“Upon returning from mass, or very shortly after, the dinner was served. It was always in the Queen’s apartment, as well as the supper, but the King and Queen had each their dishes; the former, few, the latter, many, for she liked eating, and ate of everything; the King always kept to the same things--soup, capon, pigeons, boiled and roast, and always a roast loin of veal--no fruit; or salad, or cheese; pastry, rarely, never maigre; eggs, often cooked in various fashion; and he drank nothing but champagne; the Queen the same. When the dinner was finished, they prayed to God together. If anything pressing happened, Grimaldo came and gave them a brief account of it.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
2 eggs ⅔ cup thick cream ½ cup Swiss cheese, cut in small dice ½ cup grated American cheese ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese Salt and pepper Few grains cayenne Few gratings nutmeg Add eggs to cream and beat slightly, then add cheese and seasonings. Line the sides of ramequin dishes with strips of puff paste. Fill dishes with mixture until two-thirds full. Bake fifteen minutes in a hot oven.
Sources: The passage is from Louis de Rouvroy Saint-Simon, Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Complete, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Farmer, The Boston cooking-school cook book of 1896, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — oxblood cloth, cheese stamp.