Police Chief Officer Maigret wasn't just a skilful policeman but also, sometimese above all, a great gourmet; Simenon often lingers for pages over the food habits of the Chief Officer, making them part of the investigation; into " The hanged of Saint-Pholien" he really makes a dish of mussels with French fries part of the story, a food typical of Liege, Belgium, where he came from, into "The house of the Flemish" the rice pie becomes a refrain that beats the tempo of the investigation. 

For Simenon, Maigret is sometimes just an excuse for a trip into cookery, that simple and poor cookery he loved, made with ham bones, celery, cabbage, potatoes, bacon fat and sausages that put together  will become a loud thundering named dish, the Parisienne Choucroute, great example of poor men food re-utilization.

Dozens and dozens are the dishes, now cooked by Mrs.Maigret, now by  the Brasserie Dauphine  (famous for its beer), that Simenon prepares us between a murder and a skilful theft. All that didn't pass unnoticed: Courtine, maybe unknown to the most but a famous French gastronomist, awarded by the French Academy for his many works about French cookery, saw into Simenon novels the footsteps of a lost cookery and decided to codify it, before that even the last memory would disappear.

Simenon himself wrote a letter to Courtine, calling him "the last classic"; for Simenon the house cookery marks for a lifetime, as Madeleine for Proust. Simenon, into "Un Banc au soleil", tells: " Those places were frequented by habituès, cabmen, drivers or people like me who like a popular cookery, unrefined, prepared by the hostess. The bar was made of tin and the wine was produced by the host's brother, cousin or brother-in-law: local wines you couldn't find at Bercy  marketplace. 

The menu was written on a small blackboard and was made of just one dish, besides sardines and white celery. The host himself served the dinner, unless a daughter or a grandson in black apron was available to help. The kitchen was separated from the hall by a glass door, through which you could see the hostess working on the range. The kitchen spreaded a good smell, so it wasn't necessary to read the blackboard to know which was the main course. 

Since that time I have been very keen of grilled andouillettes, beef stew, ragout, larded veal stew with wild sorrel that then I later made Maigret appreciate." It isn't a case theat the only long lasting figure in his life was Boule, the housekeeper-cook he employed after his first success; Boule followed him on the Ostrogoth, his yacht,  in his  cruises, as far as Arizona where he settled down for some years.

Cookery was a source of inspiration for Simenon: it happens that Porquellos, a little island in front of Antibes which boasts a typical cookery, will become the place of several investigations maybe just to describe its cookery with Maigret's words.

Simenon lamented the loss of markets, those made of stalls, shouting vendors; for Simenon love was like mayonnaise:  well done or  badly done, and his  ideal woman was Mrs.Maigret. When he died, in 1989, 11 french restaurants he used to frequent decided to reserve a place, putting up a plate " In memory of Georges Simenon, this place belongs to Chief Officer Jules Maigret, guest of honour and refined gourmet of this house". 

Every restaurant prepares one of  Maigret's favourite courses, those he ordered when he came there into his novels. Tarte Campagnarde at Le Petit Tonneau, pork with lentils at Chez Leon, sliced ham at La Taverne de Henri-IV, just under the Prefecture.