Monte Cristo and Alexandre Dumas' Love for Cuisine

Most renowned for ageless literary works like "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Three Musketeers", Alexandre Dumas was not only a literary giant but also a talented cook and epicurean.

His culinary masterpiece, "Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine," (1873) was his own personal triumph - even if he never saw it published. Yet a visit to his 'paradise on earth' home, le Château de Monte Cristo near Paris, shows the extent of his obsession and expertise for French cooking.

I am pleased to see my culinary reputation growing and promising to overshadow my literary reputation. Lord be praised! I will be able to devote myself to an honourable estate and leave my children saucepans and cooking pots, from which they'll inherit for all eternity, rather than my books...

Alexandre Dumas (père)

A Literary Feast: Alexandre Dumas' Château de Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas (père), literary giant and renowned gourmand, built his dream home, the Château de Monte Cristo, near Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Inspired by his success with novels like The Count of Monte Cristo, a tale of imprisonment, revenge, and hidden treasure, he constructed a Renaissance-style castle surrounded by idyllic gardens.

The estate, previously a vineyard, became a monument to Dumas' love of life's pleasures, with food playing a central role.

This love for the finer things extends beyond opulent architecture. The Château, now a museum, showcases Dumas' magnum opus, "Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine" (The Great Dictionary of Cuisine), of which extracts are cited throughout the visit.

While the original kitchens are gone, visitors can still experience a touch of Dumas' extravagance in the renovated Moorish tea salon. We can almost imagine traditional mint tea being poured from a height, just as it would be in Tunisia or Seville.

The Three Dumas

To avoid confusion, let's clarify the three Dumas, as two of them are both Alexandre. We're focusing on Dumas (father/père).

• Thomas-Alexandre Dumas (1762-1806) - A Black general in the Napoleonic wars, son of an aristocrat (Marquis) who married a freed slave of African descent. Died when Alexandre was only 4, betrayed by Napoleon.
• Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) - Known as Senior/Elder, Dumas (père), the focus of this article.
• Alexandre Dumas (1824-1895) - son (fils). Known for novels like La Dame aux Camélias (the story for Verdi's opera, La Traviata) and Le Demi-Monde.

The Dining Room at Monte Cristo

Monte Cristo's dining room is the first, main room of the château's entrance, proof of Dumas' importance to the art of French eating. Although, according to staff, he dined originally next door in the green room, which had a serving hatch. It's where he entertained his sumptuous banquets, mostly cooked himself.

On top of le Dictionnaire de Cuisine, illustrations show Dumas cracking dozens of eggs for his favourite oyster Omelette aux Huitres, plus this Bouillabaisse cartoon.

Dumas' Most Famous House-Warming Party

On the culinary side, Dumas was most known for his excessive menus and entertaining. His first house-warming party was a picnic. Imagine baskets filled with pâtés, poultry, fruits and fine wines. That was just a warm-up for Dumas' most extravagant housewarming lunch party to come, 3 years later in 1847. For 50 invited to the party, at least 550 curious gatecrashers turned up, including Balzac!

According to Dumas' servants, he purchased at least 150 trout and 1200 shrimp just for the garden's fountains. It was this kind of display and generosity that ruined him financially, forcing him to leave the château. In testimonials around Monte Cristo, he often had an 'open table', not even knowing his lunch guests.

Wherever man is born, he must eat; this is the great preoccupation of both savage and civilised man. But savages eat out of need. Civilised man eats out of greed."

Alexandre Dumas, Extract from the Dictionary of Cuisine (1873)

Why Did Dumas Name the Château after his Novel?

According to the Château guides, Dumas didn't dare to initially name his mansion home after his Monte Cristo novel. It came later, thanks to an anecdote from the theatrical Mélingue family, invited to literally perform for their supper.

On finding a coach in Le Pecq to take them to Dumas' new house, the coachman had no idea of the address in Port Marly. As there were 2 roads, he asked if the house had a name, which it didn't. So Madame Mélingue made one up: the Château de Monte Cristo. Dumas liked it and the name stuck from then on (Histoire de mes bêtes, Alexandre Dumas, 1868).

For his workplace, the Château d'If, it's not sure if he named it this himself.

His Impact on French Cuisine

When he wasn't writing, Dumas was cooking or tasting from his favourite chefs' restaurants. According to Louis Coleman, in the foreword of the abridged version of Dumas' Dictionary of Cuisine (Pub. Perlego), his love of food was said to be equalled only by his love of women. Glancing at the index shows hundreds of recipes - sauces, soups, fish, eggs, poultry and game. His cuisine mixed regional and family dishes with refined - and some unusual - recipes. But it's more than recipes with fun anecdotes from his travels and fascinating facts on produce.

Beyond his novels, as a journalist (1853-1858) Dumas wrote many gastronomic pieces on cooking in daily or weekly papers. Many are now compiled in the book, "Propos d'Art et de Cuisine". This includes, according to Gastro Obscura, his conversational cooking paper, "Causerie Culinaire", which reflected on his gastronomic life, childhood reflections and a recipe for Neapolitan macaroni.

Dumas' Collaborations with Chefs

Dumas' also tasted his way around the finest cuisines in Paris, thanks to his celebrated chef friends of the time. While staying at l'hôtel Henri IV in Saint-Germain-en-Laye before his château was built, chef Collinet's restaurant was a favourite, near the new steam train terminus from Paris. Here he raved about Collinet's lamb chops, les côtelettes à la Béarnaise (source: la société des amis de Dumas).

Three more of his favourite Paris kitchens are included in his Dictionary of Cuisine. Famous establishments were la Maison Potel et Chabot (still illustrious today), le Café Anglais and that of chef, Casimir Moisson at la Maison Dorée. Known for the best Bouillabaisse in Paris, a dish dear to him from Marseille (a place where he did his research for the Count of Monte Cristo), Dumas also entertained guests there.

Wine is the intellectual part of a meal. Meats and vegetables are merely material.

Alexandre Dumas, "Propos d'Art et de Cuisine"

His Typical Menu at La Maison Dorée in Paris

It was at La Maison Dorée that he served this typical, lavish menu - with 2 dishes for each course - an example in the Château de Monte Cristo's dining room. Dumas treated 15 of his friends to such favourite dishes, an extract from his Dictionary of Cuisine.

• Chicken consommé and turtle soup
• Petites timbales of Chasseur noodles
• Chambord Salmon and beef fillets
• Mauviettes (fatty bird) with truffles and Chicken supreme
• Roasted quails and partridge with sautéed green beans and walnut jelly with apricots
• Dessert is simply seasonal fruits.

For accompanying wines, he brings out such French Grand Cru Classés in 3 services: Saint Julien, Corton, Château-Larose, Champagne Cliquot and Château-Yquem. No wonder he was popular!

Dumas' Fun Facts from his Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine

Alexandre Dumas' culinary masterpiece, "Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine," was perhaps his biggest personal pride, written in 1869. Dedicated to his friend, Jules Janin, it's more than a dictionary and personally, I find it a fun read. It covers French culinary history, royal feasts, culinary trivia and surprising recipes in a whopping 1,150 pages.

Passionately written in Brittany's Roscoff (famous for its onions), it was finally published posthumously in 1873. Sadly, it came three years after his death due to its hold during the Franco-Prussian war.
Here are just a few fun facts I love from his dictionary:

• It's more than an A-Z of ingredients, recipes, taste, cooking techniques and equipment. Annexes include "A Study of Mustard" plus seasonal menus
• Most surprising recipes include kangaroo filet steaks and how to slow cook elephant, should you happen to have a trunk or feet handy.
• His entry for making macarons includes moulding shapes with humid hands like large olives or a hedgehog, studded with pistachios.
• Dumas mentions Lobster "à l'Américaine" coming from the Parisian restaurant, Peter's where chef Pierre Fraysse came up with his dish in 1860. He describes a poached lobster in a spiced sauce. Today, it's poor-man's version is the Lotte à l'Américaine (monkfish stew).
• He adores oyster fowl, known as le Sot L'y Laisse. It's a cheaper cut of poultry great and excellent today in place of lamb for a chicken tagine with prunes.
• He loves soufflées, including 10 recipes for them.
• The word, "tourne-dos", referring to the Tournedos Rossini steak fillet topped with Foie Gras is used for the first time by Dumas.
• He doesn't actually say that Béarnaise sauce was invented by chef Collinet. Instead, he calls it "shallot sauce à la Béarnaise", using the best vinegar from Orléans.

Dumas on Fruits and Vegetables

As in the typical menu above, Dumas features tons of recipes around seasonal fruit and vegetables. Highlights from my abridged dictionary copy include:

• Apples - along with plenty of recipes, he adds that eating too many at night causes insomnia and nightmares.
• Pineapple - "Its fragrance is like raspberries and its juice like Malvasian wine." He includes a recipe similar to my Dumas-inspired Pineapple Condé Rice Pudding, also made with apricots.
• Potatoes - Dumas celebrates the humble potato from being considered pig food, to Parmentier's upgrade growing in the Tuileries Garden. From delicious Parisian vitelottes (purple) and recipes to (wait for it!) a Stockholm medical school discovering that dried potato leaves have a superior tobacco fragrance.
• Tomatoes - "We eat the pulp as a purée and use its sugar as a seasoning". Rather clever sustainable cooking that we need to return to!

How to Visit the Château de Monte Cristo from Paris

Easily accessible from the town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, make it part of a perfect day trip from Paris. Note that visiting times are different during summer and winter, and closed on Mondays.

Various themed visits are organised throughout the year - such as treasure hunts, escape games and murder parties, all with the Count of Monte Cristo in mind.

How to Get There by Car or Train

Luckily for me, I live so close in Le Pecq, I can walk here! It's Located in Port-Marly (Yvelines) and accessible by car or by train from Paris:

By TRAIN: Take either the RER A (red express line) to Saint-Germain-en-Laye or from Paris St-Lazare, the Saint Nom la Bretèche train to Marly le Roi.
From either station, take the number 10 bus towards “Les lampes” (avenue de l’Europe), to Avenue Kennedy. Take the first turn on the right (Chemin des Montferrand) and follow the signed footpath to the chateau.

By CAR: from the A13 Paris to Saint-Germain-en-Laye (direction Versailles), follow signs to Port-Marly and use the entrance to the Clinique de l'Europe. Drive up the hill to the top where the castle car park is. You'll need to buzz for a ticket - don't forget to ask at the château for your free ticket to exit.

While in the area of Saint-Germain, don't miss my

• self-guided chocolate and pastry tour of Saint-Germain-en-Laye or
• visit the château rooftop

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored