During the 18th century in France, it was said that Louis XV's court consumed over 200 eggs a week in custards, sauces, and pastries alone.
The French court at Versailles under Louis XV, who reigned from 1715 to 1774, represented the apex of European court cuisine in the 18th century. The kitchen operations required to feed the king, his household, his courtiers, and the administrative apparatus of the most powerful monarchy in Europe consumed resources at a scale that contemporary observers found staggering. The reported consumption of over 200 eggs per week by the court in custards, sauces, and pastries alone reflects both the centrality of egg-based preparations in French haute cuisine of the period and the extraordinary logistical machinery that sustained Versailles as a functioning city as well as a palace.
## Egg-Based Cuisine in 18th-Century France
French culinary technique in the 18th century treated the egg as a structural and textural foundation rather than merely an ingredient. The major sauce families, the liaisons and liaisons à l'oeuf, depended on egg yolks for thickening and emulsification. Hollandaise, béarnaise, and the family of butter-egg sauces that define classical French cuisine all rely on the same principle: egg yolk proteins denature slowly under heat, thickening a liquid without curdling if temperature is controlled precisely.
Pastry at Versailles was equally egg-intensive. Génoise cake, which uses whole eggs beaten to a foam as its sole leavening agent, dates from this period. Meringue, choux pastry, and the elaborate entremets sucrés that concluded formal dinners at Versailles all required eggs in quantity. The 200-per-week figure cited in accounts of Louis XV's court was likely a conservative estimate for the confectionery kitchen alone, excluding the eggs used in savory preparations.
## The Supply Chain Behind the Number
Supplying Versailles with eggs required a dedicated agricultural infrastructure. The palace maintained its own ferme at the Grand Trianon, but the scale of consumption far exceeded what any single farm could supply. Egg merchants from the surrounding Seine-et-Oise region operated under royal contracts, subject to quality inspections and delivery schedules calibrated to the kitchen's needs. Fresh eggs had to arrive daily because the preparations requiring them, particularly the emulsified sauces, did not work reliably with older eggs.
The king's kitchens were divided into specialized departments, each with its own staff, budget, and supply arrangements. The role of chef saucier was one of the highest positions in the hierarchy, reflecting the importance of the egg-dependent sauce work. Recipes from Menon, the period's most prolific cookbook author whose works were used in aristocratic kitchens throughout France, confirm the egg loads described in court accounts. His La Science du maître d'hôtel cuisinier, published in 1749, includes dozens of preparations requiring six to twelve yolks per portion.
The consumption figures at Versailles were not exceptional by the standards of large European courts but became famous through the detail with which French administrative records documented expenditure. The egg was not glamorous, but in the financial accounts of 18th-century Versailles, it appears with a frequency that reflects its true importance to the cuisine that defined European fine dining for the next two centuries.