La Cuisiniere Bourgeoise
- Year
- 1746
- Era
- 18th century
- Origin
- France · Europe
- Language
- French
- Category
- French foundational
La Cuisinière Bourgeoise, first issued in Paris in 1746 under the name Menon, marked a decisive shift in French culinary literature by addressing the urban middle-class household rather than aristocratic kitchens. Organised practically around domestic economy and seasonal provisioning, it became one of the most frequently reprinted French cookery books of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, circulating in numerous editions across Europe and the colonial Americas.
Cooking from this book
Poulet à la Marengo
Signature dishAlthough the dish was later codified under Napoleon, Menon's manual is closely associated with the kind of refined yet domestic poultry sautés that prefigured it. La Cuisinière Bourgeoise brought professional French technique into the middle-class kitchen, and chicken braised with wine, mushrooms and aromatics became emblematic of that translation. Its many reprintings across the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries spread such preparations widely, shaping what generations understood as everyday French cooking.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
