Analiza codziennych wydatków kuchni dworskiej książąt żagańskich z lat 1878–1889

Abstrakt

The article presents the sphere of everyday life practices in the second half of the 19th century through analysis of eating habits of the House of Talleyrand-Périgord, the Reich princes. The basis of analysis are expenses from ducal court kitchen from Sagan from the times of Duke Louis Napoléon de Talleyrand-Périgord (1863‒1898). The expenses present daily calculations of ordered products with their prices and quantity in the years 1878‒1889. The ducal family shared time between Paris, an estate in Valençay, a flat in Berlin and a palace in Sagan in the Lower Silesia. There they celebrated ostentatiously both the family meetings (birthday of princes Pauline) and social events, especially in 1881 (the wedding ceremony of the Duke’s daughter ”Dolly”) and in 1886 (the 100th anniversary of purchase of the duchy of Sagan by the Duke of Courland Biron), in which participated noble representatives of aristocratic European houses. The longest stay of Duke in Sagan was in 1879 (183 days). However, the biggest expenses concerned 1881, when an amount of 3 650,43 Marks was spent on social events. From among the numerously represented food pro-ducts on the ducal table appeared dairy (especially butter and eggs), wheat flour and poultry (especially hens, chickens, ducks, geese, poulards). Daily meals of ducal family supplemented vegetables and fruits, especially carrots and tapioca (an ingredient of the desserts). The family ate fishes and shellfish (salmons, soles, zanders, carps) very often, mostly on Fridays – according to tradition of fasting.The refinement of dishes increased during solemn meals. Then the luxury food products, like pineapples, vanilla, chocolate, Strasbourg pâté or truf-fles from the southern France, decorated the Duke’s table. Very often in the expenses appeared local products imported from the entire Europe, like Ty-rolean apples, Helgoland lobster, Holland oysters, Brussels poulards, English ham or Italian macaroni. Duke of Sagan cared not only about the quality of meals, but also about decorations of dining room, its furnishings and liveries of footmen, who served the meals. He attached special attention to professio-nal preparation of meals, so for that reason the salary of cook Robert Glatzel increased from 960 to 1080 Marks yearly in the period under consideration.The high position of Duke was emphasized not only by the care of meal preparation in the court kitchen and table service, but also by the amount of consumed meat, which was greater than by the lower classes. Nevertheless, the Duke’s family still supported moderation in eating. They distinguished daily modest meals for household members from sumptuous meals, which included food products specially ordered from Hamburg or Berlin. All tho-se elements formed the culture of eating and emphasized the elegance of the Sagan’s table.