PORTRAIT OF A CHEF: THE LIFE OF ALEXIS SOYER - SOMETIME CHEF TO THE REFORM CLUB
Book Details + Condition: Cambridge at the University Press (Cambridge, UK). First Edition, 1938. Hardcover. 216 pages. Illustrated. Author Helen Morris chronicles the dazzling, influential life of Alexis Soyer (1810-1858), Victorian England's first celebrity chef, detailing his rise from French trainee to the Reform Club's revolutionary head chef, his creation of modern kitchens, inventive gadgets (like the Soyer Stove), popular cookbooks, and his humanitarian work during the Irish Famine and Crimean War, showcasing his dual role as a high-society culinary star and benefactor for the poor. Chapters include:
- Early Life
- Chef de Cuisine to the Reform Club
- The Gastronomic Regenerator
- Inventions
- Banquets
- Soup Kitchens: Ireland and Spitalfields
- The Modern Housewife
- The Gastronomic Symposium of All Nations
- And much more.
Firm binding; rubbed corners and edges; wear to boards, with discoloration and darkening present; chafed spine ends, with cloth to upper spine having old repair (glued due to being loose); bookplate and antique bookseller stamp to inside front board; toning to pages; interior is clean and free of markings. All books are carefully packed, and shipped in boxes.
