history - cooking: evolution of cookery part 4

(history of cooking continued)

18th Century AD

Jean Naigeon, a merchant from Dijon, France creates what is now known as Dijon mustard

In Naples pasta was made by mixing the dough by foot. Ferdinando II (the king of Naples) unhappy with this production method, hired the famous engineer Cesare Spadaccini who designed a (the) bronze machine that did this work.

1717

Thomas Twining opens the first Tea House for ladies in London

1718

Sandwich, John Montagu, 4th Earl of {mahn'-tuh-gue} born November 3, 1718, died A British politician, John Montagu, fourth earl of Sandwich, April 30, 1792, was a leading member of Lord North's administration during the American Revolution. His butler/cook is credited with the invention of the sandwich.

1723

The first glasswork to specialise in bottles for wine is set up Bordeaux, France by an Irishman. It was not until 1866 that the shape and size of the bottles for Bordeaux, Burgundy and Macon are legally defined.

1725

Giovanni Giacomo was born in Venice (died at Dux, Bohemia in 1798). A gastronome of his time, he sometimes went to great lengths and travels to taste certain foods. Better known by his pseudonym of Casanova.

1729

A literary, epicurean and gastronomic society founded in Paris by Piron, Gallet, Collé and Crébillon the Younger at Le Caveau on the Rue Buci. A famous restaurant at the time, where they were dining. A society that remained in one form or another until around 1834.

1736

Parliament passes the Gin Act to discourage public drunkenness in England.

1740

Venice issues a licence to Paolo Adami, so he may open the first pasta factory.

1742

Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius invents the Celsius scale for temperature.
The Franklin stove, invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1742, was made of cast iron, originally with a partially open front, and was designed to fit into a fireplace. It radiated more heat and burned less fuel than an ordinary fireplace and was widely used for heating
The first American cookbook is published in Virginia, entitled; 'The Compleat Housewife'

1748

The first recorded instance of cooling is credited to William Cullen at the University of Glasgow, who in 1748 evaporated ethyl ether under sub-atmospheric pressure to produce refrigeration. His process was successful but non-continuous and never advanced much beyond the laboratory stage.

1751

The Worcester Royal Porcelain Company is founded in England.

1754

French Chef Antoine Beauvilliers is born in Paris (died in 1817). Beauvilliers is credited with having the first real restaurant in Paris. In 1814 he wrote, ' L'art de cuisiner' and also collaborated with Careme on La Cuisine Ordinair.
Jean Jacques Regis de Cambacéres was born in Montpelier (died Paris 1824). A

1755

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, born April 1, died February 2, 1826 gourmet and first philosopher of the kitchen. He was the author of La Physiologie du Gout (1825), a treatise on the fine art of gastronomy. Published in English as The Physiology of Taste (1825), it was the first work to treat dining as a form of art, and gastronomy as "the intelligent knowledge of whatever concerns man's nourishment."

1757

Jean Joseph Close born Dieuze, Moselle, France - died 1828 Strasbourg. While extremely debatable that he actually invented foie gras is name is never the less synomenous with it. After being the chef to the Maréchal de Contades; governor of Alsace for a number of years, Close stayed behind when his master left Strasbourg. Close married the widow of a pastry chef and opened a shop to sell his creation pâté a la Contades (foie gras wrapped in a thin veal farce encased in a pastry) resulting in the first production centre of Alsatian foie gras (1788)

1759

It is maintained that chaud froid was created in this year by the Chef of the Marshal of Luxembourg, at the Château de Montmorency and that it was the Marshal that gave it, its name.

1763

Don Ferdinando of Bourbon; the Duke of Parma, gives one Stefano Lucciardi the right to a 10 year monopoly for the production of Gonoa style dried pasta.

1765

Public eating places have existed since ancient times, but the modern version of the restaurant (from the French restaurer, "to restore") did not appear until the Eighteenth century. The word was first applied in its current usage by A Boulanger when he opened an eating establishment in Paris in 1765.

1768

Joseph Berchoux born in Saint Symphorien de Lay, died 1839 at Marcigny. Berchoux was a French solicitor and poet who amongst other things introduced the word gastronomie to the French language and the world.
Vicomte de Chateaubriand born 1768, died 1848. It is thought that his Chef, Montmiriel, named the cut of beef after him.

1769

Oranges established in California.

1770s

American apples being sold in London along with rhubarb imported from Central Asia (probably Uzbekistan).
The first marmalade was made by the wife of James Kieller, a merchant who, bought some cheap oranges for his shop, only to find they were too bitter for eating purposes. His wife turned them into marmalade after following the same recipe she used for quinces.

1773

The Café Cadran Bleu on the Boulevard du Temple, is opened in Paris. Famous for being the meeting place of the leaders of the French uprising on August 10 1792. During the Revolution in 1848 a battery of artillery shook the building and it was subsequently demolished in 1860.

1784

American inventor Oliver Evans develops the first automated flour mill.
Antonin Careme, born June 8
Pierre Francoise de la Varenne, born. he wrote the first cookbook to summarise the cooking practices of the French nobility and the development of the first true French sauces.

1788

A crop failure in France leads to bread riots.

1789

The first national Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in the USA.

1792

A British politician, John Montagu, fourth Earl of Sandwich, died April 30, 1792, was a leading member of Lord North's administration during the American Revolution. Credited with the invention of the sandwich.
Gioacchino Rossini, born February 29, 1792, died November 13, 1868, was one of the most significant and influential composers of opera in the 19th century. The classic dish, 'Tournados Rossini' was named in his honour, by the Café Anglaise.

1793

Brillat-Savarin fled the French Revolution, he lived for three years in the United States, supporting himself as a violinist and by teaching French.

1795

The American-born physicist and adventurer Count Rumford (Benjamin Thompson) produced the first of a series of devices that ultimately evolved into the closed-top cooking range. By means of an ingenious system of flues and dampers, the range made adjustable heat possible and enormously expanded the scope of culinary activities.

1795

The canning process, like so many other developments in the Food Industry, was developed in response to the problem of feeding military forces in the field. In an attempt to overcome the problem of food spoilage, a prize was offered by the French in 1795 for the invention of a method of keeping food safe for troops. Nicolas Appert, a chef in Paris, accepted this challenge and developed the canning process. The immensity of his undertaking becomes clearer when it is recognised that he had to fashion containers in which to package his product. Using bottles closed with cork and wire, he won the prize for his canning process in 1810. At about the same time, the tin-coated metal can was patented in England, giving rise to the term canning. Today virtually all types of food are canned commercially, and the products are available in cans of all sizes. Unlike the freezer necessary for frozen foods, no special device is needed for prolonged storage of cans

1796

Napoleon Bonaparté's Chef is said to have created the dish 'Chicken Merengo"
Brillat-Savarin returned to France and his legal career in 1796.
German chemist; Franz Karl Achard, perfected the first method for extracting sugar from sugar beet. It proved too costly though and he died in poverty in 1802.

1797

HL Pernod, produces the first commercially manufactured liqueur 'absynthe'

1799

City Hotel, the first American structure designed as a hotel, opened in New York. Which operated until the 1840s.

1799

Honoré de Balzac is born in Tours, France (died Paris 1850). A French author of some repute, mainly for his gluttony. His great fondness for food and drink were apparant his books; as he often used famous restaurants or hotels as the settings for his books, often describing their specialities of the time. As such his fictional work is of great benefit to us in researching food, ideas and menus of that era. He also edited a collection of gastronomic texts such as; Le Gastronomie Francais ou l'Art de bien vivre in 1828, Physiologie de gastronomique in 1830 and to the new edition of Brillat Savarin's Physiologie de Gout in 1839, he wrote a treatise on stimulants as an appendix.

The information contained on all my historical web pages is supplied for your interest only and further research may be required. I have gathered it from many sources over many years. While I attempt to insure they are crossed referenced for accuracy, I take no responsibility for mistakes - additions or corrections are welcomed.

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