towered above the other appointments of the table.

[Illustration: Fig. 120.--Hunting-Meal.--Fac-simile of a Miniature in the
Manuscript of the "Livre du Roy Modus" (National Library of Paris).]

The peacock, which was as much thought of then as it is little valued now,
was similarly arrayed, and was brought to table amidst a flourish of
trumpets and the applause of all present. The modes of preparing other
roasts much resembled the present system in their simplicity, with this
difference, that strong meats were first boiled to render them tender, and
no roast was ever handed over to the skill of the carver without first
being thoroughly basted with orange juice and rose water, and covered with
sugar and powdered spices.

We must not forget to mention the broiled dishes, the invention of which
is attributed to hunters, and which Rabelais continually refers to as
acting as stimulants and irresistibly exciting the thirst for wine at the
sumptuous feasts of those voracious heroes (Fig. 120).

The custom of introducing salads after roasts was already established in
the fifteenth century. However, a salad, of whatever sort, was never
brought to table in its natural state; for, besides the raw herbs, dressed
in the same manner as in our days, it contained several mixtures, such as
cooked vegetables, and the crests, livers, or brains of poultry. After the
salads fish was served; sometimes fried, sometimes sliced with eggs or
reduced to a sort of pulp, which was called _carpee_ or _charpie_, and
sometimes it was boiled in water or wine, with strong seasoning. Near the
salads, in the course of the dinner, dishes of eggs prepared in various
ways were generally served. Many of these are now in use, such as the
poached egg, the hard-boiled egg, egg sauce, &c.

[Illustration: Fig. 121.--Shop of a Grocer and Druggist, from a Stamp of Vriese
(Seventeenth Century).]

Seasonings.--We have already stated that the taste for spices much
increased in Europe after the Crusades; and in this rapid historical
sketch of the food of the French people in the Middle Ages it must have
been observed to what an extent this taste had become developed in France
(Fig. 121). This was the origin of sauces, all, or almost all, of which
were highly spiced, and were generally used with boiled, roast, or grilled
meats. A few of these sauces, such as the yellow, the green, and the
_cameline_, became so necessary in cooking that numerous persons took to
man