André Noël (chef)

Biography

André Noël, also spelled Nouël, was born in Périgueux in 1726, in the Limogeanne district. His father was a confectioner with a reputation for pâtés shipped across Europe. Little is known of Noël's career before he left for Prussia; scholars caution against reconstructing a mythologized past, and one suggests his father's fame may have helped his son. In 1755, Noël was hired as a cook at the court of Frederick II at Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam.

At that time, French chefs were sought after by European princes, and Frederick II employed several, including the "famous Duval" from 1731 and Émile Joyard from Lyon, who became maître d'hôtel for thirty years. Pâtés du Périgord, especially those from Périgueux, were the most expensive of entremets and a noble gift, though the term often referred to preparation with truffles rather than origin. Frederick II loved truffles and sent for a pâté from Périgord every year, particularly from Courtois, a pastry-maker in Périgueux. The king remained attached to pâtés throughout his life.

Notable dishes

The "bombe de Sardanapale" was Frederick II's favorite dish, frequently served at the royal table between 1772 and 1779. It appears in a 137-verse poem by Frederick II, Epître au sieur Noël maître d'hôtel par l'Empereur de la Chine, published in Potsdam in 1772. Sources differ on the recipe's attribution: some credit Noël as inventor, others suggest Frederick II chose the name, and a third version holds that the king chose ingredients and Noël named the dish.

According to Friedrich Nicolai, the dish was a head of cabbage or savoy cabbage stuffed with spicy meat, olives, capers, anchovies and other fine ingredients, cooked or roasted with particular care. Lucien Noël also names bacon, garlic and saffron. Nicolai reports seeing the king annotate menus with "bravo Noël!" and notes that the king ate so much he developed indigestion. Nicolai tried to reproduce the dish but never succeeded.

A contemporary attempt was made to reproduce the recipe for the tercentenary of Frederick II's birth. Noël also made a "pâté du Périgord de Magdebourg" using truffles found near Magdeburg. Charles of Hesse-Kassel, who met Noël in 1779, noted that he prepared admirable soups and dishes mostly in the French style, including a dish called "arrière-faix de Marie-Antoinette", a very curiously prepared stew.

Did You Know?

• On March 12, 1804, an actor played André Noël at a Berlin masked ball in honor of Queen Louise.
• André Noël appears as a character in the historical novel Potsdam und Sans-Souci (1848) by Eduard Maria Oettinger, where he goes by the name Jacques Narcisse.
• In that novel, set in 1750 at Sans-Souci, Noël reads Le Comte de Gabalis and frequents Voltaire and La Mettrie.