Marie Antoine (Antonin) Carême (June 8, 1784–January 12, 1833), was a French chef and author. Events 68 - The Roman Senate accepts emperor Galba. 536 - St Silverius becomes Pope (probable Year 1784 ( MDCCLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Events 475 - Basiliscus becomes Byzantine Emperor, with a coronation ceremony in the Hebdomon palace in Constantinople Year 1833 ( MDCCCXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. He is well known for greatly simplifying and codifying the style of cooking known as haute cuisine, the high art of French cooking which is central to France's national cuisine. Haute cuisine (literally "high cooking" in French) or grande cuisine refers to the cooking of the grand restaurants and hotels of French cuisine is a style of cooking derived from the nation of France. He is often thought of as the first celebrity chef. In its strictest sense a celebrity chef is a someone who has become well-known for his/her cooking
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Biography
Born in Paris and abandoned there by destitute parents in 1792 at the height of the French Revolution, he worked as a kitchen boy at a cheap Parisian chophouse in exchange for room and board. The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an 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 for his pièces montées, elaborate constructions used as centerpieces, which Bailly displayed in the pâtisserie window. A pièce montée (from French literally "assembled piece" or "mounted piece" plural pièces montées) is a kind of decorative Confectionary He made these confections, which were sometimes several feet high, entirely out of foodstuffs such as sugar, marzipan, and pastry. He modeled them on temples, pyramids, and ancient ruins, taking ideas from architectural history books that he studied at the nearby Bibliothéque Nationale. [1] Utilizing his previous architectural knowledge coupled with culinary genius, some of his sugar works were so elaborate that court jesters would dance upon them while entertaining the king.
He did freelance work creating pieces principally for the French diplomat and gourmand Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, but also other members of Parisian high society, including Napoleon. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord 1st Sovereign Prince of Beneventum (2 February 1754 17 May 1838 the Prince of Diplomats, was a French Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. 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 Talleyrand to purchase Château de Valençay, a large estate outside of Paris. Château de Valençay is a residence of the d'Estampes and Talleyrand-Périgord families in the commune of Valençay, the Indre département The château was intended to act as a kind of diplomatic gathering place. When Talleyrand 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. For the station on the Docklands Light Railway, see Prince Regent DLR station. Returning to the continent he served Tsar Alexander I in St. Alexander I of Russia ( Russian: Александр I Павлович / Aleksandr I Pavlovich (23 December 1777 – November 19 1825 served as Emperor of Petersburg, before returning to Paris, where he was chef to banker James Mayer Rothschild. James de Rothschild ( May 15, 1792 in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany - November 15, 1868 in Paris France)
He died in Germany at the age of 48, due to many years inhaling the toxic fumes of the charcoal on which he cooked. He is remembered as the founder of the haute cuisine concept and is interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Montmartre. Montmartre Cemetery ( Fr: Cimetière de Montmartre is a famous cemetery located at 37 Avenue Samson in the 18th ''arrondissement'' of Paris Montmartre is a hill (the butte Montmartre) which is 130 metres high giving its name to the surrounding district in the north of Paris in the 18th
Influence
In his first major position, Carême worked as chef de cuisine to Talleyrand. More than simply an employer or sponsor, Talleyrand actively encouraged Carême to produce a new refined style of eating, using fresh herbs and vegetables and simplified sauces with fewer ingredients. Talleyrand's table became famous during the negotiations that followed the fall of Napoléon, at the Congress of Vienna. The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of the major powers of Europe, chaired by the Austrian statesman Clemens Wenzel von Metternich When the Congress dispersed, both the map of Europe and the culinary tastes of its upper classes were thoroughly revised.
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, he published a classification of all sauces into groups, based on four mother sauces. A toque (toʊk is a type of Hat with a narrow brim or no brim at all In Cooking, a sauce is Liquid or sometimes semi- Solid food served on or used in preparing other Foods Sauces are not consumed by themselves He is also frequently credited with replacing the practice of service à la française (serving all dishes at once) with service à la russe (serving each dish in the order printed on the menu), after he returned from service in the Russian court, but sources differ on this point. Service à la française is the practice of serving all the dishes of a meal at the same moment Service à la russe ( French, literally "service in the Russian style" is a manner of dining that involves courses being brought to the table sequentially [2]
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.
Major works
- Carême, Marie Antonin (1833-1844). L'art de la cuisine française au dix-neuvième siècle. Chez MM. J. Renouard et Cie. LCC TX719. C27.
References
- Carême's career.
- Kelly, Ian (2004). Cooking For Kings: The Life of Antoine Carême, the First Celebrity Chef. Walker & Co. ISBN 0-8027-1436-6.
- Paul Metzner, Crescendo of the Virtuoso (UC Press,1998.)
Notes
- ^ Kelly, Chapter 2.
- ^ Citation Gastronomica, Summer 2001, Vol. 1, No. 3
External links
- NPR: Antonin Careme: The First Celebrity Chef - All Things Considered, May 25, 2004 - Biography Highlights Career of a 19th-Century Culinary Star