Lecture 20: The Birth of French Haute Cuisine

also fi nds humble ingredients and simple cuts of meat treated with

respect and cooked in ways that are straightforward.

 In fact, when planning an entire dinner, several fonds, or fl avor

bases, would have been prepared ahead by a large kitchen staff.

The fl avor bases could then be used in dozens of different sauces,

braises, or ragouts. This is one of the most important organizing

principles of French cuisine from this period to the present.

Arndt, Culinary Biographies.

Glanville, Elegant Eating.

Kaplan, Bakers of Paris.

Mennell, All Manners of Food.

Watts, Meat Matters.

Crayfi sh Soup

D

e Lune’s recipe for crayfi sh soup is a good example of

how chefs sought to intensify and concentrate the fl avor

of the main ingredient and garnish it with other foods that

complement it as well as decorate the plate.

Wash the crayfi sh well, cook them in water with a bundle of herbs,

a bit of salt and butter. Then, draw out the tails and the legs, and

pound the shells, which you strain with the crayfi sh bouillon, and

place in a pot. Then, you put the tail and leg meat in a pan with a

bit of butter and fi ne herbs, well chopped, and you place them in

a pot or plate with the bouillon, the reddest you can strain. After,

simmer bread crusts with the bouillon, three or four fi nely chopped

mushrooms, arrange your crayfi sh and garnish the soup with roe

and mushrooms, lemon juice, and mushroom juice.

Suggested Reading