Editing Roasting (section)

===The roast 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 and the [[Entrée#The entrée in the "Classical Order" of table service|entrée]] became the second stage, followed by the roast, [[Entremets#Entremets in the "Classical Order" of table service|entremets]], and [[Dessert#Dessert in the "Classical Order" of table service|dessert]].

While cookbooks and dictionaries of the 17th and 18th centuries rarely discuss the type of dishes appropriate to each stage of the meal with any specificity, roasts and the dishes of the other stages of the meal can be distinguished from each other by certain characteristics, such as their ingredients, cooking methods, and serving temperatures.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|pp=11, 21}}  The distinct characteristics of roasts for the roast course were at first loosely observed, or perhaps more accurately, the "rules" were in a formative stage for several decades.  By the early 18th century, though, certain ingredients and cooking methods were increasingly confined to the roast stage of the meal.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|pp=17–19}}

In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, meat and fowl for the roast course on meat days{{efn| name = maigres}} included all sorts of domestic fowl, feathered game, and small furred game, ingredients that were less commonly included in entrées and entremets.  Goose, gosling, and domestic duck were not fashionable in any course; turkeys and wild ducks were preferred in their place.  Organ meats were often roasted, but they were served in the entrée and entremets courses, not in the roast course.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|pp=13–20}}

In the 17th century, large cuts of roasted butcher's meat and furred game were sometimes served in the roast course; sauced and stuffed meats and pies were also served alongside the roasts; but in the 18th and 19th centuries, all such dishes were served only in the entrée or entremets courses, always in a sauce.  By the 18th century, only fowl, feathered game, and small furred game were considered appropriate for the roast course.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|pp=15–20, 64–65}}

Roasted fowl and small game in Classical Service were spit-roasted and nicely browned, served "dry" and not in a sauce or ragoût.  Sauces in the roast course might be served alongside the roasted fowl or game, but the roasts were not prepared or served in the sauce like [[Entrée#The entrée in the "Classical Order" of table service|roasted fowl and meats in the entrée course]].{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|pp=14–17, 43, 65}}

On lean days, fish replaced meat and fowl in every stage of the meal other than dessert.  In the roast course, whole fish replaced meat-day roasts, but the fish were poached or fried, not roasted.  The fish were substitutions or counterparts to the roasts served on meat days, corresponding to their position in the meal but not their cooking method.

The salient feature of lean-day fish in the roast course, whether poached or fried, was that they were served "dry", placed on a napkin and not served in a sauce or ragoût.  In contrast, poached and fried fish served as entrées, hors d’œuvre, or relevés, were always served in a sauce or ragoût.  Additionally, poached fish in the roast course were prepared with the scales still on the fish, if they were attractive, unlike whole fish served as relevés, which were always served without scales.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|pp= 38–43}}