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Varenne established the foundation for what would became one of the basics of French cooking: to complement, and not to hide or imitate flavour. In fact, the starting point of French cooking, the point in the kitchen when a medieval style of cooking, which was more or less universal amongst the aristocracy in Europe, became replaced by a new one, uniquely French. He didn't do this in isolation. There already was a direction happening around him. Spices such as cardamon, nutmeg and cinnamon were taken out of main courses and relegated to sweets, and roux was being used for sauces instead of breadcrumbs. There was already a trend away from the past; Varenne made a decisive break.

Varenne raised vegetables in importance. He separate sweet entirely from savoury. He used new world foods such as Jerusalem Artichokes, and gave the first recipes in print for that other new world food, turkey. Béchamel Sauce is often attributed to him.

His motto in food was "Santé, modération, raffinement" (health, moderation, refinement.)

In his first cookbook, Le Cuisinier François, Varenne listed recipes in alphabetical order, as opposed to by meal or course, and provided no measurements.

He gave several recipes for food wrapped in greased paper and baked in ashes. Wrapping food up in something and baking it in the ashes of a fire or hearth was traditionally a method just used by the poor, who might not have many if any cooking vessels, and some recipes from the time of hearth cooking call for the cook to avoid getting the food smoky. Varenne, however, seems to call for the cooking method both to slowly concentrate the flavours (as opposed, say to boiling, which would leach flavours out), and to impart a smoky flavour that he seemed to want in some dishes.

No one is certain where or when Varenne was born. He is presumed to have been born in Chalon-sur-Saône, Burgundy, France, either in 1615 or 1618. He died in Dijon in 1678.

Varenne possibly got his start at cooking as a young boy in the kitchens of Henri IV (14 December 1553 to 14 May 1610), married at the time to his second wife, Marie de Médicis (1573 - 1642) [1], later grandmother to Louis XIV (1638-1715.)

By 1644, it's assumed he was working for the Marquis d'Uxelles. In the 1664 edition of his book "Le Cuisinier François", it says that at the time of its first edition (1651), Varenne had worked for the Marquis d'Uxelles for 7 years; consequently it's assumed he worked for the Marquis from 1644 to 1651. Some sources mistakenly name the Marquis d'Uxelles at that time as Nicolas Chalon du Blé (1652 - 1730), made a Marshall of France in 1703. Merriam-Webster, however, has it right: the man Varenne would have worked for was the previous Marquis d'Uxelles, Louis Chalon du Blé (died 1658), who was also Governor of Chalon-sur-Saône.

The La Varenne Cooking School, named after him, was founded in 1975 by an Anne Willan at the Château du Feÿ in Burgundy, France.

Books

1651. Le Cuisinier François
1653. Le Patissier Français (attributed to but probably not actually by him)
16xx. Le Confiseur François (attributed to but probably not actually by him)
1668. "Le parfaict confiturier"

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[1] Louis XIII became King in 1610. But Marie de Médicis (not to be confused with Catherine de Medici), his mother, served as regent from 1610 to 1614 as he was very young. Even when he became King, she still attempted to run things until he started trying to put her safely out of reach in 1617 in the château de Blois. Louis XIII reigned until his death in 1643; his son, Louis XIV, was king from 1643-1715.

Language Notes
Note his full name and title includes "Sieur." This was a title, usually inherited, for a person who owned a castle or a small fief.

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