The Philosopher in the Kitchen

Just before half term, en route to my daughter's school concert in St Paul's, Knightsbridge, we decided to have an early dinner. Our venue, of course, had to be Koffmann's, the new restaurant at The Berkeley run by the legendary Pierre Kauffman. Like his previous establishment, La Tante Claire in Chelsea's Royal Hospital Road, the atmosphere is one of 'convivial bonhomie', with fabulous food themed photographs by Jean Cazals and a library of old kitchen classics. Needless to say, the food was exquisite, although, being in a hurry, we were unable to have his legendary signature dish of pig's trotter with chicken mousseline, sweetbreads and morels.

Instead we both had the 'pave de cabillaud haricots blancs' [cod fillet with white beans and chorizo], which came with divine vegetables and little packets of chips wrapped in newspaper cones, washed down with a deliciously crisp bottle of Pouilly Fume, Domaine Gilles Cholet 2008. Sadly, we didn't have time for either a starter or a dessert, a must for next time. Despite our shortened menu, I thoroughly recommend a visit to this shrine to the greatest of French cuisine. Like a new album from Bruce Springsteen, it's such a joy to see him back on the road.

But I digress. Whilst sipping my virgin Mary and waiting for my husband, I spent a glorious fifteen minutes browsing through the library at Koffmann's. I was in heaven. Books about food are almost as popular in my house as books about politics or philosophy. So I was thrilled to find an old copy of 'The Philosopher in the Kitchen', a collection of the reminiscences on cookery and the art of eating by Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. It was first published as 'La Physiologie du Gout' in 1825, a year before his death. It has seldom been out of print since, with its most notable English translation first published in 1949 by food writer and critic, M.F.K. Fisher.

Born in the town of Belley, Ain, close to Savoy in 1755, where he was elected mayor in 1793, he was undoubtedly an Enlightenment man. He studied law, chemistry and medicine in Dijon before being elected to, and then fleeing from, the National Constituent Assembly in Paris during the worst excesses of the Revolution. He fled first to Switzerland and Holland, then America, where he earned his living giving French and violin lessons and playing first violin in the Park Theatre, New York. He returned to France in 1796/7 and took up the post of judge to the Court of Cassation, where he remained until his death. He was a truly remarkable man, forever to be remembered by the cheese and the gateau that were named after him.

Of course, time being short, I had to leave the book to be escorted to my table for dinner, [but not without jotting down a few notes with which I was able to order from Amazon's second hand links a paperback copy, translated by Anne Drayton, and published by Penguin in 1970]. Bliss. Like Montaigne's Essays or Proust, you can just dip in and out and savour a few philosophical morsels at a time. Books like this lift the soul, especially on a wet, autumnal day when you know that the long, dark evenings of winter are not so very far away.

I could not possibly do his work justice on my humble blog. So, by way of a starter, and to provide endless thoughts for short days and interminable evenings, I shall simply list Brillat-Savarin's 'Aphorisms', "by the Professor to serve as a prologue to his work and an eternal foundation for his Science."

1. The world is nothing without life, and all that lives takes nourishment.

11. Animals feed: man eats: only the man of intellect knows how to eat.

111. The fate of nations depends on the way they eat.

1V. Tell me what you eat: I will tell you what you are.

V. The Creator, who made man such that he must eat to live, incites him to eat by means of appetite, and rewards him with pleasure.

V1. Gourmandism is an act of judgement, by which we give preference to things which are agreeable to our taste over those which are not.

V11. The pleasures of the table belong to all times and all ages, to every country and every day; they go hand in hand with all our other pleasures, outlast them, and remain to console us for their loss.

V111. The table is the only place where the first hour is never dull.

1X. The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a star.

X. Drunkards and victims of indigestion do not know how to eat or drink.

X1. The right order of eating is from the most substantial dishes to the lightest.

X11. The right order of drinking is from the mildest wines to the headiest and most perfumed.

X111. To maintain that one wine may not be drunk after another is heresy; a man's palette can be saturated, and after the third glass the best of wines only produces a dull impression.

X1V. Dessert without cheese is like a pretty woman with only one eye.

XV. A man can become a cook, but he has to be born a 'rotisseur'.

XV1. The most indispensable quality in a cook is punctuality; it is also that of a guest.

XV11. To wait too long for an unpunctual guest is an act of discourtesy towards those who have arrived in time.

XV111. The man who invites his friends to his table, and fails to give his personal attention to the meal they are going to eat, is unworthy to have any friends.

X1X. The mistress of the house must always see to it that the coffee is excellent, and the master that the liqueurs are of the first quality.

XX. To entertain a guest is to make yourself responsible for his happiness so long as he is beneath your roof.

FORMIDABLE, N'EST-CE-PAS?