Brandy Trade under the Ancien Regime or Dinners in a Dash

Brandy Trade under the Ancien Regime: Regional Specialisation in the Charente

Author: Louis M Cullen

This study of the brandy trade explores the origins, production and marketing of brandy from the Cognac region in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Professor Cullen shows that the brandy trade was based on a sophisticated regional economy, which, by 1720, had become a key component of French involvement in the modern international trading system. Notwithstanding competition from a surplus in other cereals and from foreign markets, regional specialization in the Charente was an indispensable element in ensuring the quality of stable output, and was recognized in the region's success in attracting foreign houses, such as Martell and Hennessy.

Table of Contents:

	List of figures
	Preface
	List of abbreviations
	Glossary
1	The emergence of brandy spirits	1
2	Brandy and the French economy	47
3	Brandy: the distilling process, the product and the industry	63
4	Brandy production and internal trade in France	109
5	Competing markets: Parisian and foreign demand	145
6	The merchants of the brandy regions	166
7	The Cognac brandy trade: 1720s-1760s	187
8	External challenge in the 1760s: vicissitudes of old and new houses, 1762-1778	219
9	The brandy business in Bordeaux and Cognac in the 1780s	239
	Sources	260
	Bibliography	264
	Index	275

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Dinners in a Dash: Sensational Three-course Dinner Parties in Under 2 Hours

Author: Tessa Harvard Taylor

The aim of this book is to provide quick and simple, yet impressive recipes for those who love to entertain but don't have much time. The book demonstrates the art of mixing quality "instant" foods such as couscous, filo pastry and ingredients from jars, with fresh natural ingredients such as poultry and seafood. The recipes intend to provide a three-course meal which takes less than two hours to prepare.

Included are 50 complete dinner party menus, a variety of hints and tips, preparation order checklists, freezing and storing symbols and advice on which wine to serve with the meal. All of the menus are divided into spring, summer, autumn and winter meals, in order to make the best use of seasonal, fresh ingredients.