One of the most accomplished of French magiric authors
of the present century was Marie Antoine Carerae, a
Parisian, 1784 to 1833. He was one of fifteen children of
an operative, and at the age of eleven found employment in
a cooking-shop. At the age of seventeen, having been for a
year assistant to a restaurateur, he became ‘ first raised pie-
maker ’ [premier totirtier) of the renowned pastrycook
Bailly. Here he designed pdtds after all kinds of engravings
in the National Library, and competition in the most com-
plicated structures of paste became a rage, and the pies a
prevalent fashion. The successors of the patissier Gendron,
jealous of the great, the illustrious Avice, engaged the young
tourtier, with liberty to use his talents, mainly on extra-
ordinary occasions, and in the high ofiice of maitre d’lwtel.
Then he came to mount dinners for the Directorate, became
intimate with the house-master of Prince Talleyrand, one
Bouch^e (also called Bouchesec, perhaps a descriptive
sobriquet), and with Laguepierre, the cook of Bonaparte,
who died during the retreat from Moscow. Having got into
affluent circumstances, Careme wrote a work on ‘ The
Eoman Table,’ but it was lost, together with its illustrations.
He then wrote works more within his professional range,
which are quoted below.* His success had made him
excessively vain, and caused him to pen sentences such as
this : ‘ I contemplated from behind my furnaces the kitchens
of India, China, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Germany,
and Switzerland, and I felt crumbling under my critical
blows the ignoble fabric of routine,’ Thus spoke his Parisian
conceit, and in a similar strain many of his observations
* Careme, Marie Antoine [c/. S. Fagot in the ‘ Livre de cent et un,’
1833, L. xii., pp. 294-313], ‘ Le Patissier pittoresque,’ Paris, 1815, 1825,
1828, 8vo. ‘ Le maitre d’hdtel frangais, ouParallfele de la Cuisine ancienne
et moderne,’ nouv. edition, ib., 1842, 2 vols., 8vo. ‘Le Cuisinier Parisien,
ou I’Art de la Cuisine au dix-neuvihme sihcle,’ ib., 2nd edition, 1828, 8vo.
‘ Le Patissier Royal Parisien,’ ib., 1825, 1828, 2nd edition, 8vo. ‘ L’Art
de la Cuisine fran9aise au XIX™' sihole,’ par Plumeret, 6 and 7“' et
dernihre parties de I’ouvrage de Careme. Paris, Gamier frhres. No date.
THE HISTORIC LITERATURE OF COOKERY
39
wei’6 rendersd. After the fall of Bonaparte, upon whose
culinary agents he, having from his business associa-
tions strong Legitimist leanings, occasionally published
jealous criticisms, he arranged for the restored Bourbons
the gigantic banquet in the Plain of Virtues in 1814, and
directed the table of the Emperor Alexander of Russia at
Paris in 1814 and 1815, and subsequently at the Congress
of Aix-la-Chapelle. He was one of the chiefs of the kitchen
of the Regent, afterwards George IV., at Brighton in 1816
and 1817, and again for a short period on a later occasion.
Travelling to Vienna to arrange some grand dinners for the
Austrian Emperor, he became chef of the kitchen of the
then English Ambassador to that monarch. Careme ulti-
mately resided at Paris, from which town no inducement
could draw him for long, following his literary inclination,
and died there in 1833 before having completed the fiftieth
year of his life.
Page 36
Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
One of the most accomplished of French culinary authors of the present century was Marie Antoine Carême, a Parisian, 1784 to 1833. He was one of fifteen children of an operative, and at the age of eleven found employment in a cooking-shop. At the age of seventeen, having been for a year assistant to a restaurateur, he became ‘ first raised piemaker ’ [premier totirtier) of the renowned pastrycook Bailly. Here he designed pdtds after all kinds of engravings in the National Library, and competition in the most complicated structures of paste became a rage, and the pies a prevalent fashion. The successors of the patissier Gendron, jealous of the great, the illustrious Avice, engaged the young tourtier, with liberty to use his talents, mainly on extraordinary occasions, and in the high ofiice of maitre d’lwtel. Then he came to mount dinners for the Directorate, became intimate with the house-master of Prince Talleyrand, one Bouch^e (also called Bouchesec, perhaps a descriptive sobriquet), and with Laguepierre, the cook of Bonaparte, who died during the retreat from Moscow. Having got into affluent circumstances, Careme wrote a work on ‘ The Eoman Table,’ but it was lost, together with its illustrations. He then wrote works more within his professional range, which are quoted below.* His success had made him excessively vain, and caused him to pen sentences such as this: 'I contemplated from behind my furnaces the kitchens of India, China, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, and I felt crumbling under my critical blows the ignoble fabric of routine.' Thus spoke his Parisian conceit, and in a similar strain many of his observations
* Careme, Marie Antoine [c/. S. Fagot in the ‘ Livre de cent et un,’ 1833, L. xii., pp. 294-313], ‘ Le Patissier pittoresque,’ Paris, 1815, 1825, 1828, 8vo. ‘ Le maitre d’hdtel frangais, ouParallfele de la Cuisine ancienne et moderne,’ nouv. edition, ib., 1842, 2 vols., 8vo. ‘Le Cuisinier Parisien, ou I’Art de la Cuisine au dix-neuvihme sihcle,’ ib., 2nd edition, 1828, 8vo.
‘ Le Patissier Royal Parisien,’ ib., 1825, 1828, 2nd edition, 8vo. ‘ L’Art de la Cuisine fran9aise au XIX™' sihole,’ par Plumeret, 6 and 7“' et dernihre parties de I’ouvrage de Careme. Paris, Gamier frhres. No date.
were rendered. After the fall of Bonaparte, upon whose culinary agents he, having from his business associations strong Legitimist leanings, occasionally published jealous criticisms, he arranged for the restored Bourbons the gigantic banquet in the Plain of Virtues in 1814, and directed the table of the Emperor Alexander of Russia at Paris in 1814 and 1815, and subsequently at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. He was one of the chiefs of the kitchen of the Regent, afterwards George IV., at Brighton in 1816 and 1817, and again for a short period on a later occasion. Travelling to Vienna to arrange some grand dinners for the Austrian Emperor, he became chef of the kitchen of the then English Ambassador to that monarch. Careme ultimately resided at Paris, from which town no inducement could draw him for long, following his literary inclination, and died there in 1833 before having completed the fiftieth year of his life.