Napoleon: a gourmet?

Napoleon Bonaparte is not remembered for his qualities as a fine gourmet, unlike his contemporaries Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès and Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, who under the French Consulate and Empire competed to be recognized as having the best table in Paris.

He is generally described as a person who considered food as a simple physiological need, devoting neither regular time nor sufficient duration to his meals: he ate in ten minutes when he was General, in a quarter of an hour as First Consul, and half an hour as Emperor, when he was not on campaign (there, he ate whenever and wherever, most often on horseback), despite the advice of his personal physician Jean-Nicolas Corvisart des Marets, in particular from 1808.

Concerning the food and wines that Napoleon liked, we therefore have little literature from the period devoted to it, but this theme has more recently been the subject of several publications, in which certain culinary tastes are cited, which we will detail.

Meats

Napoleon's favorite meat was undoubtedly poultry.

Chicken

Napoleon enjoyed it simply grilled, accompanied by potatoes and onions. But also in the form of Poulet Marengo. According to legend, it is to François Claude Guignet, known as Dunant (or Dunand), that we owe this recipe, created on June 14, 1800 with the means at hand (a small chicken, three eggs, four tomatoes, six crayfish, garlic, olive oil and a little cognac from the First Consul's own flask) after the Battle of Marengo ended. However, it seems to be a legend, Dunant only entering the service of the First Consul in 1802; it was probably then that he created the recipe, inspired by Piedmont, and named it in homage to the last victorious battle.

Marengo Chicken, as enjoyed in Marengo itself

During the Empire, this recipe was adapted with veal and even rabbit.

Other chicken recipes, created in homage to people dear to the Emperor, were also on his table: chicken à la Joséphine (flambéed with cognac), à la Masséna (with artichokes), or even à la Duroc (on a bed of onions and truffles).

Other poultry

A curiosity, hardly eaten nowadays: grilled crow.

Other meats

Napoleon was not very fond of red meats, which he ate very well cooked.

The following meats are cited as being his favorites:

1. Pork crépinettes
2. Mutton stew
3. Lamb chops
4. Veal kidneys
5. Charcuterie, like any self-respecting Corsican...

Fish and seafood

1. Red mullet: Napoleon particularly enjoyed this Mediterranean fish when he was in Genoa [Genova] in 1794 and 1805.
2. Bouillabaisse à la sétoise: it was André Pons de l'Hérault who introduced Bonaparte, General of the artillery of the South, to this typical dish of his hometown, in Bandol in 1794. Twenty years later, he invited Napoleon to come and taste it again, at his home in Rio Marina  on the island of Elba.
3. Oysters from the Étang de Diane: exiled on the island of Elba, very close to the eastern coast of Corsica, Napoleon had oysters from this pond [42.12736, 9.52296] north of Aléria, which had been famous since Roman times, supplied him every week. It has been said that these shipments were clandestinely accompanied by news of the situation in France, in order to better prepare his return.

Simple dishes

Simple recipes were ultimately those that Napoleon preferred throughout his life. Here are some examples:

1. Hot little pies: when stationed in Valence in 1785-1786, the young lieutenant Napoleone Buonaparte was a regular customer of Father Courriol, pastry chef and rotisserie, from whom  he bought hot little pies for 1 sol (approximately the equivalent of one cent) each, the only daily food that his meager salary allowed him to afford.
2. Chestnut polenta: this was the staple dish, at that time, for all Corsica. Napoleon particularly liked it.
3. Blood sausage à la Richelieu: it was a very simple recipe, with apples (sometimes stewed) flavored with cinnamon. Other types of quenelles were also his favorite.
4. Sauces, in which he liked to dip his bread.
5. Pasta: in childhood, Napoleon naturally ate Corsican tagliatelle and lasagna at the family table. During the First Italian Campaign, he developed a taste for macaroni [maccheroni], so much so that during the Russian campaign of 1812, the quartermasters bought no less than 250 kilograms of this Italian specialty.
6. Eggs: Napoleon preferred them fried, but he did not disdain omelettes, even if one of his only culinary efforts to make one, in the presence of his wife Marie-Louise, ended up on the ground through clumsiness...

Vegetables

Here is what we know about it:

1. Napoleon retained from his childhood a taste for chestnuts, the main source of food in Corsica.
2. Potatoes, which became definitively established with the famine of 1811-1812, were said to be appreciated by the Emperor, particularly when he shared them with his grognards (a song was made from them: "Napoleon's potatoes", to the tune of the Angelus)
3. Another tuber appreciated by Napoleon was the sweet potato that Joséphine acclimatized to Malmaison.
4. He also liked green beans (on the express condition that they did not have strings), as well as lentils.
5. Unusually for a Mediterranean, he could not stand garlic.

Fruits

There are few sources on this subject, except for his taste for dates, which he discovered during the Egyptian Campaign. He also enjoyed fresh almonds, grapes and cherries.

Wines

Chambertin

This Burgundy wine, which came from a wider terroir than the current appellation (at that time it included the area of ​​Gevrey-Chambertin, but also certain vineyards of Morey, Brochon or Fixin), was without a doubt the Emperor's favorite wine. He hardly consumed more than half a bottle of this beverage, aged 5 or 6 years, which he diluted with water, as was quite common at that time. In fact, it was almost the only French red wine he drank, although he sometimes tried a Clos-Vougeot or a Château-Lafite.

Rossese di Dolceacqua

Napoleon greatly appreciated, from the first Italian campaign in 1796-1797, this red wine (probably sweeter at the time than today) produced in Liguria near the French border. Visiting the Doria family castle in Dolceacqua [43.85118, 7.62537] in 1805, he even granted his guests permission to name the wine after him, although this would be rarely used.

White wines from the Loire valley

The wine of Pouilly-sur-Loire [47.28392, 2.95556] made from the Sauvignon Blanc grape variety (the ancestor of Pouilly-Fumé) was one of Napoleon's favorite wines, while his wife Joséphine introduced him to the famous wine of Coulée-de-Serrant [47.39315, -0.63911] near Savennières.

Champagne

A close friend of Jean-Rémy Moët (1758-1841), the grandson of the founder of what would become the famous champagne house Moët et Chandon, Napoleon took advantage of his travels to go to the Moët vineyard in Épernay to buy a few cases of champagne, particularly on the occasion of his military campaigns. The first recorded order dates from 27 Thermidor Year 9 (August 15, 1801), the day he turned 32.

On March 13, 1814, the French Campaign saw Napoleon liberate the city of Reims from the Prussians and the Cossacks. He was accommodated for the night by François Jean Irénée Ruinart, in his castle of Grand Sillery. From the 14th to the 16th, it was Jean-Baptiste Ponsardin, brother of the famous widow Clicquot, who welcomed him into his house at number 18 rue de Vesle, then from the 16th to the 21st of March, while he was returning to Paris before his first abdication, Napoleon I stopped for the last time in Épernay and presented Jean-Rémy Moët with his own cross of the Legion of Honor... So many opportunities to drink champagne, if we are to believe this maxim attributed to the Emperor: After victory one deserves it, after defeat one needs it.

It is also said that it was the Emperor who invented sabrage and cultivated this custom among his officers after having won battles...

Constantia

It was during his exile on the island of Saint Helena that he liked to drink this famous sweet wine, originating from the Groot Constantia vineyard, South Africa.

Other drinks

Water

Napoleon liked it ice cold, although this was not always possible, for example during his exile on Saint Helena. On the island of Elba, it is known that he liked to quench his thirst at the spring called Fonte dell'Acquaviva [which has since become, as it should be, the Napoleon spring] [42.78461, 10.17793]

Tea

The national drink of the British, it turned out that Napoleon also liked it, especially when he got up. Although sometimes he preferred an infusion of orange blossom, which reminded him of Corsica.

Coffee and chocolate

Napoleon drank coffee in abundance. However, his secretary Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne related that, when he worked late, it was not coffee that he had brought to him but chocolate. At that time, the one from Paris was the most famous, with its clever mix of cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar.

Cognac

In 1811, Napoleon visited the wine merchant Emmanuel Courvoisier in his spirits shop in Paris. In 1835, the famous cognac house was born, then the "Napoleon" brand with the silhouette of the Emperor on the bottle label.

Desserts and sweets

As for desserts, Napoleon loved rolled waffles filled with cream.

The same was true for the "Milanese" macaroni timbales.

Finally, to end on a sweet note, Napoleon's favorite sweet was aniseed liquorice, which he nibbled on all day long.