From Auguste Escoffier's Ma Cuisine (1934)

Abstract

Since ancient times, France has consistently served soup as a precursor to its finest dishes. Therefore, preparing the soup requires the greatest care because both the impression it makes on guests—whether good or bad— and the success of the dinner largely depend on it. Soup should always be served boiling; this is one of the most important points. On this subject, I will recall a rather pleasant, true, and fitting anecdote: "Your Excellency," the Archbishop of Passau once said to the late Prince of Condé, "I have commanded that, as long as you are my guests, the soups in my house should be treated with the utmost care. The French nation is a nation of soups...—And boiling," replied the old émigré. Soups are divided into two classes: clear soups and thick soups. These are prepared with or without meat. In the latter case, the meats mentioned are primarily beef, mutton, veal, and chicken; then come the side dishes: fresh and salted pork, smoked goose, duck, rabbit, baby rabbit, pheasant, partridge, quail, and pigeon. The excellent pot-au-feu, French in its name and simple in its preparation, is made with beef, providing a complete dinner for the military and working classes. It is also the delight of the wealthy and artisans.