Etiquette and Gluttony in Russia

The full story of feasting enjoyed by Royal gluttons comes from the pen of a methodical Chef de Cuisine, a Frenchman in the service of Catherine II of Russia. He writes of almost unbelievable quantities of food, prepared and served by a small army of his assistants roasting cooks, spit-turners, pastry chefs, fish cooks and makers of entremets –– a grand total of 500 workers in the royal kitchens!

GLUTTONS and gourmets through the centuries have had similar tastes and capacities, and between the capacious eaters of today and famous trenchermen of history there is little difference. One thing all have in common, an incredible desire to consume vast quantities of rare and exotic food but if the shades of famous European chefs could peer over the starched white caps and shoulders of a modern cook, they would undoubtedly give startled shudders of disappointment at the menus of today.

“Why! These fellows have an easy task! Their menus do not compare to the great feasts given by our royal masters Kings and Queens who knew what good food meant!” Chagrined and amazed that the world has forgotten a tradition of feasting brought down through generations of gourmands, these skilled and proud chefs of a vanished world might conclude that human stomachs of this era have astonishingly diminished in size appetites have wilted and that no one knows how to enjoy fine food and plenty of it. Modern scientists give a somewhat different reason for the sad state into which old-fashioned feasting has fallen. Actual capacity, they say, is no smaller, but conditions have changed and men and women, no matter how blessed by wealth and leisure, have learned not to “eat themselves into the grave.”

Too much food at any one time amounts to no more than a primitive gorging, a habit which has come down from the time of cavemen who never knew when the next meal could be had. And in the hurried activities of modern life people cannot “sleep off” a great feast, as they could and did a century or more ago. “Heavy feasting,” say dieticians, “overloads not only the stomach but slows down the brain.” And this the successful business man and active woman cannot afford. Yet the fashion of small, selected menus -- for health's sake was not always so. Out of the past come tales of the mighty feats of rulers and generals, gentlemen of quality and dainty ladies assessed of palates and capacities unequalled since their time. 

True accounts of swashbuckling Counts and frivolous Countesses, proud Princes and Princesses who valued as a high accomplishment their ability to taste and consume amazing quantities of food and drink. There come Royal trenchermen ––two bottle, three bottle, and even four bottle men who thought nothing of quaffing that amount of old port after an evening’s full measure of sherry or sack, hock, bordeaux, burgundy and champagne and who later repaired to a late session of Parliament and delivered speeches that altered the destiny of nations. To these statesmen tremendous quantities of food and drink proved but a small handicap, because then they retired for a few days of rest and fasting. 

The full story of feasting enjoyed by Royal gluttons comes from the pen of a methodical Chef de Cuisine, a Frenchman in the service of Catherine II of Russia. He writes of almost unbelievable quantities of food, prepared and served by a small army of his assistants roasting cooks, spit-turners, pastry chefs, fish cooks and makers of entremets –– a grand total of 500 workers in the royal kitchens!

Being French, this chef knew the story of Le Grand Vatel, commander of the kitchen of Louis XIV –– the poor cook who threw himself on his sword when the costermonger failed to bring the fish on time for one of Louis the Glutton's feasts. Knowing the uncertain temper of royal masters and the fate of careless chefs, Catherine's head cook took precautions against mistakes. He wrote out each menu in great folios, and made sure that every portion of the feast arrived hours in advance of the designated hour. Today these historic and colorful records are preserved in the archives of the ancient Hermitage, Catherine the Great’s favorite residence where the vast dining hall resounded to hoarse toasts, merry tales, and the boisterous laughter of courtiers.

An unestimated variety of “snacks” were first served with vodka, almost a meal that preceded the feast itself, but these appetizers were on old tradition, mere “palate-ticklers“ to whet the hunger of strong men. And Catherine’s chef thought so little of their importance that he fails to mention them. Nor does her chef say much of the rare wines served with each course, or the list of imported beverages stored in the Royal cellars, yet some account of these, fortunately, comes from other Slavic sources.

An afternoon’s refreshment might well be several bottles per head of a delicious light wine, just as a cooler and “pepper-upper.” Or of vodka, six or seven “captains”–– a glass the size of a sherry glass –– before a meal. And if such a potation was mere refreshment, a pleasant interlude in the serious business of making love or quarreling, what did these people do when they settled down to important eating and drinking? The menu of one of Catherine's “small dinners” not a great court banquet, just a little dinner en famille, perhaps for Potemkin or for Orloff, with a few young officers of the guard and ladies in waiting to fill out the board:

• Ten light soups, such as consommes, broths, essence of vegetables, light cream soups. With these, a glass or two of sherry for the ladies a bottle or more for the men. 
• Twenty-four different entremets, such as pheasant, goose, rabbit, chicken, quail and so on. Just a little something to whet the appetite for the rest of the meal. And with these a light red wine from France or Greece. 
• Thirty-two tid-bits, such as marinated baby chicken, bird wings with parmesan, rolled chicken skin, lamb fries and other exotic dainties. With each, a different light wine. 
• The great soups, Borshtch, cabbage soup with sour cream, fish soup, cold soup made from cucumbers and beer, spinach soup with sour cream and other noble liquids. Here a dry Italian or Spanish wine was considered quite the thing. 
• The fish : a dozen or more varieties, such as sturgeon, carp, salmon, pike, greyling, cod and halibut. Trout, too, the famous fruit au bleu cooked in vinegar to color the skin a delicate azure. And here began the drinking of noble wines, preferably a white burgundy or a dry moselle. 
• Fried chicken with truffles. This course stood by itself. To wash it down one of the heady wines of the Rhineland, such as Johannesberer Schloss or Forsteter Kirchensturk. 
• Thirty-two more entremets, among them, becasse a l’Espagne, turtle, pheasant and other wild fowl, young pigeons with crawfish. A light red wine from Bordeaux or Greece. 
• The roasts! Ah. here is where your true trencherman found delight. Great sirloins of beef, wild goat, venison, eight different sauces, twelve salads. And to accompany them the noblest of all red wines, the rare vintage of Burgundy the wine wc know as Chambertin. From this point the "small dinner" begins to taper off. The heavy courses are finished. 
• Next come 25 hot and cold dishes, such as thinly sliced ham, tongue, cauliflower and the more exotic vegetables and champagne, of course. 
• Then 32 more roasts of the lighter variety, veal, lamb, mouton des prés salés and suckling pig. Again, a red wine, such as Chateau Neuf du Pape or Hermitage from the banks of the Rhone. 
• The desserts. Any quantity of them. Pastries, cheeses, fruits, puddings and ices. With these champagne or Tokay. 
• And later in the evening, tea with conserves, brandy and port. 

Catherine's favorites, of course, aped their Empress. Potemkin's establishment rivaled hers. He kept ten chefs, each of whom had his own specialties, and under them worked 240 helpers. It is to him that gluttons owe the record of dishes Catherine liked best boiled beef with salted cucumbers and cucumbers stuffed with nuts, peppers, ginger, etc. Potemkin liked to surprise his ruler with unusual dainties and he searched the world for them, Once, he served boiled reindeer tongues as the principal dish of the dinner. Strogonoff, another favorite of the Empress, was a valiant knight of the glistening table cloth. He gave dinners in the Roman fashion, patterning his feasts after Lucullus, placing his guests on couches. When Potemkin brought out reindeer tongues, he went him one better and served reindeer lips. Bear paws and fried porcupine were among his favorite dishes. And he introduced oysters to Russia. 

When Strogonoff invited guests to dinner he conducted them first into steaming hot Turkish baths and there they were served pressed caviar. Then his guests were conducted to couches around the brilliant board. The plate was of gold. Two enormous crystal chandeliers were suspended above the table. The centerpiece was a human skull filled with vodka, and from this the guests drank a loving cup with their host, proposing Lucullus' toast “Memento mori!”(Remember death!) – John Clayton in San Bernardino Sun, 1937

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia