Banquet for Louis XIV recreated at the Palace of Versailles

The Telegraph ^ | 1/21/2010 | Lee C Wallick

[bruinbirdman]

Twenty or more not-so-dainty dishes would have been a typical evening repast for Louis XIV of France. To celebrate a show of the Sun King's art collection at the Palace of Versailles, one chef worked for a year to stage a recreation of a royal belt-buster.

FIRST SERVICE

Les Hors d’œuvre

Royal ballotine of pheasant

Petit pâté en croûte à la bourgeoise

Fresh deep-sea oysters

Lobster aspic chaud-froid

Les Potages

Beef madrilène with gold leaf spangles

Pureed chestnut soup with truffles from the Court of Italy

Bisque of shellfish from our coasts with a boletus infusion

Pumpkin soup, fresh from the royal vegetable garden

SECOND SERVICE

Les Rôts

Scallops with oyster liquor

Wild duck cromesquis à la Villeroy

Hare stew

Roast beef, carrots and smoked eel

Wild salmon au sel

THIRD SERVICE

Les Entremets

Green and fresh herb salad in gold leaf

Rice salad à la royale

Morel soufflé

Iced cheese

Hard-boiled egg

LAST SERVICE

Fruit

Edible candle

Hosting a historic meal for 40 is one thing, holding it in France’s most prized palace is another. 'We decided to recreate the Sun King’s Table at Versailles as a tribute to the cultural heritage that witnessed the birth of both champagne and luxury,’ said Richard Geoffroy, Chef de Cave – the chief wine­maker – of the champagne house Dom Pérignon. 'This is the first time anything like this has happened, and it probably won’t happen again.’

Moët Hennessy, which owns Dom Pérignon, is sponsoring an exhibition at Versailles – 'Louis XIV: The Man and the King’ – showing more than 300 of the lavish works of art he commissioned during his 72-year reign, some of which have not been seen since the 1789 Revolution. As a testament to Louis’s appetite for luxury, Dom Pérignon

[HiTech RedNeck]

Are those wads of silver foil in the pictures? It looks like plain old Reynolds wrap to me.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I’d also be leery of silver. Gold is biologically inert as far as human digestion is concerned. Silver is another story.

[JRandomFreeper]

I'm betting it's regular old aluminum wrap, and not edible. I was just pointing out that edible precious metal foils were available during that era. Just not for lining pans. ;)

BTW, using those super-thin precious metal foils is a serious PITA. I generally use a damp artist brush to apply them, since they tear so easily.

/johnny

[HiTech RedNeck]

Gold is used for edible art today too. Today we know that silver foils are poisonous, regardless of whatever King Louis’ physicians might have believed. Aluminum (but not as thick as Reynolds wrap) would be an OK substitute.

[JRandomFreeper]

Food grade silver leaf is still sold today. I've used it on promotion cakes lots of times for 1st Lts, Capts, and Lt. Cols.

Maybe it's not so bad if you don't make a steady diet of it.

/johnny

[Nakota]

Back in the day aluminum was probably more valuable than gold (assuming it had even been discovered).

[MarkL]

I can’t imagine sitting at a table for 6 hours eating all of that.

Depending on how religious the hosts and guests are, and how many people there are, Passover Seders can run anywhere from 3 hours to 8 hours, well into the early morning hours. My family's generally ran about 5 to 6 hours when my grandfather was alive and running it, but after he passed away, they got shorter and shorter.

Mark

[Domestic Church]

“... the salad come after the meal and before the dessert”

That’s how my mother served it.

[NTHockey]

No mention of “doggy bags”. What’s up with that?