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Published 2014
Mirepoix was ‘an incompetent and mediocre individual’, writes
grimod de la Reynière (1808) confirms the gastronomic pretensions of the hapless Duke when he cites a quail dish à la Mirepoix and claims that it was the invention of the deceased Maréchal. But what exactly, in the 18th century, constituted a dish à la Mirepoix? The answer is hard to supply since it is not until the 19th century that the term is encountered regularly in French culinary texts. Beauvilliers, for instance, in 1814, gives a short recipe for a Sauce à la Mirepoix which is buttery, wine-laced stock garnished with an aromatic mixture of carrots, onions, and a bouquet garni. carême, in the 1830s, gives a similar recipe calling it simply Mire-poix and, by the mid-19th century, gouffé refers to a Mirepoix as ‘a term in use for such a long time that I do not hesitate to use it here’. His mirepoix is listed among ‘essences’ and, indeed, is a meaty concoction (laced with two bottles of Madeira!) which, like all other essences, was used to enrich many a classic sauce.