Throughout France’s culinary history, there have been plenty of chefs who loved what they did and pushed French cuisine to new heights. But one chef became famous precisely for wanting to leave the kitchen he excelled in and become an actor.
The chef’s name was Cyprien Ragueneau (1608-1654). He was born in Paris, and since his parents ran an inn, it was only natural that he would go into the restaurant business and open a food shop at 149 Rue Saint-Honoré. Being an excellent chef, he built up quite a few famous clients, including Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), who was very fond of his liver pâté. Cyprien was a book lover and an amateur poet, and as such he extended his patronage to the poor poets of Paris, giving them free food in exchange for a poem, or even just a line or two. One day Molière (1622-1673) came into his shop, and following that meeting Cyprien was captivated by the magic of theater and decided to close his business and join Molière‘s troupe, despite his family’s objections. Unfortunately, Cyprien did not excel at acting the way he had excelled at cooking, and little by little he began getting smaller and smaller roles. Eventually, Cyprien sank so low in the troupe’s hierarchy that his last job was putting out the candles at the end of the show. Disappointed and penniless, Cyprien died in Lyon in 1654.
Although he died penniless and forgotten, Cyprien managed to leave behind both a theatrical legacy and a culinary one. On the theatrical side, he left the world his daughter Marie Ragueneau (1639-1727), who joined Molière’s troupe alongside him, at first as a maid. Molière noticed her comic talent and began giving her bigger and bigger roles until she became the leading comic actress of his troupe. In 1672 she married the actor Charles de La Grange and went on performing with him at the Comédie-Française. Her acting career lasted until 1692, and Marie, who had managed to secure a pension of 1,000 livres for herself, a handsome sum for the time, decided to retire and move to Paris, where she died at age 87.
Another figure who would go on to give Cyprien Ragueneau’s memory eternal life was Hercule Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655). Cyrano de Bergerac, who became famous in his lifetime as a soldier and a poet, was a frequent guest at Ragueneau’s shop and was one of his close friends. About 250 years later, the playwright Edmond Rostand (1868-1918) read the story of Cyrano de Bergerac’s turbulent life and decided to write a play based on it, “attaching” a giant nose to the character (the real Cyrano’s nose was apparently only a bit longer than average). The play premiered in 1897 and became a massive success. It was later translated into many languages and, in time, adapted into film several times (the most famous version was made in 1990, starring Gérard Depardieu, born 1948). Thanks to that play, we still have the recipe for Ragueneau’s almond tart (the only one of his recipes that survived), since it is presented to the audience in verse:
Beat, with bold whisking,
a few eggs.
Stir in, with a brisk whisk,
some lovely lemon juice,
and then blend it
into sweet almond milk.
Spread, on the inside,
the pastry dough
onto the pan
where the cake will rise.
Coat the side with marmalade,
and now, with a drizzle and a pour,
drip your batter
into the mold that holds it,
and out of the oven, dancing forth,
golden and charming, come
these little almond tarts!
(A free English rendering of the recipe in verse from Rostand’s play)
Bon appétit!
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