| Library home | Catalogue | Resources | Services | Help | Libraries | About us |
| Staff directory | A-Z index | Site map |
| Library home | Catalogue | Resources | Services | Help | Libraries | About us |
| Staff directory | A-Z index | Site map |
Chosen by:
Sandy Michell
La Varenne, François Pierre de, 1618-1678.
Le cuisinier françois, ou, L'ecole des ragouts : ou est enseigne la maniere d'appreÌ‚ter toutes sortes de viandes, de patisseries & confitures / par le sieur De la Varenne. (Lyon : Chez la Veuve de C. Chavance & M. Chavance fils, Marchand Libraire, ruë Merciere, 1699) [donor: Sandy Michell]
La Varenne’s important work was the first cook book to set down recipes in a systematic manner. It also gives the reader an insight into the many culinary innovations achieved in seventeenth-century France. La Varenne is the first French cook to use a roux instead of softened bread to thicken sauces, adds a bouquet garni to flavour stocks, and gives us one of the first recipes for feuilletage or puff pastry. He also uses egg whites to clarify aspic. There is an astonishing number of modern recipes, including omelettes, beignets, macaroons, cheese cake, apple tart, and pumpkin pie.
This work, first published in 1651, appeared for seventy-five years in some thirty editions. The edition of 1662 was the first to combine three works: Le Cuisinier François, Le Pastissier François and Confitures, and this edition of 1699 is in that form.
Photo album created with Web Album Generator