OP: Cooking for Kings (paperback)
Walker & Company, New York, 2003. Paperback. Fine.
Antonin Carême (1784–1833) was one of the great chefs to emerge after the French Revolution, with Jules Gouffé, Urbain Dubois, and Auguste Escoffier following in his footsteps. Though often referred to in this pedigreed lineage of chefs, Carême’s name by now probably evokes more mythology than reality.
British writer, actor, and creator of the Netflix series Carême, Ian Kelly, in his 2003 biography of the cuisinier, Cooking for Kings, demystifies Carême’s life which began with childhood abandonment during the Revolution and culminated in the celebrity that comes with cooking for tsars, kings, and emperors. Highly digestible writing of a figure whose true story is as fascinating as his reputation would suggest.
A Fine paperback.
