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 recipe july/august 2006
Royal peas
Well, allright then, just the one!
Dutch version of this recipe

Garden peas were an absolute hype in the seventeenth century. They were eaten as nowadays chocolate, like a delicious sin.
Madame de Maintenon, mistress of Louis XIV wrote in 1669: "Il y a des dames qui, après avoir soupé, et bien soupé, trouvent des pois chez elles avant de coucher, au risque d'une indigestion. C'est une mode, une fureur." (There are ladies who, after haven dined, and dined well, eat garden peas in their own quarters before going to bed. It is a fashion fad, a hype). 

For me, one of the most delicious ways of preparing garden peas is "petit pois à la française" or "á la crême", garden peas with butterhead lettuce, butter, bacon and cream. A modern dietist's nightmare, but it tastes soooo good!
François Pierre la Varenne already includes a recipe like this in Le cuisinier françois from  1651(french edition p.120/121). In this version the peas are boiled with lettuce or purslane, and then prepared like a previous recipe for 'asparagus à la crême' (with butter or bacon, parsley, chives, butter and nutmeg).

But for this recipe i chose the version from L'Art de bien traiter (1674), written by the mysterious L.S.R.
Who lurks behind those initials is not known. Some suggestions are "Le sieur Robert", "Le sieur Rolland", or simply "Le serviteur du Roi", but all that is pure guesswork. However, we do know a little: He served at the castles Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte (where Vatel in the service of Nicolas Fouquet -minister of finance- organized in 1661 such a spectacular feast that Louis XIV became so envious thathe deicided to confisquate the possessions of the Vicomte de Vaux).
L.S.R. was rather conceited. Just look at his opinion on La varenne, who published his books just twenty years earlier: "Je crois même qu'on ne verra point ici les absurdités et les dégoûtantes leçons que le sieur de Varenne ose donner et soutenir, [...]; la raison de cet aveuglement est qu'il ne s'est jamais trouvé personne pour en combattre les erreurs." ('Préface', edition p.p 22/23, translation: I even believe that here <in this book, l'Art de bien traiter> one will find nowhere the absudities and distasteful lessons that mister Varenne dares to present and maintain, [...]; the reason of this dazzlement <i.e. the continuing adoration of La Varenne by the public> is that never before has a person been found to contest his fallacies.)

L'Art de bien traiter contains five parts. In the first part you'll find recipes for 'soups' ("potages grands et petits"), stews, entrées and entremets, pasties, sauces, jellies, salads and vegetables, but it opens with a description of the dining room in winter and summer, storing and choosing of wine, and a description of the ideal kitchen.
The second part concerns recipes for fish and other dishes for the 'jours maigres' (the French court was of course catholic).
The third part provides suggestions for special meals (on the water, in a cave), a seasonal list of fruit that can be eaten in their natural state (raw), a chapter on conserving fruit and how to ornate tables for dessert (with lots of artfully arranged fresh fruit).
The paenultimate part describes the ambigu, an informal meal that has everything, hot and cold, savoury and sweet, on the table at the same time.
The fifth and last part has recipes for preserves, candied and dried fruit and sweets (pâtes de fruits).

The original recipe from l'Art de bien traiter (1674). The edition of Payot uses modernized spelling, that is why the text is taken from La Gastronomie au Grand Siècle p.217. I have the French edition of this book, so the English translation of the recipe is by me, not taken from the English edition.

The modern adaptation of the recipe:
Printout version of this recipe 

This vegetable dish has a presence in the menu: it has flavour and is nourishing. So the meat or fish that is served with it should not be too elaborate.
Serve the peas with veal cutlets or veal steaks, marinated in vinegar, verjus, lemon juice and salt, patted dry and coated with flour, and then fried in lard or a mixture of butter and olive oil. This is a simplified version of the recipe for 'cotelettes de veau marinée pour frire', the first recipe in part 1, chapter 3 of L'Art de bien traiter, where these 'cotelettes' are just meant as garnish for stuffed veal breast.

Ingredients:
500 gram (3 cups) frozen garden peas
50 gram (3 Tbsp.) butter
50 gram (2 ounces) bacon (it could be that just lard is meant, but I like it with bacon)
1 head of butterhead lettuce
2 tsp. finely chopped chives
the leaves ('needles') of one sprig thyme
pinch of salt, even smaller pinches nutmeg and pepper
1 to 2 Tbsp. good broth (meat or vegetable stock)
1/2 decilitre (1/4 cup) rich cream (crème fraîche)

Preparation in advance:
Rinse the lettuce, remove the outer, darker green leaves. Submerge the lettuce in ample boiling water for a few seconds, then drain well. The lettuce has lost most of its excess water. Cut the lettuce in thin strips. The recipe speaks of chopped lettuce, but I prefer the lettuce slightly larger. You decide.
Let the frozen peas thaw, but not completely.

Preparation:
Heat butter and bacon in a skillet until the fat has melted but is not yet turning brown. Add the peas, stir until all covered with a layer of butter/fat, then add the rest except for the cream. Cover with a lid, let simmer on a low fire, depending on the size and how far they were thawed, five to fifteen minutes. Add the cream, stir a few times.

To serve:
At once.

Garden peas (Pisum sativum): The pea is a legume. Peas have been eaten since at least the last five milennia. They were mostly first dried, and thus an important part of the daily fare together with other legumes like marrowfat peas, especially during medieval Lent.
Garden peas are eaten unripe, they are almost a different legume than peas, very sweet. In Dutch they are called 'doperwten' or 'doppertjes', whilst the ripe peas are called 'erwten' or 'groene erwten'.
Garden peas deteriorate in taste very quickly after being harvested. Therefore, unless you grow your own garden peas, it is best to use frozen peas. Canned peas are really NOT an option.
Verjuice: The juice of sour, unripe grapes. You can still buy it, but you may have to look for it. In the Netherlands verjuice as also made from unripe apples and sorrel. You can use applecider vinegar as a substitute. More about verjuice and a recipe to make your own verjuice

Bibliography
The editions below are in my possession. Links refer to available editions. 
All books mentioned on this site

Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food, Oxford University Press, 1999.
L.S.R., L'art de bien traiter, from 1674. Edition: L'art de la cuisine française au XVIIe siècle. (Parijs, 1995)
The original text for this recipe is taken from: F. Sabban en S. Serventi, La gastronomie au Grand Siècle. 100 recettes de France et d'Italie Ed. Stock, (1998), p.217.
François Pierre La Varenne, Le cuisinier françois d'apres l'édition de 1651, Facsimile edition with introduction by Philip and Mary Hyman. (Houilles, 2002).
François Pierre la Varenne, The french cook. Englished by I.D.G. 1653. Edition of the English translation of Le cuisinier françois from 1653 in modernized English with an introduction by Philip and Mary Hyman (there you'll find the recipe for peas on p.101/102).

Extra link: Virtual visit of chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte.
 

All text and pictures of dishes are the intellectual property of Coquinaria and may not be reproduced without permission and acknowledgement..