Host and guest : a book about dinners, dinner-giving, wines, and desserts / by A.V. Kirwan.

  • Kirwan, A. V. (Andrew Valentine), 1804-1870.
Date:
[1864]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Host and guest : a book about dinners, dinner-giving, wines, and desserts / by A.V. Kirwan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    affectionate heart, and was not lost on a nation com- bining the greatest share of intellect with sensuality. The cabaret then was what the cafe, is now, and was the rendezvous of marquis and chevalier, and people of condition. Men learned to pursue the pleasures and enjoyments of life in the cabaret, and their wants become multiplied, and their desires extended. It was Henry IV. who first permitted the traitcurs to form a community, with the title of “ Maitre qucux cuisiniers porte-chapes,” in 1599. The first regular cookery book published in France was, I believe, printed at Rouen in 1692, the very year in which Sir George Rooke struck so signal and successful a blow against the marine of our neighbours. It was the production of the Sieur de la Varranne, esquire of the kitchen of M. d’Uxelles. It is dedicated to MM. Louis Clialon du Bled, Marquis d’Uxelles and of Cormartin. The first sentence of the dedication is a curiosity in its way, and sufficiently indicates the immense distance which feudalism then interposed between an esquire of the kitchen and a French marquis and lieutenant-general, holding the rank of governor of the citadel of Chfdons-sur-Saone. “ Mon- seigneur,” says the book, “ bien que ma condition ne me rende pas capable d’un cocur hero'fque, elle me donne cependant assez de ressentimcnt pour ne pas oublier mon devoir. J’ai trouve dans votre maison, par un emploi de dix ans enticrs, le secret d’apprester delicatement les viandes.” The preface is not less