Editing Dessert (section)

====France====
=====Early use of the term=====
The word ''dessert'' as a culinary term appears as early as 1393 in the ''[[Ménagier de Paris]]'', where "''desserte''" is included in three of the twenty-nine menus.{{efn| name = menu}}  The ''desserte'' comes near the end of the meal, but before the ''issue'' (departure) of hypocras and wafers, included in ten of the menus; and before the ''boute-hors'' (sendoff) of wines and spices, included in four of the menus.  The ''desserte'' was the last cooked course of the meal, but the ''boute-hors'' was the true final course of the meal.{{sfn|Brereton|Ferrier|1981| pp = 182–84}}

In the later printed book ''Petit traicté auquel verrez la maniere de faire cuisine'' (c. 1536), more widely known from the edition titled ''Livre fort excellent de cuisine'' (1542),{{sfn|Tomasik|2016|pp=239-244}} the menus at the end of the book present the meal in four stages : the ''entree de table'' (entrance to the table), ''potaiges'' (foods boiled or simmered "in pots"), ''services de rost'' (meat or fowl "roasted" in dry heat), and ''issue de table'' (departure from the table). The ''issue de table'' includes fruit, nuts, pastries, jellies, cheese, and cream.  The menus do not mention "dessert".{{sfn|Albala|Tomasik|2014|pp=210–27,238–48}}{{Sfn|Flandrin|2007|pp=69–70}}

=====Dessert in the “Classical Order” of table service=====
Between the mid-16th and mid-17th century, the stages of the meal underwent several significant changes. Notably, [[Potage#Potage in the “Classical Order” of table service|potage]] became the first stage of the meal, the [[Entrée#"Classical Order" of service|entrée]] became the second stage, [[Entremets#Entremets in the "Classical Order" of table service|entremets]] came to be served in their own distinct stage after the [[Roasting#The roast in the "Classical Order" of table service|roast]], and the last course of the meal came to be called “dessert”.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|p=71}}

In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the dessert stage of the meal consisted entirely of foods "from the storeroom" (''de l’office''), such as fresh, stewed, preserved, and dried fruits; fruit jellies; nuts; cheese and other dairy dishes; [[Cookie|dry biscuits (cookies)]] and [[wafer]]s; and, beginning in the mid-18th century, [[ice cream|ices]] and [[petits fours]].{{sfn|Grimod de La Reynière|1805|p=19}}{{Sfn|Flandrin|2007|pp=3, 10, 30, 81, 82, 87, 88}}

On lean days out of Lent,{{efn| name = maigres}} the dishes in the dessert stage of the meal were the same as those served on meat days.  In Lent, though, eggs were never served at any meal, and only dishes that did not include eggs were appropriate for the dessert stage.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|pp=33, 34}}

Despite the significance of dessert in the structured meals of the time, the dessert course was often not included on the menus or bills of fare of the 17th and 18th centuries.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|pp=42, 82, 96}}

=====Changes in the 19th and 20th centuries=====
In the late 19th century, the word dessert, which properly referred to the last stage of the meal, came to refer also to the dishes that were served in that stage.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|p=104}}

In the 20th century, cheeses came to be served in their own course just before the dessert course.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|p=88}}

Also in the 20th century, sweet dishes from the kitchen, such as freshly prepared pastries, [[meringue]]s, [[custard]]s, [[pudding]]s, and baked fruits, which had traditionally been served in the [[Entremets#Entremets in the "Classical Order" of table service|entremets course]], came to be included among the desserts.{{sfn|Montagné|1938|p=422}}{{Sfn|Flandrin|2007|p=31, 85, 108}}