François Pierre de La Varenne, (1618-1678) is
best known for the 1651 work Le Cuisinier Francois.
It was published in English as The French Cook in 1653. He is
also credited with a work on pastry Le Patissier Francois (1653)
and more importantly a work on confections titled Le Confiturier Francois
(bearing the date of 1650 but most bibliographers feel it should be
1660). It's unlikely that a cook, even a master cook, would have possessed the
knowledge to author either of these last two volumes, but for our purposes
the Le Confiturier Francois is of great
interest because it contains instructions on the cooking of sugar.
These instructions plus a very rough translation
are:
Cuissons de sucre
La premiere est a lisse, elle
se remarque lors que le syrop commence a s’epaissir, qu’en le pregnant avec le
doight, & le mettant sur le poulce, il ne coulle plus, & demeure rond
comme un pois.
Sugar cooking
The first is a smooth [stage],
it is noticeable when the syrup starts to thicken, the only pregnant with [your] finger, and putting
it on the thumb, it no longer flows, and is still as round as a pea.
(The syrup thickens and you
test by dipping your finger in the syrup and putting it on the thumb where it
no longer flows and remains as round as a pea.)
Cuit a perle
Seconde caisson est lors qu’en
pregnant avec un doight, & le mettant sur le poulce, & ouvrant les doigts
il en sort un petit filet; & lors qu’il en sort un gros de la longueur de
la main, cela s’appelle a perle grosse.
Cooked to pearl [stage]
Second is that when pregnant with finger, and putting it on
the thumb, and opening the fingers out comes a small net; & When it (the
syrup) pulls out a large length of (or along) the hand, this is called a gross
(large) pearl [stage.]
Cuit a la plume
3. Cette caisson a plusieurs
noms differents, les uns dissent a souflé, les autres a l’espatule, d’autres a
rosard, d’autes a la plume. A laquelle je m’arreste, &elle se Remarque en
mettant une espatule dedans, & secouant le sucre en l’air, il s’envole
comme des plumes seiches sans glue, ou bien trempez une ecumoire dans le le
sucre, souflez au travers jusqu’a ce que le sucre s’envole par feuilles : Cette
caisson est celle des conserves & des tablettes.
Cooked to pen [feather stage]
3. This stage has several different
names, some dissent [or say] soufflé [stage], the other says spatula, others
have Rosard [rose (pink) stage], autes of a pen. At which I stop, & (if you
place) a spatula (in the syrup), and shaking the sugar in the air, it flies
like cuttlefish feathers without glue, or dip a skimmer in the sugar souflez (stage) up has the sugar flies
out sheets: this is (the stage) of conserves & tablets.
Cuit a brusle
4. Cette cuisson se remarque
lors que l’on trempe son doight dans l’eau fraische, puis dans le sucre, &
qu’en remettant dans l’eau fraische, le sucre se casse net comme un verre sans
glue, on peut faire la mesme remarque avec
un petit baston. Cette caisson est celle du grand biscuit de citron,
celle du caramel, & du sucre tors, ou penide, c’est la derniere cuisse du
sucre.
Cooked to BRUSLE (Burned)
4. This is noticeable when
cooking that is (when) his finger is dipped in water, then in sugar, and then
into the water again, the sugar snaps like a glass without glue, can be after
the same remark with a little [stick]. This stage is that of the grand biscuit
de citron (great lemon cookie), the caramel, and the twisted sugar or Penide.
It is the last cooked sugar stage.
Transcribed from Chap III page
465-466
Le
Cuisinier François.
Edited by Jean-Louis Flandrin, Philip & Mary Hyman. Paris: Montalba, 1983.
(Bibliotheque Bleue edition.)
The original Le confiturier français. [LE CONFITVRIER FRANÇOIS, Où est enseigné la maniere de ....] Paris: Jean
Gaillard 1660. A modern English translation by Terence Scully was published as La Varenne's Cookery
in 2006 (Totnes, UK: Prospect Books, 2006.)
A version of the same text may
be found online where the 1675 edition of
La Varenne’s L'école
des ragovsts, ov, Le chef-d'oevvre dv cvisinier, dv patissier, & du confiturier : may be found through Google Books
http://tinyurl.com/nl4ux9vat See
pages 382-383.
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