Catherine and her cooks (was RE: SC - Recepies wanted)

[Decker, Terry D.]

The problem with anything attributed to Catherine de Medici and "her cooks"
is that most of the attributions are apocryphal.  Catherine was 14 when she
married.  She had spent the previous four years in several convents.  Her
branch of the family was essentially bankrupted by civil war and had only
recently regained control of Florence with the intervention of Pope Clement
VII, her uncle.  Her uncle dowered her and married her off to the Dauphin
for French support in the Pope's Italian problems.  The entourage which
brought her to France was that of Pope Clement and they returned to Italy
with him.  

Catherine had very little direct influence or control in the French court.
Henry preferred his mistresses and his hunting and ignored her.  Although
she was Queen from 1547 to 1559, she had little say in running things.  She
was also ignored by her son Francis, when he took the throne in 1559.  On
Francis' death in 1560, Catherine became Regent (1560-63) for her son
Charles.  She served as his chief advisor from 1564 to his death in 1574.
It was only after 1560 that she made any major impression on French society.

On the death of Charles, her third son, Henry ascended to the throne and
Catherine appears to have retired from political, but not social life.  Both
Catherine and Henry III died in 1589.  There was no heir to the throne from
the House of Valois and the throne went to the House of Bourbon.

When you add Anne-Marie's evidence that late period French cooking is its
own style and not a derivative of Italian cooking, the entire tale of how
Catherine and her cooks influenced French cooking becomes questionable.  I'm
sure she greatly influenced French cooking and style, she had the position
and wealth to do so in her later years.  I'm not sure that the common
perception of how she influenced French cooking has any basis in fact.

So now I have to locate another book by Elizabeth David to check on her
views.

Bear

 However, on page 44, she says how
> curious it is that this idea of Catherine de Medici's cooks
> introducing ice, much less flavored ices or sherbets, to
> the French Court is. That it apparently arose in the 18th century.
> She says that even she has repeated the story erroneously and that
> she has found no evidence to support this. She goes on to speculate
> on where she thinks some translation errors may have started this
> story.
> 
> Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
> Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net