December 13

Henri IV of France's Birthday
 

The ascension of Henri of Navarre to the throne of France in 1593 marked the beginning of the Bourbon reign and the end of the Valois sovereigns who had ruled France for 260 years. Henry II and Catherine de' Medici spawned the final three Valois monarchs including the quintessence of their cacogenesis, Henry III, the queen who would be King, or vice versa. When Henri III was assassinated by a born-again-Christian monk, there was a national holiday marking the end of the most hated monarch of France and his court of mignons His assassin, Brother Jacques Clement, became a national hero and the regicide was perceived as an act of God, in the same category as the destruction of Sodom.

Under these circumstances any new monarch would have been an improvement. However, Henri IV proved to be one of France's ablest, greatest and most loved monarchs, ending the bloody civil and religious wars that had threatened France' s destruction, and restoring dignity and humanity to a monarchy stained by the Machiavellian machinations of Catherine and her brood. The de' Medici influence, continued to be felt when Henri married Marie de' Medici after having his marriage with Catherine's nymphomaniac and promiscuous daughter, Marguerite, annulled.

However, there was one of Catherine's influences that he could not so easily terminate. Henry became an artichoke addict, probably for the same :reason his mother-in-law did. The artichoke was considered an aphrodisiac and Henri's virility was often tested daily by many women. The king's passion for artichokes helped popularize the vegetable introduced to France by Catherine and was commemorated in the classic Tournedos Henri IV, (a small, round slice of beef taken from near the end of the tenderloin sauteed in butter, topped on  round crouton, topped again with an artichoke heart filled with a Béarnaise sauce, and finally topped with a sliced truffle). It was first prepared at the La Pavillon Henri IV near Paris in the 1830s. Several other beef am artichoke and chicken and artichoke recipes still carry Henri IV's name.

However, Henri IV is more commonly associated with stewed or braised chicken because of his astute political goal that "every peasant may have a chicken in his pot on Sundays." The promise of a chicken in the pot every Sunday had such an impact on the French that nearly every version of stewed or braised chicken for nearly 200 years was called Poulet au pot Henri IV. This goal proved more of a political asset to Henry than it did to the Republican party who made·Henri's promise their campaign slogan in 1928 and lost the election.

There are almost many variations of Poulet au pot Henri IV as there are recipes for chili. However, most of the recipes fall within two general categories. One form involves poached chicken served with the broth and vegetables in which it was poached. The other popular style is to braise the chicken on a bed of vegetable with a minimum of liquid which is reduced and served as a sauce.