Portrait of a Chef: The Life of Alexis Soyer, Sometime Chef to the Reform Club (Cambridge Library Collection - British and Irish History, 19th Century) - Softcover

Morris, Helen Soutar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108061699 ISBN 13: 9781108061698

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2013

Synopsis

Perhaps the first celebrity chef, Alexis Soyer (1810-58) was a flamboyant, larger-than-life character who nonetheless took his profession very seriously. As the chef of the Reform Club, he modernised its kitchens, installing refrigerators and gas cookers. In 1851, during the Great Exhibition, he prepared spectacular (but financially ruinous) culinary extravaganzas at his restaurant, the Gastronomic Symposium of All Nations. In stark contrast, he organised soup kitchens during the Great Famine in Ireland and volunteered his services in the Crimea in 1855 to improve military catering. He was also a prolific inventor of kitchen gadgets, notably promoting the Magic Stove, used for cooking food at the table. First published in 1938, this biography by Helen Soutar Morris (1909-95) is based on François Volant and James Warren's anecdotal account of 1859 (also reissued in this series), and it faithfully conveys the adulation that Soyer engendered in his lifetime.

About this title

Book Description

Alexis Soyer (1810-58) was perhaps the first celebrity chef. A flamboyant, larger-than-life figure, he nonetheless took his profession very seriously. This biography, first published in 1938, is based on Volant and Warren's anecdotal account of 1859 (also reissued in this series), and faithfully conveys the adulation he engendered in his lifetime.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1108061699
• ISBN 13: 9781108061698
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 254