Balzac himself was an early devotee of authentic cuisine. His gastronomical ideal consisted of fresh ingredients with no added spices, and no complicated sauces. He wanted vegetables picked straight out of the garden, poultry raised in the backyard, stock simmered for hours and thickened only by the gelatin extracted from the bones. Needless to say, he did not think much of Parisian cooks. True gastronomes lived in the provinces, where a simple dish of haricots verts could be exquisite and a modest omelette divine. Still the omelette had to be done carefully, and Balzac deems that of Dr. Rougon, one of his gourmand characters, sufficiently worthy to be the only recipe to appear in his work.
