COOKING FOR KINGS

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Cooking for Kings was published by Short Books in the UK in 2003 and by Walkers Books in the USA in 2004. There are various international editions due out; the Japanese (Random House Kodansha) and Brazilian, Korean and Chinese versions are already published.

Cooking for Kings was adapted as a stage play in 2004 and performed, by Ian Kelly, in New York. Click here to find out more.

‘A magnificent work’ Anthony Bourdain

‘Utterly irresistible’ Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

‘For anyone who finds food or history relevant this is required reading. Kelly breathes life into a vital period in the making of modern Europe’ Mark Kurlansky

'Part biography, part Regency cookbook containing some of the most sumptuous menus & recipes ever 

created, Ian Kelly journeys with Careme on his meteoric rise from Parisian orphan to international celebrity - through the turmoil of the French Revolution to the kitchens of the Brighton Pavilion, to the "upstairs-downstairs" life of the palaces of the Russian Tsars, the first French Rothschilds and Napoleon himself. Drawing on Careme's rich memoirs, "Cooking for Kings" provides insights into the lives and loves of the gourmet-kings for whom he worked and offers a dramatic and sensuous picture of one of the most momentous periods of European history. It was Careme who knew the favourite dishes of George IV, Rossini and the Romanovs; he who knew Napoleon's fast-food requirements and why Empress Josephine suffered halitosis. At the same time, the wonderful recipes he created can bring the very taste and smell of the early 19th century alive; in the phrase first coined by Careme himself, "You can try them yourself".'

Amazon Review - Bruce Loveitt: 'Not much is known about the personal life of Antonin Careme. He was born in Paris in 1783 and in 1792 his father abandoned him near one of the gates of Paris. (Presumably, his father felt he couldn't support the child. Antonin was the 16th offspring of Jean and Marie Careme.) He was taken in by a cook and got started in the profession as a kitchen-boy in a chophouse. We know that in his mid-20's he got married. He had one child, a daughter named Marie, by another woman (who was either a mistress or a 2nd wife. The record is unclear). Careme wasn't close to his daughter. When he died in 1833 she didn't even bother to have a headstone placed by his grave. Careme wrote a lot but he didn't write about his personal life - he wrote cookbooks and he related anecdotes about some of his famous employers.

Despite the dearth of personal information, Mr. Kelly manages to do a good job with this book. After all, Careme was a workaholic who spent almost all of his time cooking or writing about cooking. So it is appropriate that this book deals almost entirely with Careme's career. We follow him from place to place as he works his way up the food chain - cooking for famous people such as Talleyrand, Tsar Alexander I of Russia, the Prince Regent (George IV of England), Lord Charles Stewart (Castlereagh's brother), and James Rothschild. Oh, and he worked on "special assignment" a few times for some chap named Napoleon Bonaparte.

Mr. Kelly keeps things snappy as we follow Careme around Paris, Vienna, St. Petersburg, London, etc. The author writes well and is quite witty as he relates humorous anecdotes about some of the rich and famous folk who enjoyed Antonin's culinary creations. For example, regarding Alexander I of Russia, we learn that "by 1814 this 'Apollo of the North' had a waistline heading south, and used food more and more as a balm for his mystic, tortured self-doubt." Alexander had been traumatized by the murder of his father Tsar Paul (by his own guards). The day after the murder the chief conspirator told Alexander that "you cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs." Alexander's mother had imported some French customs, such as cooking an omelette at table. As Mr. Kelly writes, with literary deadpan, "it was not a practice Alexander's young bride was encouraged to continue."

The great chef made some serious money: when he cooked for the Prince Regent and for James Rothschild he was raking in, in today's money, about $200,000 per year. (When he worked for the Prince Regent he supplemented his salary with the sale of "designer leftovers" from the kitchen. Believe me, with some of the "special occasion" meals consisting of thousands of chickens, turkeys, partridges, carp, pike, etc. there were plenty of leftovers.)

One could say that Careme earned his salary. He would frequently put in a 14-16 hour day and could go 50 days in a row without a day off. Careme was instrumental in bringing "Russian style" service (where each course is individually plated in sequence) back from St. Petersburg and introducing it to France. (Traditional "French service" consisted of having most of the food all put out at the same time in big serving dishes - buffet style.) In the reverse direction, Careme introduced cream sauces to Russia. Unusually for the time, he believed in not overcooking vegetables. He was also the inventor of the "puffy" chef's hat we are so familiar with today. Careme also believed in military precision and great cleanliness in the kitchen.

Finally, for those who like to cook and eat as well as read and think, lumped together at the back of the book are about 40 pages of Careme's recipes (there are also several more between the chapters). Considering the fact that 200 years have gone by, and that Careme was working with pretty much unlimited budgets, most of the recipes can be done without too much difficulty. All in all, Mr. Kelly has whipped up a nice souffle. Bon Appetit!'

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