Haute cuisine and shaping "haute cuisine", but their roles in the cuisine were what differentiated it from regular French cuisine. "Haute cuisine" was characterized by French cuisine in elaborate preparations and presentations served in small and numerous courses that were produced by large and hierarchical staffs at the grand restaurants and hotels of Europe. The cuisine was very rich and opulent with decadent sauces made out of butter, cream, and flour, the basis for many typical French sauces that are still used today. The 17th century chef and writer La Varenne marked a change from cookery known in the Middle Ages, to
French cuisine cooks' guild regulations allowed for this movement. During the 16th and 17th centuries, French cuisine assimilated many new food items from the New World. Although they were slow to be adopted, records of banquets show Catherine de' Medici (1519–1589?) serving sixty-six turkeys at one dinner. The dish called cassoulet has its roots in the New World discovery of haricot beans, which are central to the dish's creation, but had not existed outside of the New World until its exploration by Christopher Columbus. Haute cuisine (, "high cuisine") has foundations during the 17th century with a chef named La Varenne. As