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Carême

Author Ian Kelly
Narrator Ian Kelly
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
Run Time 6 hours and 59 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Biography, Literature and Literary studies, Biography: royalty.

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents Carême, written and read by Ian Kelly.

NOW A MAJOR APPLE+ TV SERIES

'Magnificent' ANTHONY BOURDAIN
'Irresistible' HUGH FEARNLEY-WHITTINGSTALL
'A classic' DAMIAN BARR

From historian and screenwriter, Ian Kelly, comes the legendary story of Carême, the original celebrity chef.

Recounting the fairy-tale-like rise of Antonin Carême from Parisian orphan to a household name synonymous with culinary luxury, Carême offers a unique conflation of historical biography, social history and cookery guide. Kelly lifts the veil on one of the most momentous and sensuous periods in European history: First Empire Paris, Georgian England and the tsarist Russia of War and Peace, depicting Carême’s entanglements with the social and political elite of his age, from King George IV to Napoleon, the Romanovs to the Rothschilds.

Alongside this story of Carême, the trail-blazing celebrity chef, culinary artist and revolutionary food writer, Ian Kelly brings to life the recipes themselves.

As Carême wrote, ‘You should try this yourself, at home’.

Critics Review

A magnificent work. Ian Kelly is at the vanguard of the new rock’n’roll of culinary literature

Anthony Bourdain

I was really truly bowled over

Giles Coren

Delicious

Mail on Sunday

Absolutely irresistible

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

In this well-researched book, Ian Kelly deftly recounts the exploits of this remarkable man

Jacques Pépin

Ian Kelly brings Carême’s restless spirit back to life along with a tableau of la grande cuisine two hundred years ago

Anne Willan, founder of École de Cuisine La Varenne

Ian Kelly has done a wonderful job, not only of depicting Carême’s culinary genius beautifully but of introducing us to his extraordinary personal life as well. I enjoyed reading this book immensely and recommend it to culinary historians and food buffs everywhere

Daniel Boulud, founder of Café Boulud

Ian Kelly’s valuable and pleasurable addition to the literature of food combines an eye for the richness of historic detail with a solid sense of culinary crafts. While stimulating our palates, it breathes a life into a critical period in the building of modern Europe

Mark Kurlansky, author of Cod, Salt and Milk

Carême invented a new way of cooking and Kelly cooked up a new way of writing about food. Wild, delicious and rarefied. A classic

Damian Barr, author of Maggie & Me

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