[Sca-cooks] Swan recipes

JIMCHEVAL at aol.com JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
Wed Jan 23 10:02:33 PST 2013


In fact it's worth noting that the whole idea of a fixed set of courses was 
 still very much in flux in this time. The Menagier de Paris includes over 
20  menus and most follow no obvious shared sequence. It's mainly the 
wedding menus  - the grandest - which follow something like the soup, etc. courses 
that became  the Western standard.
 
The history of courses (which I believe Flandrin has done to some degree)  
is interesting in itself. The Romans (at least at the highest levels) had a  
fairly (if loosely) organized sequence (which they shorthanded as "from 
eggs to  apples"). There are still traces of this in the early Merovingian 
period, along  with clear indications then and in Charlemagne's time that SOME 
idea of services  existed. But exactly what we don't know, except that by the 
time records become  more extensive the sequence seems to have become 
anarchic.

Bear in mind  too that in France at the start of the fourteenth century, in 
theory, at least,  meals were supposed to be limited to two courses.

Some credit Ziryab, a  fascinating figure in cultural history, with 
inventing the sequence that became  standard in Western cuisine. He lived in Spain 
about 100 years after Charlemagne  (and is also credited with establishing 
the bases for flamenco and for seasons  in fashion); if his ideas made it to 
fourteenth century France, I would guess it  was via the East.

But we should be cautious about saying any food was  universally served in 
any course at this time; there still seems to have been a  lot of room for 
leeway.
 
Jim  Chevallier
www.chezjim.com

Newly translated from Pierre Jean-Baptiste  Le Grand d'Aussy:
Eggs, Cheese and Butter in Old Regime France  

 
In a message dated 1/23/2013 8:11:30 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
ranvaig at columbus.rr.com writes:

The  progression of dishes is different  too.




More information about the Sca-cooks mailing list