The most delicious and freshest delicacies were served to capricious kings. Some were preoccupied with increasing potency, others with stuffing the stomach with foreign foods. The best cooks worked for them, and the choice of dishes was so great that a full one would eat another spoon.
Porcelain doll meal
During her reign, Catherine II came under the influence of fashionable French cuisine. Botvinya, porridge, cabbage soup, okroshka and pies faded into the background. The queen ate pates, spaghetti, roast beefs, and steaks. Predictably, she drank French wines, cruchon, and cider. The dessert was very exquisite - jelly, cakes, various mousses and blancmange, exotic fruits - mango, kiwi, pineapple.
So, according to historians, ten soups, baked turkey, duck with sauce, stewed rabbit, pies were served for breakfast. Snacks were then served before the main courses: salads, chicken and turtle marinade. The main dishes of the lunch were very varied: glazed salmon, marinated hazel grouses, ham stuffed perches, baked carps, partridges with truffles, pistachio stuffed pheasants, crayfish neck stuffed pigeons, lamb roast beefs, hare roast, oysters and many different sauces. In the last years of her reign, the queen moderated her appetites and the diet became more scarce. Favorite dishes began to prevail - sauerkraut and scrambled eggs with onions, tomatoes and garlic.
Feast of Louis XIV
The ceremony of serving food for King Louis XIV usually turned into a feast with many exquisite dishes and their beautiful removal to the dining room. Even when the "sun king" ate alone in his room, less than 3 main courses and dessert were not served to him. The saddest thing was that he had bulimia. Louis gorged himself all day, but the feeling of fullness did not come to him. Usually, upon awakening, Louis drank broth or herbal decoction, and by 10 o'clock he was served a full breakfast. It included rooster soup, partridge and cabbage soup, pigeon broth, to choose from. The appetizers were chicken fricassee, chicken with truffle sauce and baked turkey. Then they brought out the main course - roast hawk, roast veal and pigeon pate. At the end of the meal, dessert was served. Marmalade was a special treat and more often fruits and compotes were served.
His mother, Anna of Austria, said that her son ate several servings of soup at dinner, then a baked leg of lamb or a whole pheasant with salad, a couple of pieces of ham, blood sausages, oysters, turtle meat, shrimp, boiled eggs and dessert. Of course, he drank all this abundance of food with wine, which he diluted with water. At night he liked to swallow game or meat roast. Precisely to swallow, because he had no teeth. Inexperienced doctors pulled out a number of upper teeth and he could not fully enjoy the taste of food. But, reluctantly sending his favorite partridge wings with a sauce of nuts and pears before his wedding night, he had no strength left for his bride Maria Theresa. Interestingly, with such an excessive consumption of food, Louis was not overweight. Maybe because he loved horseback riding and led an active lifestyle, or maybe genetics played a role.
The Insatiable Henry VIII
Henry VIII did not know the measure of food. He began his breakfast at 6 am with cold meat and bread and washed down with low-alcohol ale. In the kitchen, it all started with baking bread. Then they began to roast the game on skewers, pouring them with various sauces. To prevent the meat from burning, a special mechanism was invented, which was set in motion by specially trained dogs. The meat turned out to be evenly fried with a crispy crust. Vegetables were considered the food of the poor and were not served at the royal table. For dessert, he preferred pies and could eat two apples, two strawberries, and two plums at a time. Also, he loved curd tarts.
For lunch, Heinrich liked trout stuffed with leeks, a fat piece of pork fried on a spit, and a pie with sardines. He washed it down with red sweet or semi-sweet wine, but he also respected strong liqueurs and liqueurs. On average, about ten dishes were served per meal, which affected Henry's health. He had a bad stomach, obesity, and because of his great love for sweets - diabetes. Moving only with the help of the servants in the chair, he died at the age of 56.
