Théophile Gautier at the table

In Gautier's time, grand French cuisine gradually abandoned service à la française (all dishes served at once) for service à la russe, where dishes arrive one after another, hot and in order. The cultivated Parisian's day revolved around a fork luncheon in mid-morning, the evening dinner, and—for the night-owl man of letters—the after-show supper taken after the Opéra or theater, washed down with coffee in the Latin Quarter cafés. To this, for this great traveler, were added flavors brought back from Spain, Turkey, and Italy.

Gautier was a native of Tarbes, in Gascony, where for centuries goose and duck have been preserved cooked in their own fat. This perfumed fat, which became a cooking medium, is the touch of his native terroir that returns like a signature in his everyday cooking, against the Parisian splendor of his suppers.