Cook: Rewards and Status

The cooks who had successful careers reaped rich rewards. Guillaume Tirel, the 14th-century cook better known as Taillevent, finished his 60-year stint with a substantial fortune and a coat of arms. Much later, Voltaire’s cook, Antoine du Fay, earned 240 livres a year in 1761, and his successor, the appropriately named Bonnesauce, 180 livres. (The coachman earned 100 livres, the women cook and baker 50 and 60 livres respectively.) Once the prestige of French cuisine was established, French cooks were de rigueur in grand establishments everywhere until the 20th century. High salaries were the norm for these expatriates, who earned double the salaries of their English counterparts. The cook was one of the upper servants; the man-cook ranked equal to the bailiff and above the butler, while the woman cook came below the lady’s maid and the housekeeper.