Modern refrigeration and rapid transportation caused revolutionary changes in eating habits. For the first time, fresh foods of all kinds—meats, fish, vegetables, and fruits—became available throughout the year. Exotic delicacies can now be shipped from anywhere in the world and arrive fresh and in peak condition.
Two Important Cookbooks
In the Middle Ages, cooking consisted mostly of roasting meats on spits in front of a fire and suspending pots from hooks over the fire. Ovens, which were used in ancient Rome, had disappeared, so there was no baking. Roasted meats and poultry were usually boiled before being placed on the spit, and most foods were heavily spiced. It wasn’t until the thirteenth century that ovens were used again and that stews and sauces started to appear on the dining table.
Perhaps the first important cookbook to appear at the end of the Middle Ages was Le Viandier (The Cook ) by Guillaume Tirel, usually known as Taillevent, born about 1310.
Taillevent invented many dishes, especially sauces and soups. He refined old recipes to depend less on heavy use of spices and more on the flavors of the foods themselves. He wrote his book before the invention of the printing press, and handwritten copies of it remained in use for more than a century, until 1490, when it became perhaps the first cookbook ever printed.
By the seventeenth century, cooking practices still had not advanced much beyond Taillevent’s day. Perhaps the next most important cookbook after Taillevent’s was Le Cuisinier François The French Chef ), by François-Pierre de La Varenne (1615–1678). Published in 1651, it was a summary of the cooking practices in households of the aristocracy. It was one of the first books to present recipes and cooking techniques in an orderly fashion rather than as an unsystematic collection. Le Cuisinier François was one of the main reference works for cooks for more than 150 years.
These two chefs are memorialized in the names of two important culinary institutions. Taillevent is the name of a Paris restaurant that has long been one of the finest in France, and La Varenne is the name of a distinguished cooking school.
