Napoleon Bonaparte at the table

Under the Empire, gala meals were served "à la française": all dishes of a given course (soup, relevés, roasts, entremets) were placed on the table together, and each guest helped themselves. But Napoleon broke this ceremony: he would dispatch his meal in ten or fifteen minutes, indifferent to the splendor of his own table. Alongside the great machinery of the Tuileries kitchens, there existed a frugal army cuisine and a Corsican cuisine, made of chestnuts, lentils, and roast chicken. These two worlds—imperial splendor and soldierly simplicity—are brought face to face in these recipes.

Before becoming emperor, Napoleon was a child of Ajaccio, nourished on chestnuts, the "bread tree" of the Corsican mountains. Chestnut flour, dried and stored all winter, is the root ingredient that ties the master of Europe to his native island, a humble counterpoint to the gold plate of the Tuileries.