On Food and Cooking

era in which experimental science began to
flourish, and some influential French cooks
conceived of themselves as the chemists — or
alchemists — of meat. Around 1750, François
Marin echoed the Chinese description of
flavor harmony from 2,000 years before, but
with some telling twists (see box below).
Both Marin and I Yin speak of harmony
and balance. But the Chinese cauldron brings
together sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and pungent
ingredients, while the French pot contains
only meat juices, and generates complexity
and harmony by concentrating them. Marin
said that “Good taste has forbidden the
burning juices and caustic ragouts of the
ancienne cuisine,” with their Asian spices and
abundant vinegar and verjus. Meat bouillon
was now “the soul of cooking.” The meat’s
juices are its essence, and the cook extracts
them, concentrates them, and then uses them
to imbue other foods with their flavor and
nourishment. The purpose of a sauce is not to