Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Careme, the First Celebrity Chef

"Cuisinier architect and one of the most prolific writers of the 19th century Carme was the founder of a classic cuisine that would influence generations of chefs. In this well-researched book Ian Kelly deftly recounts the exploits of this remarkable man." JACQUES PPIN Aunique feast of biography and Regency cookbook Cooking for Kings takes readers on a chefs tour of the palaces of Europe in the ultimate age of culinary indulgence. Drawing on the legendary cooks rich memoirs Ian Kelly traces Antonin Carmes meteoric rise from Paris orphan to international celebrity and provides a dramatic below-stairs perspective on one of the most momentous and sensuous periods in European historyFirst Empire Paris Georgian England and the Russia of War and Peace. Carme had an unfailing ability to cook for the right people in the right place at the right time. He knew the favorite dishes of King George IV the Rothschilds and the Romanovs; he knew Napoleons fast-food requirements and why Empress Josephine suffered halitosis. Carmes recipes still grace the tables of restaurants the world over. Now classics of French cuisine created for and named after the kings and queens for whom he worked they are featured throughout this captivating biography. In the phrase first coined by Carme "You can try them yourself."