During the Grand Siècle era, the protocol order of the royal dinner was in place.

Here is an example of a menu for a " petit couvert " (the meal Louis XIV ate alone in his apartment) served to him on November 16, 1700: to start, four soups (at that time, this was the name given to dishes cooked in a pot, so don't think of it as a light ) including a bisque of young pigeons and partridges with cabbage. The starters followed, with grilled pies and skinned hens with truffles. For the second course, roasts, meat, and fish. Finally, for dessert, he was served dried plum and cherry preserves, candied oranges, orange peel, marzipan and biscuits, figs, melons, and various compotes.

For the " Grand Couvert ", the crowd presses into the antechamber of the king's apartment to attend the meal that the sovereign shares with his family. This supper is divided into five courses: the first is that of soups. Then comes the second course, that of meats, which will be accompanied by salads. The third course, that of desserts, precedes the pyramid of fruits. And to finish his meal, the Sun King appreciates being served a hard-boiled egg and sweets. During this supper, approximately 40 dishes are presented to the king ...

The king ate a lot, too much according to his doctors, who were worried about his gout attacks. But Louis XIV was greedy and above all, as we have just seen, well served.

This is undoubtedly a cuisine that prioritizes pleasures well before well-being and health. Moreover, the gastronomy of the Grand Siècle no longer concerns itself with the old precautions and other health rules that had been applied until then. Thus, the use of foodstuffs that could be harmful (such as mushrooms or the abundance of truffles, etc.) accelerates and curbs the use of spices from distant lands, used by ancient galenic medicine (medicinal and corrective of health defects).

Fattier, denser sauces were preferred over slightly acidic sauces (vinegar and agretto were used as disinfectants for centuries). The love of good food was no longer seen as a sin of gluttony, but rather as the very expression of good taste and a healthy belief that was truly developing during this era: good food helped maintain good health.

Spices were no longer considered rare commodities; during the Grand Siècle, their democratization was observed in the heart of numerous urban markets. Their consumption became commonplace, and refined tables substituted aromatic plants that gave rise to the famous bouquet garni, the "packet", often used today (thyme, bay leaf, parsley, chives, tarragon, rosemary, etc.).

The cuisine of the Grand Siècle became more technical , innovative methods emerged.

Meats and fish are no longer sweetened, sugar is no longer used in abundance, but is preferred for baking. Lean sauces gradually disappear, with mustard being the last survivor. Fatty, voluptuous, and flavorful sauces take their place, composed of butter, eggs, and cream that blend with refinement with the delicacy of the new flavors of fresh herbs.

Roux (even if it was not yet called that) was born with a new binding technique (based on butter and flour); this technique appeared for the first time in the book " Le Cuisinier François" (1651) by La Varenne in a recipe for turkey with raspberries. Massialot, in his "Le cuisinier roïal et bourgeois" offers us several recipes for coulis , which he defines as " a type of sauce, used for binding and to give a pleasant flavor to things "; this ancestor of our stocks, is prepared with a sort of meat broth (or vegetable broth, for lean days) enriched with a binding agent (bread, flour), seasoned with salt, pepper and fresh herbs then passed through a sieve.

Emulsified sauces are perfect accompaniments for fish (pike, etc.). This is when hollandaise sauce was created, whose name is a tribute to the French victory in the Dutch War (1672-1678).

Another great innovation of this time was the practice of deglazing roasted meats in closed containers, giving rise to the “grand nourishing broth”. This broth is generally composed of beef, veal, mutton, their offal, various poultry and bacon, to which a “packet”, in other words a bouquet garni, is commonly added.

The Grand Siècle honors vegetables (even root vegetables, which had been poorly perceived until then), which are making a big comeback.

Louis XIV loved asparagus, artichokes and especially peas, but also salads, cucumbers and cauliflowers and in order to be able to enjoy his favorite vegetables at his convenience, he commissioned Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie to create a vegetable garden near the Palace of Versailles. This remarkable gardener (who was a lawyer converted to horticulture) developed, to the great pleasure of His Majesty, techniques (manure to heat the soil, glass bells, windbreaks) allowing him to pick peas at the very beginning of spring and to have lettuce and asparagus in the middle of winter. The sovereign was also a great lover of pears and La Quintinie, in order to satisfy him, cultivated around fifty varieties of pears in the vegetable garden.

This famous Potager du Roy still exists today and I invite you to go and see it, because it is truly worth the visit.

The art of jams, compotes, jellies and marmalades became established, as did coffee and tea, which became trendy drinks. Le Procope , a Parisian place popular with the intellectual fringe and thinkers (writers, philosophers) of the time, opened its doors in 1674. It was the first café to be created.

Chocolate chocolate pot appeared with its wooden handle and its lid pierced in the center to allow the frother (a carved wooden rod) to mix the chocolate.

The blending and production of champagne , perfectly mastered by a Benedictine monk, but also an oenologist, Pierre Pérignon (known as Dom Pérignon), contributed to its success on royal tables during the 18th ^century .