Under the July Monarchy and the Second Republic, the table of the Parisian bourgeoisie was organized in successive courses: a soup or starter, a roast meat or poultry dish with vegetables, then cheeses and sweet desserts, all washed down with wine. Outside the home, lawyers, journalists, and deputies met in the restaurants and brasseries of the city center—around the Palais de Justice or the Boulevards—where they ordered a single quick dish so as not to interrupt political discussion. London exile imposed a third structure: expatriate cooking, frugal and English.

Bordeaux or Burgundy accompanied almost every meal of the political bourgeoisie of 1848; it sealed deals and loosened tongues at the dinners of the *Réforme*. It is the gustatory thread of this Parisian lawyer's table.