At the table of a great lord of the French Renaissance, dishes were not served one after another but in successive 'services': at each service, a profusion of dishes—roasts, soups, pâtés, and spicy sauces—covered the table at once, and guests helped themselves to what was within reach. The meal ended with the 'issue de table', a moment for spiced sweets, hypocras wine, and dragées that warmed the stomach. Charles d'Amboise, Governor of Milan, kept a table where this French ceremony also welcomed Lombard pastas and cheeses.

The noble French cuisine of this time was recognized by its generous use of Eastern spices—cinnamon, ginger, grains of paradise (melegueta pepper), saffron, cloves. Costly and imported by Italian merchants, they signaled the host's rank and perfumed both roasts and wine. At Charles d'Amboise's Milanese table, they bridged French tastes and Lombard cheeses.