Souper Intime, Dining in the Age of Madame de Pompadour

Pleasure-loving French aristocrats of the mid-eighteenth-century invented a new fashion in dining: the souper intime (intimate supper), a meal of supreme luxury, held privately, behind closed doors. This dining style and the innovations it produced will serve as the theme for an event that combines a visit to the exquisite French furniture collection at the Musée Cognacq-Jay with a magnificent lunch in the exclusive 3-Michelin-star restaurant L’Ambroisie.

Guests will enjoy a sublime visual and gastronomic experience, imbued with the spirit of Madame de Pompadour and spliced with historical anecdotes and explanations that reveal the connections between chef Bernard Pacaud’s superb contemporary cooking and the rococo table.

What was the souper intime? How do the delicacy and attention to detail witnessed in a masterful Louis XV commode reflect similar aesthetic changes in French cuisine of the same period? How did the introduction of porcelain change cooking? What was the effect of newly light, mechanized tables and body-hugging chairs upon fine dining? Why did such innovations occur? These questions will be answered at the Musée Cognacq-Jay by looking at some of the finest objects and interiors produced in this period. Stories of the private suppers enjoyed by Philippe, duc d’Orléans, regent to the young Louis XV; Madame de Pompadour, the same king’s style-setting mistress; and the unrivaled pleasure-seeker Casanova will bring these objects to life.

Time and weather permitting, we will briefly stop in the garden of the Musée Carnavalet to consider the outdoor spaces where such suppers sometimes took place.

A short walk through the historic Marais district will bring us to the 3-Michelin-star restaurant L’Ambroisie, in the Place des Vosges, for a lunch that encapsulates ancien-régime elegance in a contemporary guise. Revered for discreet sophistication and subtle elegance, as opposed to gimmicky flamboyance, it captures the spirit of the souper intime. Many discriminating epicures consider its cuisine unrivalled. With fewer than forty seats, spread among three tapestry-lined dining rooms, L’Ambroisie offers an ambience that meets the quality of its exceptional food. Guests will be invited to choose their preferences from a lavish menu created for this event. The restaurant’s master sommelier will select appropriate, matching wines. Carolin Young, in tandem with L’Ambroisie’s expert staff, will speak not only about the dishes we enjoy but also address their antecedents, as found in the recipes of eighteenth-century culinary authors such as La Chapelle, Massialot, and Menon. Equally, we will look for artistry and innovation. How does chef Pacaud’s obsessive eye for quality and talent at recombining of ingredients compare, for example, to a master ébeniste’s artful reuse of Japanese lacquer and judicious application of gilded mounts? Logic, too, will be addressed. In what ways does the organization of a French kitchen evince Enlightenment thinking? Stories of luxuriant meals of the past will round out this memorable occasion.

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