Food and flavor, a gastronomic guide to health and good living . ones. Already in the middle ages the saucier, or sauce-maker, was the headman in the cuisine of Frencharistocrats. The age of Careme (who wrote eloquently and lov-ingly about sauces) was, as Ellwanger remarks, theera of quintessences—of the cuisine classique, whenchemistry contributed new resources, and fish, meats,and fowls were distilled, in order to add a heightenedflavor to the sauces and viands that their etherealizedessences were to accentuate. One thinks of Lucullusand Apicius, and of the exceeding odoriferous andaromatica
Food and flavor, a gastronomic guide to health and good living . ones. Already in the middle ages the saucier, or sauce-maker, was the headman in the cuisine of Frencharistocrats. The age of Careme (who wrote eloquently and lov-ingly about sauces) was, as Ellwanger remarks, theera of quintessences—of the cuisine classique, whenchemistry contributed new resources, and fish, meats,and fowls were distilled, in order to add a heightenedflavor to the sauces and viands that their etherealizedessences were to accentuate. One thinks of Lucullusand Apicius, and of the exceeding odoriferous andaromatical vapor of the ovens of the artist mentionedby Montaigne. The most common ingredients used to make thesavory and appetizing French sauces are the yolks ofeggs (raw or cooked), salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar,lemon juice, tomatoes, bouillon, shallots, anchovies,onions, garlic, carrots, olive oil, orange rind, truffles,cream, mushrooms, pickles, wines, meat extracts,cayenne, and diverse aromatic herbs. But the mostimportant of all French sauces is melted French. CAREME FRENCH SUPREMACY 219 butter—not kitchen butter, but the fresh, fragrantproduct of the creamery. With such butter, andplenty of it, gastronomic miracles can be performed. There is a great deal of local Flavor in Frenchsauces. Blindfold a Parisian gourmet who knows hiscountry, and place before him dishes made after thefashions of different provinces, and he will tell you atonce the name of the town they smack of. The coast towns enjoy special advantages in thisrespect, as they can use diverse shellfish and othermarine creatures peculiar to their region to impartspecial overtones of flavor, so to speak, to their sauces. French enthusiasm over sauces reached its climaxin the exclamation that with sauce Robert a man mightbe pardoned for eating his own grandfather! Brillat-Savarin, like many of his countrymen, wenttoo far when he declared that poultry is for cookerywhat canvas is to the painter. No doubt, many of the
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Keywords: ., bookauthorfinckhen, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
