Napoleonic Pleasures

Twelfth Cake is part of a tradition which dates from medieval times. It was a large fruit cake made and eaten to celebrate the Twelfth Night or Epiphany, which was a much bigger feast-day than Christmas at the time (Christmas did not gain its popularity until the 19th century). At one time, a large party […]

The Continental blockade had serious culinary consequences for the French population, especially in terms of coffee and sugar, since these came from the tropical colonies and the commercial sea routes which brought them had been cut off from France. Coffee was an especially serious privation. In great contrast to its limited success on introduction at […]

The recipe for potage à la reine most probably dates from the 15th century, and was thus named in honour of queen Marguerite of Valois, the first wife of Henri IV. It was served at court at least once a week. It even entered the menus of hospitals as its ingredients made it a hearty […]

This classic turkey recipe combines sweet and savoury flavours, lemon and bacon, and madeira wine and forcemeat and illustrates perfectly two key aspects to Second Empire cooking: hearty ingredients and imaginative presentation. A simple turkey would be transformed into something that could surprise guests with its various flavours and dazzle them with its turtle-like appearance.

One of the major changes to high society brought about by the Revolution was the modification of meal times. Theatre curtain times were pushed back and the knock-on effect was that the evening meal could no longer begin before 11pm, midnight and even two o’clock in the morning if attending a ball. Ancien Régime suppers […]

At the beginning of the 19th-century, the potato was still to take over the family dinner table and continued to be considered like other varieties of sub-vegetables reserved for animal feed. Nevertheless, this hardy tuber's easy cultivation and clear nutritional benefits, coupled with occasional waves of famine and devastating crop failure, would ensure this humble […]

Just like today, little boys and girls during the First Empire loved sweets and desserts of all types. But one well-known dish in particular was very popular: “oeufs à la neige” (literally “eggs in snow”), little 'floating islands' of whipped egg-white, sweetened and poached in a custard-like crème anglaise. Delicious! During the 19th century, eggs were […]

During the First Empire, roughly four in of five French people lived in villages or small towns. Many worked as farm labourers, craftsmen, merchants or doctors. Some were rich, and lived comfortably, whilst some were forced to live “hand-to-mouth” because their fields were too small to produce enough food to sustain them and their families. For […]

The cultivation of apple trees in the gardens and orchards of the Second Empire was extremely common, due in no small part to the high demand for eating apples and cider-making fruit. Table apples were principally sourced from market gardeners based on the town outskirts, whilst cider apple production was one of the Normandy region's most […]

Good and bad mushrooms.  Poisoning cases due to the consumption of toadstools and other toxic mushrooms were unfortunately frequent in occurrence. A list of “good mushrooms” included the button mushroom (agaricus bisporus), the ‘common’ mushroom (agaricus campestris, or field mushrooms), Caesar’s Mushroom (amanita caesarea), St George’s mushroom (Calocybe gambosa), the chanterelle mushroom, porcini and morels. […]