Florentine (culinary term)

[1][2][3] Culinary lore attributes the term to 1533, when Catherine de Medici of Florence married Henry II of France.

She supposedly brought a staff of chefs, lots of kitchen equipment and a love of spinach to Paris, and popularized Florentine-style dishes.

Food historians have debunked this story, and Italian influence on French cuisine long predates this marriage.

[10] Chicken Florentine gained popularity in the United States as early as 1931, although the quality of the dish was uneven, and canned mushroom soup was sometimes used as a quick sauce in the years that followed.

[13] Contemporary cookbook authors are attempting to "restore" the dish to "its elegant roots",[14] with "clearer, brighter flavors".