleverness.
By now, all of these foreign and making-the-best-of-it influences have merged, in two universal centers of epicurianism, Paris and Lyons. Lyonnaise potatoes and Parisian beef a la mode, along with Julienne potatoes, soup Julienne and mayonnaise are as common international fare as chop suey or spaghetti. In the matter of potatoes alone, the whole world eats
them in French style, au gratin, a la Napoleon, en robe de chambre (in their dressing gowns) or plain French fried.
Everybody eats table d'hote or a la carte and the menu everywhere is in French, of course, and about all the French that many of us know. In the esperanto of dining we have adopted the French name for every course, from hors d'oeuvres, through soup, salad, piece de resistance and sauce all the way to dessert and liqueurs. But though French table customs and words have run round the world, this universal usage of them is comparatively recent in origin. For not more than a century and a half ago the taverns of London and ristorantes of Rome made meals more distinguished than any served up in similar caravansaries of Paris. The very beef, which as beef a la mode became the name of a pioneer Parisian restaurant in the Palais Royal, was adopted from old England, while the surpassing dishes au gratin which helped heavily in establishing the Parisian cuisine, were out and out Italian.
The first great restaurant of Paris was established in the Palais Royal in 1786 and called "Les Trois Freres Provencaux," after the three rustic brothers of Provence who came to town to start it. Then Careme, the father of all chefs, came along and cooked ten years for Talleyrand, who was known as "the first fork of his time." It was either Careme or Talleyrand who set the international pace of cooking thus early by importing Parmesan from Italy and sprinkling it in the soup, by fetching dry Madeira from its distant island and drinking it after the soup.