During the Revolution many of the nobles were ruined, and their chefs—among them Méot, Robert, Roze, Véry, Leda, Legacque, Beauvilliers, Naudet, Edon became caterers to gourmets at large. "Beauvilliers, who established his restaurant about 1782, was for fifteen years the most famous restaurateur of Paris, and provided liberally such delicate and sublimated dishes as those which had hitherto been found only on the tables of the king, of the nobles, and of the farmers-general. The great restaurateurs of modern Paris are nearly all successors of one or the other of the famous cooks above mentioned," as Theodore Child pointed out.
In the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris I came across books giving curious glimpses of the restaurants at earlier periods. In 1574 there was published a "Discours sur les causes de l'extrême cherté qui est aujourd'hui en France et sur les moyens d'y remédier." The author complains that people are no longer satisfied with three courses but must have meats in half-a-dozen styles, with sauces, hachés, pasticeries, all sorts of salmigondis, etc. Every one he says, now goes to dine at Le More, Sanson, Innocent, or Havart, "maistres de volupté et despense, qui en une chose publique bien policée et reglée seraient bannis et chassez comme corrupteurs des mœurs."
This diatribe against the providers of savory food as corruptors of public morals who, if the police tended to its duty, would be chased from the city, seems to indicate that Puritan ideas on the subject of the enjoyment of food once prevailed even in France.
As late as 1842 there were only seventeen restaurants in Paris, where now there are more than seventeen times seventeen. At the date mentioned, most of them were near the Palais Royal, and one could dine for two francs—forty cents!—while lunch was only a franc and a quarter. There were places where a workman could get, for twenty centimes (four cents), bread, wine, soup, and meat enough for a meal.
In Paris, as elsewhere, prices have soared since that time, but correspondingly cheap eating places abound in all quarters. The lowest-priced restaurants likely to be patronized by tourists and resident foreigners are the Duval, and other "Bouillons," at which one who knows may get good dishes. Well-to-do Parisians and foreigners may often be seen in these eating places, and one of them actually has a star of excellence in Baedeker.
At one of these establishments I had one of the best petites marmites I have ever eaten. If you don't know what a petite marmite is I am sorry for you. I have dined repeatedly with a Frenchman noted both as artist and epicure, and each time he ordered petite marmite. If you ask a French head waiter's advice in London or Paris, he is more likely than not to suggest petite marmite. It is so good, and the making of it gives such a deep insight into French methods that I will quote the recipe by Escoffier in his "Le Guide Culinaire." It is for ten people.
Nutritious elements: 2 lbs. beef, one lb. lean, the other well mixed with fat, as the end of a rib. 1 marrowbone wrapped in cheese-cloth, 1 fowl—not too young and tender, giblets from four fowls. Liquid: 3 litres (about three quarts) of white consommé—recipe follows—the seasoning to be added just before serving.
Aromatic elements: 2-5 lb. carrots (200 grammes), 2-5 lb. nearly ripe turnips, 3-10 lb. leeks (150 grammes), 1 small celery heart, 1/2 lb. cabbage, blanched, cooked separately with bouillon and drippings.
"Observations: The 'Petite Marmite' consommé is served without clarifying, and owes its merit only to the materials which it contains and the extreme care brought to its preparation. It must be served slightly fat. Its special savor, different from clarified consommé, must recall the homely Pot-au-feu, and be recognized unmistakably in Croute au pot, Consommé à la Bouchère, and others of which it is the base, the only difference being that these consommés do not need absolutely to have fowl in them, whereas it is rigorously obligatory in the Petite Marmite.
"For 10 litres of white consommé 7 kilos of beef (between 14 and 15 lbs.) 4 kilos being lean meat, the other 3 soup bone, 21-5 lbs. carrots (5 or 6), 900 grammes (nearly 2 lbs.) turnips, 1 lb. leeks, 2-5 lb. parsnips, 2 medium-sized onions, 3 cloves, 3 cloves of garlic, 3 pieces celery, 14 litres (14 quarts approximately) cold water, 70 grammes brown salt (salt that has not been purified). Cook five hours.
"Observations: Simple consommé is habitually cooked 5 hours, which is quite sufficient to get all the nutritious elements from the beef. On the other hand this is quite insufficient for the bones and fails to extract their nutritive principles. To obtain this result slow cooking from 12 to 15 hours is necessary. In great kitchens it has become the habit to make a first consommé with the bones (crushed) which will cook at least 12 hours. This consommé is then used for a second cooking of the meat alone which takes about 4 hours, that is only the time necessary to cook the meat. This second operation can be shortened by cutting meat and vegetables in small pieces and clarifying them as usual."
As the American practice of bluffing—of charging a high price for a poor thing, to make the consumer think it must be good—is not a Parisian trait, the more expensive the restaurant, the better the food is likely to be.
Next to the Bouillons, in the culinary hierarchy, are the Brasseries. At these, one can get well prepared dishes at reasonable prices, which are always marked on the bill of fare; and, as the name indicates, one can take a glass of beer or a bottle of mineral water instead of the expensive wine which the highest class restaurants expect every one to order, on penalty of perhaps not being served with a meal prepared in the chef's best mood.