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Gastronomy was an essential part of life at the Court of Versailles. The royal tables were lavishly set under the different kings, helping to assert royal power. The reign of Louis XIV saw the development of a lavish, refined cuisine bearing the seeds of modern gastronomy.

The dishes in this book are based on recipes developed in the 17th century by great chefs: La Varenne (Le Cuisinier françois, Le Pâtissier françois), Pierre de Lune (Le Cuisinier, Le Nouveau et parfait cuisinier) and Massialot (Le Cuisinier roïal et bourgeois, L'Escole parfaite des Officiers de bouche). The ingredients and cooking methods have been adapted to contemporary products and utensils in order to make the recipes easy to prepare.

To whet your appetite, the following pages unveil the mouth-watering secrets of three dishes: asparagus omelette, braised chicken and pear pie.

Find more recipes in 100 Recipes from the Time of Louis XIV,
available at the Palace's on-line shop.

Ingredients (for 6 people)

500 g green asparagus
1 small onion
12 eggs
20 cl cream
50 g butter
1 bunch fresh chives
2 branches thyme
A few sprigs flat parsley
A pinch grated nutmeg
Salt, pepper

Wash the asparagus and cut the stalks into 2cm sections. Quickly sauté them in 25 g of butter in a large pan. Add the diced onion, half the chopped parsley, the snipped chives, the nutmeg, the crumbled thyme, salt and pepper.

Cook for 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring regularly. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and cream together with the rest of the herbs. Add salt, pepper and the cooked asparagus.

Melt 25 g of butter in the same pan and pour in the mixture. Cook over very low heat until the omelette is soft but not runny, around 20 minutes. Serve hot or cold with a green salad dressed with a lemon and orange juice vinaigrette.

This recipe is provided by Les éditions Archives & Culture.

Find more recipes in 100 Recipes from the Time of Louis XIV,
available at the Palace's on-line shop.

Ingredients (for 6 people)
1 1.5kg free-range chicken
100 g of cured ham
180 g piece of barding lard
For the marinade
5 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large shallot
1 bunch of spring onions
A few sprigs of flat parsley
3 sprigs of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
2 large garlic cloves
Salt, pepper

Cut the chicken in half along the back. Make small incisions on the joints (top of the thighs and wings) without separating the parts from each other. Flatten with the palm of your hand s that it stays flat. Line the bottom of a dish with the lard and put the chicken in the dish.

Finely chop the washed parsley, peeled shallot and garlic, crumbled thyme and rosemary. Add the olive oil to the herbs with generous amounts of salt and pepper. Brush both sides of the chicken with the mixture obtained. Add the diced ham, cover with aluminium foil and refrigerate several hours.

Preheat your oven to 175°C. Cook the chicken for one hour, basting often with the cooking juice. Turn the chicken over once and, if necessary, moisten with a few spoonfuls of white wine or water. After an hour, remove the aluminium foil, light the grill and cook the chicken a few minutes until golden brown. Leave to rest 5 minutes before cutting up into pieces to serve. Enjoy hot or cold, accompanied by peas with bacon or asparagus in a mild vinaigrette.

"In man, by instinct or experience,
The capons have so little confidence,
That this was not without much trouble caught,
Though for a splendid supper sought.
To lie, the morrow night,
In brilliant candle light. "

Jean de La Fontaine, Fables, Book VIII, "The Falcon and the Capon"

This recipe is provided by Les éditions Archives & Culture.

Find more recipes in 100 Recipes from the Time of Louis XIV,
available at the Palace's on-line shop.

Ingredients (for 6 people)
375 g shortcrust pastry
1.5 kg pears
150 g caster sugar
30 g pine nuts
60 g raisins
1 organic lemon
4 pinches of ground cinnamon
1 egg yolk

Flour a work surface and divide the pastry dough in half: one for the bottom crust, the other for the top.

Prepare the filling. Soak the raisins in lukewarm water. Carefully wash and brush the lemon before peeling it with a paring knife as thinly as possible. Chop into small pieces and boil twice. Drain and add to a syrup you will have prepared in a small saucepan from 50 g of sugar and 10 cl of water. Gently boil for around 10 minutes until obtaining a still-fluid mixture containing the lemon peel. Meanwhile, peel the pears and cut them into small pieces. Put the pears, pine nuts, drained raisins, candied lemon peel, remaining sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl, mix well and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place half the pastry dough in a pie dish and fill with the pear mixture. Cover with the other half of the dough, sealing the edges and brushing with the egg yolk diluted in tablespoon of water. Make a hole in the centre, keeping it open with small cardboard funnel.

Bake 1 hour, checking from time to time. When the top is golden brown, you can loosely cover it with aluminium to keep it from burning. Serve warm or cool.

Our tip

Pears give off a lot of juice while cooking. You should buy pears that are not too juicy. It depends on the season. Our experience with conference pears is excellent. And have a look La Quintinie’s inventory of pears. He listed a total of 500!

"Excellent pears: Cuisse-Madame, Muscat-Fle, Doyenné, Franc-réal, Pastourelle, La Vilaine d’Anjou
Good pears: La Bergamotte, La Virgoulé, Poire à la Reine, Pucelle de Flandre, La Blanquette, Satin-Vert, La Non-Commune des Défuntes, La Fondante de Brest
Mediocre pears: Poires de Monsieur, L’Angleterre, Le Chat-Brûlé, La Musette, La Crapaudine, Le Sucrin noir, La Poire de Jasmin, La Frangipane, L’Or d’Automne, Le Sans-nom de Monsieur Le Jeune…"

La Quintinie, Instructions pour les jardins, T. I, part 3

This recipe is provided by Les éditions Archives & Culture.