[ShawtyCat]

I had orignally thought to post brief bios on Famous Chefs after conducting research etc. etc. etc. I then realized that I have little to no knowledge of copyright laws of websites, and also that my interpretation of such information would not be the same as someone else's, so will provide those seeking with the resources from which this information can be found.

Jodi

[ShawtyCat]

Timeline

Born Alexis Benoit Soyer in October 1809, the youngest son to a shopkeeper, at Meaux-en-Brie on the Marne in France.

1821 - 1826
Apprentice to cook at Grignon, hired at Boulevard des Italiens became head cook 3 years after hire.

June 1830
Second cook to Prince Polignac (French Foreign Office) till July when revoultion begins.

1831
Hired at London Kitchen of Duke of Cambridge. Other employers during this time include Marquis of Waterford, Marquis of Ailsa @ Isleworth, Duke of Sutherland, William Lloyd of Ashton Hall

1837
Chef to The Reform Club in London

June 28th 1838
Prepares breakfast for 2,000 at Queen Victoria's coronation

April 1847
Commissioned to open kitchens in Dublin Ireland by government to help Irish famine victims. Published Soyer's Charitable Cookery while there and donated parts of the proceeds to charity.

1849
Promoted his invention, a stove where food could be cooked at the table.

May 1850
Resigns as Chef from the Reform Club

May 1851
Opens his Kensington restaurant Gore House

February 2nd 1855
Goes to Crimea to cook for the army. Makes changes to the army's hospital diet sheets and cooks for the Fourth Division.

May 3rd 1857 - March 18th 1858
Returns to london and lectures at the United Service Institution on cooking for the armed forces.

August 5th 1858
Passes away at St. John's Wood in London

Alexis Soyer was buried in the Kensal Green Cemetery on August 11th 1858.


Assorted information on Alexis Soyer on the WWW:

The Victorian Web Bio on Alexis Soyer by Marjie Bloy, Ph.D

Soyer, Alexis Benoit - The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2001



Books by Alexis Soyer

The Pantropheon: Or a History of Food and It's Preparation in Ancient Times

The Modern Housewife or Menagere: Comprising Nearly One Thousand Receipts.........

Soyer's Cookery Book (1959 Reprint Colorful Pictorial Facsimile of A Shilling Cookery for the People) Intro by James Beard


To read about Alexis Soyer

Portrait of a Chef: The Life of Alexis Soyer: Sometime Chef to the Reform Club by Helen Morris

The Adventurous Chef: Alexis Soyer by Ann Arnold

The Selected Soyer: The Writing of the Legendary Victorian Chef Alexis Soyer by Andrew Langley

"Alexis Soyer and the Irish Famine" in The Great Famine and the Irish Diaspora in America by Arthur Gribben


New Information as of September 11th, 2002

Spoke to a contact at Kensal Green and was informed that both Alexis Soyer and his wife are buried there. His grave location is 3714/80/RS and he is listed in "Paths of Glory" by the Friends of Kensal Green.

[ShawtyCat]

Timeline

June 8th 1783
Born in Paris to a father who already had, I believe, 14 children.

1792
Deserted by father due to father being unable to care and feed him.

Date ?
Begins culinary career at a cheap eating house called "The Maine Gate"

1799
Enters unknown restaurant as a kitchen hand

1802
Apprentice to famous Pastry Cook Mr. Bailly and becomes "first tourtier". Spends most of his free time copying architectural details and drawings from the National Library. He later reproduces and displays these at Mr. Bially's establishment.

1804
Serves as chef de cuisine to Prince Talleyrand under a Mr. Avis and there he stayed for 12 years as a diplomatic tool to France during the revolution.

1816
Served as Chef to the Prince Regent of England (future King George IV) but left after a 2 year stint, returning once again to France.

1818
Goes to the court of Tsar Alexander I of Russia and studied Russian dishes. He later introduced a few to France (Borsh and Koulibiac).

Careme then bounced around for a few years. From the Viennese court to the Embassy of England, Princess Bagration and Lord Steward. He then spent many years with Baron Rothschild where he became Head Chef. Careme later became sick, was confined to his bed and later died burnt out from the many years of cooking and from inhaling the coal dust from the cooking fires.

January 12th 1833
Died on this date and buried at Cimetiere de Montmartre


Works by Marie-Antonie Careme

L'Art De La Cuisine Francaise Au XIXE Siecle (The Art of the Kitchen at the XIX 2nd Century)

The Maitre of French Hotel

The Parisian Royal Pastry Cook

The Parisian Cook

The Picturesque Pastry Cook


Website info on Marie-Antonie Careme

The Cooks

Marie-Antoine (ANTONIN) CAREME (1784 - 1833)

[jthaccp@aol.com]

Thanks for the note but i'm not a student doing research and i've worked as a chef in the kitchens of 2, 3, 4 and 5 star hotels, and know what they are like.
I am however working on food safety mangement systems and would be interested to know how people manage to keep up to standard in this area. I get information from a range of other countries and Australia's situation would be of added interest.
Any information and/or comments will ultimately transform into user friendly food safety systems that will benefit the catering industry. I'm semi retired and there's not a great deal of money in it anyway.

Thanks for your comments.

Jerry

[mike]

hey jodi just stumbled on yor recommended reading list posted to a student enquiry.well done for taking time & effort.thereare some ive read & many i aint so thatll keep me out of mischief for a
while.oh i forgot to mention i collect cookbooks & am a chef.

if you ever see a copy of the memoirs of sgt bourgoine ...read it..
he was napoleons cook on the retreat from moscow 1812.interestingly i recently met a guy who had published wellingtons cooks memoirs but have found it impossible to get.

still busy mum & all that thanks for the material.
regards

[jthaccp@aol.com]

Interesting to see the material on A. Soyer.

I went to a secondhand bookshop in London a few weeks ago and was interested to note their interest in 'Bizarre Book Titles' of which one identified was Paper Bag Cookery. Sometimes referred to as en papillotte.

This was in fact invented by Alexis Soyer's son. I just mention it as a matter of interest. Do you feature that dish in Australia? I remember that it used to be quite popular years ago when i was working in the kitchen in London. i.e trout en papillotte, veal cutlet en papilotte...

Jerry

[emhahn]

Here's a few extra links just to add some more thrill to this thread:

Chef2Chef

RestaurantEdge

Food Reference

[Nick.Shu]

jerry, legislation is progessively being introduced to standardise food handling procedures between Aus and NZ. The regulatory body for this is called either FSANZ or ANZFA.

Im not too sure about the exact stage of affairs but i do remember a push to introduce new policies in regards to food safety at about Dec 2001.

There is a homepage for this organisation but im not sure of the link.

hope this helps

[chef from va]

i have been looking for some of the info you have posted. you have made it so mutch easier it is amazing! i do have to say before i saw this thread i had posted a question in the recipe exchange.... maybe you can help. i am looking for info on recipes for spa cuisine. i have checked out the library at school and on the net i cant find anything. i hope that you can help me. i need to find some recipes for my fruit veg and starch class i need to have recipes that are proven that i am supposed to "tweak" and boost the portions. again i have exausted the sources that i know of which is admittadly limited. i see that you have a site or source for everything under the sun and would be very apreciative if you could help me.... thank you.

[computerangel21]

hi everyone! doesnt look like buhay pa ang thread n2..but anyway, just like to say thanks sa mga infos na nand2, sobrang helpful! i'm doing a thesis kc about culinary..thanks tlga especially to the thread starters...godbless!! =)

[GourmetCupcakes]

I have heard that FCI is better than CIA. The students graduate with better discipline and more of an idea of the actual work environment. It only takes 6 months too.

[gogoguy]

Can anyone tell me how much it costs to attend culinary school?

[Rainliberty]

Prices seem to vary, however the average seems to be 40 thousand dollars for a associates degree at a private institution. 10k or less at a community college. Now things get tricky for Bachelor degrees. I'm using the Art Institutes as an example because of personal experience. The price essentially doubles when going up to a Bachelors Degree. So that 40k turns into 80k. Also with the AI, in particular mine, they also offer housing. This is where the real scam is, because that also doubles the price. For example, housing for the AI is 10k+ for a year, so if you're there for 4 years getting a Bachelors degree, your spending 120k to attend school. And the kicker is, they conveniently let you borrow loans for every single fee except the application fee you use to apply. So upwards of 150k to never make more than $25 an hour in your lifetime. I don't care what anyone tells you, but attending any culinary school that isn't apart of a state university or community college is financially the worst possible thing you could ever do in your entire life. Period. Don't even consider going to a LCB, AI, CIA, anything that is above 15k is financial suicide.

[ChefBoyarG]

I have been working my first line job for the past three months and as part of the job need to come up with a different amuse each day...Culinary Artistry is indespensable for flavor pairings though as they mention at the beginning of the chapter dont limit yourself to the pairings in the book...you never know when you may just stumble across an awesome combination!

[cfbrooklyn]

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!