On Food and Cooking

lemon,  and serve   the same    way.

Perches in  Beurre  Blanc

Cook     them    with    wine,   verjus,     water,  salt,

cloves,  bay;    remove  the     scales  and     serve

with    a   thickened   sauce   that    you make    with

butter, vinegar,    nutmeg, slices  of  lemon;  it

should  be  well    thickened.

—   Pierre  de  Lune,   Le  Cuisinier,  1656

Early Modern Sauces:
Meat essences, Emulsions

It’s in the three centuries between 1400 and
1700 that the sauces of our own time have
their roots. Recipes call for fewer spices and a
lighter hand with them; vinegar and verjus
begin to give way to lemon juice; coarse bread
and almond thickeners are replaced by flour
and by butter and egg emulsions (see box, p.
585). And in France, meat broths become the
central element of fine cooking. This is the