Behind the French Menu

Catherine de Medici. Italy’s Greatest Gift to French cuisine?

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Catherine’s marriage to Prince Henry.

This painting was made some 17 years after the actual wedding.

Catherine, the most influential Italian

in the history of French cuisine.

Medicis, Catherine de - Catherine de Medici (1519–1589). Catherine de Medici’s influence on French cuisine was a side-effect of her marriage, in Paris, at age 14, to Prince Henry, also age 14. Henry was the son of King Francis I of France. That marriage changed French cuisine forever, and Catherine's and her Florentine family were directly responsible.

Catherine came to France accompanied by an entourage of Florentine chefs, cooks, market gardeners, and vintners. They and more were a wedding gift from her father Lorenzo de' Medici, the absolute ruler of Florence. At that time, Florence was Europe's undisputed center of fine cuisine. Catherine's chefs brought much more than pasta; they brought new soft drinks such as lemonade and orangeade. Then, her market gardeners brought many different herbs and vegetables, including a love for the herb basil. The vintners also brought new eau de vies, fruit brandies, and new methods of wine production. The French eau-de-vie, called Marc is a direct relative of Italian Grappa.

Grappa from Piedmont, Italy,

Photograph courtesy of Vineyard Adventures

At the same time, all of Europe was slowly awakening to many more different herbs, spices, fruits, and vegetables that the conquistadors had brought back to Spain. Catherine’s Florentine chefs took what they had brought with them and also began working with the new arrivals from the New World. To all that they brought, they added the wines, cheeses, fruits, and vegetables they found in France. The combination created a culinary revolution in France. Like it or not Catherine’s arrival from Italy was directly associated with the foundations of much of modern French cuisine.

Portrait of Catherine de Medici

Photograph courtesy of Dennis Jarvis

www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/15291148568/

For the French and Italian kitchens, the two countries borders were always mutually beneficial; recipes, fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, and vines have been taken by both countries, improved upon and then returned. Then finally France took some of Italy and kept it. (In1860 Napoleon III claimed parts of the Duchy of Savoie and the City of Nice. Parts of these new France territories would become the French departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie. These additions to France were part of an agreement where France supported the unification of the rest of Italy).

Catherine’s Prince Henry would become King Henry II, and when he died in a jousting accident, Catherine became the power behind the throne of France. Her three sons would become the next three kings of France, more on that later.

The Château de Fontainebleau today.

Photograph courtesy of Mark. B. Schlemmer.

www.flickr.com/photos/mbschlemmer/6176008041/

Under Catherine de Medici and King Henry II in the 1550s the royal couple expanded the royal hunting lodge of Fontainebleau. With King Henry’s death, Catherine added much more to it using Italian painters and others to make this then the largest royal French Chateau with 1,500 rooms The Château de Fontainebleau is 55 km (34 miles) from Paris and 75 km (47 miles) from the Chateau de Versailles. (The Chateau of Versailles was another Royal Hunting Lodge that was added to by King Louis III and then again by Louis XIV who made the Chateau de Versailles the site of the Government of France in 1682).

Catherine loved intrigue

Despite Catherine’s contributions to the dinner table, she is not a popular figure in French history. She was directly involved in the planning of the 1572 Saint Bartholomew’s day massacre; on that day thousands of Protestants were murdered.

Saint Bartholomew’s day massacre.

Painting by François Dubois, (1529– 1584)

Painted around. 1572-1584 in oil on wood amd canvas.

Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts Lausanne, Switzerland

Catherine was long-lived; she lived through the reigns of four monarchs, her husband’s and then three of her son’s. While her husband King Henry II lived Catherine was sidelined in favor of his mistress; however, when Henry died Catherine became an absolute dictator. Catherine ruled through her other sons who inherited the throne (and not just from behind the scenes). Catherine also took whatever she wanted from anyone and payment would not be requested! See the paragraph on the Château de Chenonceau below.

Catherine de Medici’s Château de Chenonceau

Photograph courtesy of Roger Wollstadt.

www.flickr.com/photos/24736216@N07/2782230715/

The Château de Chenonceau, pictured above, was built across the River Cher in the Loire Valley. It belonged to Catherine’s husband King Henry II who built it for his mistress Diane de Poitiers. After Henry’s death, Catherine took the Château from her husband’s former mistress and in 1559 and made it one of her royal residences. Today you may visit it; it is Indre-et-Loire in the region of the Centre-Val de Loire. The Chateau is 234 km (146 miles) from Paris,(one hour and fifty minutes by train) 33km (21 miles) from Tours and 115 km 72 miles from Orleans. Of Frances many Chateaus the Chateau de Chenonceau is the second most visited Chateau after Versailles.

Catherine de Médicis died in 1589

Catherine de Médicis was buried alongside her husband Henry II in the Basilique de Saint-Denis; the traditional burial place of the Kings of France since the 6th century. The Basilica is just a ten-minute journey by metro, from the center of Paris to the metro station of Saint-Denis.

Catherine;s likeness from her tomb in Saint Denis.

She is buried alongside her husband Henri II

Photograph courtesy of Francisco Gonzalez

www.flickr.com/photos/franciscojgonzalez/9240501099/

Catherine died just eight months before her third son King Henry III was murdered. Henry III had no descendants, and the throne passed to King Henry III of Navarre (1553-1610), who became King Henry IV of France (1589-1610) the first of the Bourbon Kings of France.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

--------------------------------

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Crêpes Suzette, the Prince of Wales, and the Chef Henri Charpentier.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Crepes Suzette Flambé

Photograph courtesy of Edsel Little.

www.flickr.com/photos/edsel_/15662618499/

Crêpes Suzette; a dish of sweet, thin, crepes, served in a hot sauce of fresh orange juice sauce flavored with a combination of liquors. Traditionally the sauce poured over the crepes, is set alight, flambéed, in front of the diners. Today, more than 100 years since the tradition was created many restaurants no longer flambé the dish considering that bit of restaurant theatre to be passé.

Crepes Suzette with ice-cream

Photograph courtesy of Martin Stone.

www.flickr.com/photos/martinrstone/22035008038/

Crepes served in different sauces had long been popular desserts in France, but the flambéed Crepes Suzette became an overnight sensation. The time was 1896, and the place was the restaurant, the Cafe de Paris in Monte Carlo. Then a group of diners hosted by the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward the VII of the UK, ordered crepes in an orange-flavored sauce as a dessert.

The Cafe de Paris today.

A young, commis chef, an under-chef, the 16-year-old Henri Charpentier (1880- 1961) was tasked to serve the dish to the diners from a chafing dish heated by a direct flame underneath. By mistake, or possibly with malice aforethought, a drop of the alcoholic sauce fell on the flame, and the rest is history. The fire that arose created shock and awe but was immediately turned into controlled restaurant theatre. Henri Charpentier never lost his cool and explained to the Prince that this was a new creation. Henri then asked the Prince to choose the name of the dish. The Prince chose the name of the eight-year-old young lady sitting next to her father, a guest of the Prince and voila; we now have Crêpes Suzette.

There’s one place left, so you can still park your yacht.

Monte Carlo Harbor today.

Photograph courtesy of Salicia

www.flickr.com/photos/betzywd/5393605302/

Often, mistakenly, the Prince of Wales' lady guest, Suzette, whose name is forever connected with the crepes, is described as a courtesan. The Prince had a real-life reputation as a lady's man, but the courtesan story is spurious. The Prince of Wales did have a lover who was not his wife, Alice Keppel. Then, discussing Alice Keppel can make for an engaging discussion of coincidences when ordering Crêpes Suzette. Alice Keppel's great-great-granddaughter is Camilla Parker Bowles, the second wife of the present Prince of Wales, Prince Charles. Royalty may say that heredity is everything; however, Alice and Camilla would probably say that from one Prince of Wales to another, tradition is everything!

The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII.

Now back to Crêpes Suzette; certainly this was the first time a dish would be flambéed in the dining room of the Cafe de Paris, Monte Carlo. Until that day, dishes that had alcohol added for flavor had excess alcohol burned off in the kitchen and the act of controlling the flame was part of any aspiring chef’s job. Now the guests would be provided with a new stunt in the arsenal of restaurant theater,

The Casino, Cafe de Paris.

Crêpes Suzette remains a great dessert and is still on many menus. The alcoholic eau-de-vie used to flavor the fresh orange juice sauce will probably be Cointreau or Grande Marnier. That despite Henri writing that the recipe was a combination of Maraschino, Curacao, and Kirsch and so chefs still argue about the liquor in the original recipe. That, however, is, beyond dispute, it is all there in black and white, in English, in Henri’s first book: Life à la Henri.

Chefs may tell you that Henri became famous because he was a good showman not because he was a good chef, but that is just kitchen envy. Chefs do not ignore good restaurant theatre, and many of the most exceptional chefs have covered up their errors with excellent showmanship. Anyone questioning Henri’s story should be reminded of the origins of Tarte Tatin.

Following his apprenticeship at the Cafe de Paris Henri traveled and worked in a number of famous restaurants in Europe. His most memorable apprenticeship was working under Escoffier and César Ritz at the Savoy Hotel in London. Then, in 1905, Henri, aged 21 already married and a father, Henri, and family emigrated to the United States. Directly off the boat, Henri began work at the legendary Delmonico’s French restaurant in New York. As could be expected from Henri’s whirlwind lifestyle within a year, Henri opened his own restaurant. The web address http://lynhistory.com takes you to the Long Island Shore and Lynbrook website.

The restaurant, Henri’s French Restaurant, was an instant success and rapidly grew in size; then, in 1920, came prohibition. Under prohibition a French restaurant that wished to offer aperitifs, serve dishes like Crepe Suzette, Coq au Vin or Tournedos Rossini accompanied by Champagne and followed by a fine Cognac, either closed or became a speak-easy. Henri closed his restaurant and returned to France.

With the end of prohibition, in 1933, John D. Rockefeller enticed Henri back from France to open a French restaurant in the newly built Rockefeller Center in New York. The restaurant was too small for the high rent that Henri had to pay, and the restaurant closed in 1935. While running his new restaurant, Henri wrote his first book Life à la Henri in 1934; his son translated it. A 2001 reprint by Modern Library Edition, Random House, is still on sale.

Henri Charpentier on the cover of his book

Life à la Henri.

IIn 1945, Henri privately printed with the W.B. Conkey Co, another book called: Food and Finesse -- The Brides Bible. That book was reprinted in 1970 and is still on sale, mostly in second-hand book stores, under the title: The Henri Charpentier Cookbook, printed by Price/Stern/Sloan Publishers Inc.

After further culinary adventures in Chicago and Los Angeles somewhere around 1947 Henri retired to Redondo Beach, California. Henri, however, was a born chef and could not just fade away. In the front room of his home, Henri opened another small restaurant where, unless you were a close friend, there was a two-year waiting list. Everything was prepared by Henri in his tiny kitchen.

Henri died in 1961 in California. The town of Contes, near Nice, France, where Henri grew up, (he was born in Nice), has named a street after him. That’s very gratifying, but I am sure his descendants would have been happier with the royalties on Crêpes Suzette.

In Tokyo, Japan, there are three patisseries named after Henri. Whether they are among the finest patisseries in Tokyo and honor his name is disputed.