Maintenon
The widow Scarron, afterwards Madame de Maintenon, was married to Louis XIV. in his old age, nursed him well, made him say his prayers, and fed him with mutton cutlets carefully deprived of fat, for his poor worn stomach. The old king was in a deplorable condition: he had lost his teeth; caries of the jawbone set in ; and the liquid which he tried to swallow came out at his nose.
In his younger days he had been tremendous with his knife and fork. The Duchess of Orleans tells us in her memoirs that she often saw him eat four platefuls of soup, a whole pheasant, a partridge, a plate of salad, mutton Maître d'Hôtel 66 The hashed with garlic, two considerable slices of ham, a dish of pastry, and afterwards fruit and sweetmeats.
Duchess, by the way, thought herself a very delicate feeder; and it may help to show what pigmies we are nowadays in the way of eating, if we recall what she says of her own diet: “I seldom breakfast, and then only on bread-and-butter. I take neither chocolate, nor coffee, nor tea, being unable to endure these foreign drugs. I am German in all my habits. I eat no soup but such as I can take with milk, wine, or beer. I cannot bear brothit makes me sick, and gives me the colic. When I take broth alone I vomit even to blood, and nothing can restore the tone of my stomach but ham and sausages." It is not at all surprising that princes and princesses who fed after this fashion ruined their digestion, and that Madame de Maintenon had to keep a sharp eye on the mutton cutlets destined for the interior of her royal spouse-the Grand Monarch. The cutlets of the Marquise were done up in curl-papers; and it is to be hoped that the old king liked them better for their nocturnal attire, and the thoughts they might call up in vision of the lady-the last of his loves-in her nightcap.
Cutlets à la Maintenon. The curl-papers of Madame de Maintenon having been found inconvenient for a broil, and not less so the pig's caul which has been sometimes substituted for them, Gouffé has suggested the following more simple way of preparing these cutlets :-Take a neck of mutton and cut it into cutlets, leaving two bones to each cutlet. Remove one of them, and flatten and trim the cutlets. Split them in two with a knife, without separating them at the bone. Spread some reduced Duxelles sauce inside. Refold the cutlets, and broil them for four minutes on each side. Put a layer of Duxelles on a dish; lay the cutlets on it; pour over them some Duxelles sauce; put the dish in a hot oven for four minutes, and then serve. MAÎTRE D'HÔTEL -the House Steward-ought to com- Maraschino mand the best that is in the house; and it shows his understanding of good cookery that he chooses for himself the most simple of sauces.
Maître d'Hôtel Butter. - Knead cold fresh butter on a plate with chopped parsley, pepper, salt, and lemon-juice. The parsley should be first washed and scalded. A pat of this butter is served either upon or under broiled meat or fish, and melts on the dish. When a dish is said to be à la Maître d'Hôtel, it is almost always served with this butter, and rarely with what is called Maître d'Hôtel Sauce, which is but English butter sauce with parsley (scalded and chopped) added to it.