Guillaume Tirel

Guillaume Tirel, also known as Taillevent, was a significant French chef of the Middle Ages, serving King Charles VI. He is credited with writing Le Viander (c. 1375), one of the first important French cookbooks.1

Tirel's cooking style reflected the era's culinary practices, which often involved heavily seasoning food to mask flavors, as refrigeration was not available and food could become tainted. His recipes relied on spices like ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, and he used bread as a thickener for sauces, a practice that would later be replaced by flour. His menus primarily featured soups, meats, and poultry. While French cooking would eventually be known for its subtle seasonings and sauces, Tirel's work represents an earlier stage where the main goal was to disguise the food's natural flavor.1