André Noël

André Noël, born in Périgueux in 1726 and died in Berlin on May 4, 1801, was a French chef in the service of King Frederick II of Prussia. He created famous dishes for the royal table, such as a "bombe de Sardanapale", but is also credited with making a pheasant pâté that La Mettrie is said to have enjoyed to the point of dying of indigestion. In 1772, King Frederick II dedicated a long poem to him. After his death, he appeared in several novels.

Biography

From Périgueux to Potsdam André Noël - or Nouël - was born in Périgueux in 1726, in the Limogeanne district. His father was a flourishing confectioner with "prodigious talent for pâtés", which he shipped all over Europe. Almost nothing is known of his career prior to his departure for Prussia, Philippe Meyzie cautioning against any a posteriori reconstruction of a "mythologized past" and Hans-Uwe Lammel suggesting that Noël's father's fame may have played a role in his son's career.

In 1755, André Noël was hired as a cook at the court of King Frederick II of Prussia, at the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam. This can be contextualized in two ways:

One of the first entries for André Noël in the Sanssouci Palace account book: in August 1755, reimbursement of his travel expenses from Dresden to Potsdam (line 21).

At the time, it was considered best to "only cook with French cooks". French chefs like Vincent La Chapelle were sought after by European princes. Some of them, such as Frederick II, "to amuse themselves, do not disdain to speak sometimes about cooking", as stated in the warning to Les Dons de Comus, a manual of "nouvelle cuisine" published in 1739 by François Marin. Frederick II had also read Les Dons de Comus, even though French and German cuisine coexisted at his table. He employed French chefs, such as the "famous Duval", who entered his service in 1731. In 1744, another French chef, Émile Joyard from Lyon, son-in-law of Antoine Pesne, joined Frederick's staff; In the 18th century, pâtés du Périgord, particularly those from Périgueux, were "the most expensive of entremets" and a renowned noble gift. However, the reference to Périgord most often refers not to the geographical origin of the dish, but to its preparation "à la Périgord", i.e. with the incorporation of truffles. As early as 1743, Frederick II's correspondence attests to his fondness for these pâtés. He "loved truffles and sent for a pâté from Périgord every year", in particular those from Courtois, The king remained "particularly" attached to pâtés throughout his life, a French diplomat noting that as he neared death, he ate nothing but "pâtés of eel and Périgueux". In this reconstruction by Adolph von Menzel, Casanova, La Mettrie and Voltaire dine with Frederick II.

Career and end of life in Berlin Casanova met André Noël at Madame Rufin's in 1764, during a stay in Berlin. As early as 1761, Frederick II expressed his satisfaction with Noël, writing to the Marquis d'Argens that "Noël was able to satisfy the most gourmet epicurean in Europe". According to B. Maether, second head chef in 1767. Noël headed a team of twelve cooks to provide royal service at the palace. Jean-Charles Laveaux, who recounts these events, adds: "After declaiming these verses, the king flicked his wand, and dinner was served". was Frederick II's favorite dish which was frequently served at the royal table between 1772 and 1779. It is mentioned in a 137-verse poem by Frederick II, Epître au sieur Noël maître d'hôtel par l'Empereur de la Chine, published in Potsdam in 1772.

I'm not laughing; really, Mr. Noël, Your great talents will make you immortal a dish known throughout Europe, of which Allen Weiss counts over 77,000 variants, among which, according to this author, the most extravagant is Édouard Nignon's "marroné lyonnaise".

Sources differ as to the attribution of the recipe. For Jean-Robert Pitte, André Noël is the inventor. Pierre René Auguis proposes a third version: according to him, the king, tasting what Carlo Denina called "infernal cuisine",

According to Friedrich Nicolai, the "bombe de Sardanapale" is a head of cabbage or savoy cabbage, Aware of the king's predilection for truffles, Baron de La Motte Fouqué sent for some dogs from Croatia, trained to find them. Truffles were found in the vicinity of Magdeburg, and Fouqué had a pâté prepared and sent to the king. with these truffles, which he did.

Arrière-faix de Marie-Antoinette In his Memoirs, Charles of Hesse-Kassel wrote about André Noël, whom he met in 1779. He notes that Frederick II's cook prepared "admirable" soups, dishes "mostly in the French style and some of extraordinary strength", made with "all sorts of extremely delicate things". Although no pastry recipe is specifically attributed to André Noël, as fruit played an important role at Frederick II's table, he was fond of pastries. he took "a scrap spur from the stables" and made "fluted strips to toast it on and around". The king was pleased, and Noël had "an ironmonger make [...] a roulette wheel fluted on both sides with a handle". This, they say, "toured Germany and Austria", before being adopted in France by the great pastry chef Carême.

Debated attributions

Pâté de La Mettrie La Mettrie by Lavater, in 1741, ten years before the disastrous pâté. Casanova reports that Without Noël [...] or rather without the skill of this culinary artist, the famous Lamettrie, that atheist doctor, would not have died of indigestion; for the pâté he ate to excess at Lord Tyrconel's [Richard-François Talbot, comte de Tyrconnel, French ambassador to the Prussian court] had been made by Noël. he reported that La Mettrie died of indigestion after eating a truffle pâté. Friedrich Wilhelm Barthold, one of the first to refer to La Mettrie's death as a "bombe de Sardanapale", adds, however, that only Casanova seems to have known that Noël was the cook of the dish. thumb Illustration by Monsiau for La Gastronomie, by Joseph Berchoux: André Noël congratulated by the king.This is an anachronism on Casanova's part: It was in 1751, before Noël arrived in Potsdam, and not in 1764, that La Mettrie died of having eaten a pâté that Madeleine Ferrières wondered was from Périgueux, Antoine Louis Paris asserted that it was made by "a cook who passed for very skilful" who had arrived from Paris, Voltaire, that it was "sent from the North", Frederick II, that it was "a whole pheasant pâté", and Voltaire, again, that the ginger masked the presence of spoiled meat. four of which were French-inspired, two Italian-inspired and two other ones. Vehse gives the menu for one of his last meals, arranged with Noël on August 5, 1786, twelve days before his death, where the king signified his approval of the dish with a cross (†): Pompadour-style chicken fillets with beef tongue and croquets Dionisius Portuguese cake Scratched and replaced by waffles

Peas † Fresh herring † Marinated cucumbers Posterity On March 12, 1804, an actor played André Noël at a Berlin masked ball in honor of Queen Louise:

André Noël is one of the characters in the historical novel Potsdam und Sans-Souci (1848), written by Eduard Maria Oettinger. In this novel, set in 1750 at the Château de Sans-Souci, Noël - who goes by the name Jacques Narcisse - reads Le Comte de Gabalis and frequents Voltaire and La Mettrie.