At the table of a French bourgeois family during the Belle Époque, one did not serve "starter-main course-dessert" but a succession of courses: soup opened the meal, followed by an entrée or hors d'œuvre, then the relevé or roast (the centerpiece), an entremet (sweet or savory), and finally dessert and fruit. At that time, service "à la française" (everything on the table) gradually gave way to service "à la russe" (course by course), and cooking was organized around stocks, liaisons, and butter. It is within this framework that Alice Guy transposed her household in New Jersey.

The emblematic gesture of French bourgeois cooking: a white roux (butter + flour cooked without browning), moistened with a good broth to obtain creamy veloutés and white sauces, often finished with an egg yolk and a squeeze of lemon. This was the French touch that Alice Guy maintained even in her American kitchen.