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 these sea mammals were eaten. Artificial freshwater ponds (often called "stews") held carp, pike, tench, bream, eel, and other fish. Poultry was kept in special yards, with pigeon and squab being reserved for the elite. Game was highly prized, but very rare, and included venison, wild boar, hare, rabbit, and birds. Kitchen gardens provided herbs, including some, such as tansy, rue, pennyroyal, and hyssop, which are rarely used today. Spices were treasured and very expensive at that time – they included pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and mace. Some spices used then, but no longer today in French cuisine are cubebs,