The Regency Banquet
On 18 January 1817 the Brighton Pavilion was the venue for one of the most opulent and extravagant banquets ever held in Britain. Staged by the prince regent for the state visit of Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia, this legendary feast featured over 120 separate dishes prepared by the greatest chef of the day, the father of modern haute cuisine, Antonin Carême.
Carême's life was itself an extraordinary story. Beginning as a humble kitchen boy, he became cook for the greatest men of his day, including Napoleon, Tsar Alexander, Prince Talleyrand and the Rothschilds.
For a brief but significant period, Carême, lured by a fabulous annual salary, worked at the prince regent's glittering court. He went on to further fame and fortune as the first mass-published chef – this period in Brighton and the feast of 1817 is recorded in detail in one of his many bestselling cookery books.
Cooking for Kings
The life of Antonin Carême,
the first celebrity chef
Ian Kelly
Published by Short Books, £14.99
In this concoction of biography and Regency cookbook, Ian Kelly draws on Carême's memoirs to trace the chef's meteoric rise from Paris orphan to international celebrity. On the way, he provides new insights into the lives and loves of the gourmet-kings for whom Carême worked and a dramatic and sensuous picture of one of the most momentous periods of European history.
