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

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Summary: Careme the Core of Changes in French Cuisine. Great Read
Review: 'Cooking for Kings' by Ian Kelly is a Biography with Recipes subtitled 'the Life of Antonin Careme, the First Celebrity Chef'. I suspect that since the 1820s in France did not have the great celebrity media of TV, press, and print of today, one can question whether Antonin Careme was in any way similar to Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse, and Mario Batali. But, this is probably just an academic quibble with a word in the title, as Careme is as important to the history of modern western (read French) culinary practice than any other figure you can mention, including Escoffier.

The greatest delight in reading a book of this type, an interesting history of a period in your field of interest with which you may not be too familiar. There is a little surprise on every page, and a few really big ones. In retrospect, it is almost obvious that to become famous in the culinary field in Napoleonic France, one had to be a patisserie. There were no restaurants. In fact, the book repeats the claim that restaurants were invented by the French Revolution, as the guild system under the Bourbons prevented establishments from selling practically all kinds of food except soup. The Revolution, in seeking to overturn everything associated with the Royal regime, overturned that stricture as well. So, restaurant chefs were not exactly a dime a dozen in Napoleonic Paris. Almost all great chefs were employees of wealthy families, former nobility, or they were pastry chefs, as boulangerie and patisserie were much better established and patisserie offered a medium in which great talent can achieve expression. That is, the centerpieces of great banquets created largely out of sugar and baked shapes.

This would make pastry specialists such as Jacques Torres and Ewald Notter the closest modern counterparts to Careme, as both Torres and Notter are leaders in the very specialized field of confectionery sculpture, one in chocolate and one in sugar. This also means that this practice which seems so 'new' on Food Network specials covering pastry competitions is actually very old, and much more widely popular than it is today. So, it was much easier for a patisserie specialist to come to the attention of the very food conscious politician Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord. Talleyrand is probably the third most important non-Royal politician in French history, following only Napoleon and Cardinal Richileau. As important as dining was to Talleyrand's political techniques, it is curious to read that culinary matters were of practically no importance to Talleyrand's boss, Napoleon.

Talleyrand was Careme's first very important patron, the second being the very wealthy Rothchild family. Having such powerful patrons at an early stage in his career did not prevent Careme from suffering and ultimately dying from the occupational disease of cooks, especially cooks in great houses. That is, disorders of the lungs from breathing in smoke and carbon monoxide from charcoal fires in dark, poorly ventilated basement kitchens. The great irony here is that the architectural convention of placing large kitchens in the basement came from the great residential architect Palladio, a major hero in Careme's interest in architecture as an inspiration to his centerpiece constructions in sugar and pastry.

One of Careme's most famous influences on gastronomy was the classification of mother sauces, but his subtle influence is much greater. Another little surprise in the telling of the times was the fact that the style of food service common in great French meals was quite unlike what we are used to today. The French style almost seemed like a 'family style' service where many dishes were placed on the table at once. The modern system plating moderately sized courses, delivered to the table one at a time was imported from Russia and was gaining in popularity in Paris after 1815. Careme was a great advocate of this method of service.

Just a note here to suggest that you do not buy this book with the thought that you will actually make many of the recipes in this book. A fair number can be done, but many involve ingredients that are simply no longer available and many preparation techniques will try the patience of even the most devout foodie. They remind me again and again that much of older French cuisine is built on the premise of its clients having poor teeth. It abounds in purees, aspics, and mousses squeezing some of the most improbable things through coarse screens for hours.
But, this is all part of the picture the author very successfully paints of haute cuisine in the time of Napoleon, even if the Emperor was not himself a gourmand.

Highly recommended reading for anyone with an interest in culinary history.


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Summary: A must for cooks and history buffs
Review: Careme was THE celebrity chef. Suprisingly some of the recipes are really not difficult, but the whole menu is decadent. His life was fascinating, and it makes a great read for the summer, planning scrumptios feasts for the fall.
I loved the book and thoroughly reccommend it to anyone interested in the XIX century in Europe. It gives a great glimpse of life below stairs, but there is still a scent of lost glamour and luxury. Fun read, uncomplicated

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Summary: A great book for up and coming chefs
Review: I am currently in school for my bachelors in culinary and this book is a must have for all students i believe i have only started to read it but so far it is great

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Summary: All you need to know re: great cooking
Review: The review before me explains well the contents of this book. I would only add that you learn how Careme pulled together the skills of speciality cooks to create grand meals and, in turn, earned the title of chef. Sadly, the very process or cooking (carbon monoxide and partilate matter in the lungs from charcoal-fuled stoves and ovens) killed him while only in his 40s but he was dedicated to writing about his skills as much as he used them, thus codifying what we know as Haute' cuisine and creating the first modern cookbooks.

Fortunately Kelly's writing style does not bog down in detail and he is quite readable. The parallel social history of the upper classes is enjoyable reading as well.