Antoine Carême

Marie Antoine (Antonin) Carême (June 8, 1784–January 12, 1833), was a French chef and author. He was the principal originator of the simplified but refined style of cooking known as haute cuisine, the high art of French cooking. Known as "chef of kings and king of chefs," he is often thought of as the first celebrity chef.

Influence

Carême's impact on culinary matters ranged from trivial to theoretical. He is credited with creating the standard chef's hat, the toque; he designed new sauces and dishes, and invented tools to create them; he published a classification all all sauces into groups, based on four mother sauces. He has been called "the Newton of haute cuisine".

Carême wrote several encyclopedic works on cookery, above all L'Art de la Cuisine Française (5 vols, 1833–34), which included, aside from hundreds of recipes, plans for menus and opulent table settings, a history of French cookery, and instructions for organizing kitchens.

Biography

Abandoned in Paris by destitute parents in 1792 at the height of chaos of the French Revolution, he worked as a kitchen boy at a cheap Parisian chophouse in exchange for room and board. In 1798, he was formally apprenticed to Sylvain Bailly, a famous pâtissier with a shop near the Palais-Royal. Bailly recognized his talent and ambition.

Carême gained fame in Paris by his pièces montées, elaborate constructions used as centerpieces, which Bailly displayed in the pâtisserie window. He made these confections, which were sometimes several feet high, entirely out of foodstuffs such as sugar, marzipan, and pastry. He modelled them on temples, pyramids, and ancient ruins, taking ideas from architectural history books that he studied at the nearby Bibliotéque Nationale.¹

He did freelance work creating centerpieces principally for Talleyrand, but also other members of Parisian high society, including Napoleon. While working on his confections at many private kitchens, he quickly extended his culinary skills to main courses.

Napoleon was famously indifferent to food, but he understood the importance of social relations in the world of diplomacy. In 1804, he gave money to Tallyrand to purchase Château Valençay, a large estate outside of Paris. The château was intended to act as a kind of diplomatic gathering place. When Tallyrand moved there, he took Carême with him.

Carême was set a test by Talleyrand: to create a whole year’s worth of menus, without repetition, and using only seasonal produce. Carême passed the test and completed his training in Talleyrand's kitchens. After the fall of Napoléon, Carême went to London for a time and served as chef de cuisine to the Prince Regent, later George IV. Returning to the continent he served Czar Alexander I in St. Petersburg, before returning to Paris, where he was chef to James Mayer Rothschild

He died in Paris at the age of 48, and is remembered as the "Chef of kings and the King of chefs." He is interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Montmartre.

See also: Haute cuisine, Auguste Escoffier

Major works