Who was Antonin Carême? The first chef

Antonin Carême, whose real name was Marie-Antoine Carême, left his mark on the culinary world. As a 19th-century chef, he came up with numerous creations that are still part of French gastronomy today. Marie-Pierre Rey, author of the book Le premier des chefs (published by Flammarion), has investigated the history of this character. Professor emeritus at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and a specialist in Russia, she discovered Antonin Carême while working on the Napoleonic era. She is delighted that the cook will "emerge from the shadows" when the Carême series goes online on April 30, 2025 on the Apple TV+ streaming platform.

Beauty and goodness

While working on Russia, Marie-Pierre Rey met Antonin Carême, "a free spirit who worked as Talleyrand's chef". Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord was then an advisor to Emperor Napoleon at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At a dinner party, the diplomat called on Antonin Carême to "seduce the invited Russian tsar with his cuisine", to show France's beauty and power through gastronomy. "He took part in what we today call gastro-diplomacy, making haute cuisine a tool of influence in the service of French prestige."

Born in Paris in 1784, Antonin Carême began his career as a pastry chef,"in those days, that literally meant he made pastry". He became a reference in the making of very light puff pastry. Apprenticed by his father to an innkeeper at the age of 8-9, he climbed the ladder to rub shoulders with some of the brightest people of the day. "And it's this social ascent and his genius that I wanted to recount," explains Marie-Pierre Rey, who delved into the letters of the time, as well as the archives of Valençay Castle and the Crown of England.

Self-taught, he learned to cook by reading. "He had a creativity and inventiveness that were absolutely extraordinary," recounts the historian. "He accentuated the idea that cooking should be as beautiful as it was good. Not only the cuisine itself, but also the art of the table. He also cared about harmony."

An extraordinary inventor

An architecture enthusiast, he had a taste for monumental creations and invented the pièce monté. He was responsible for 2,000 recipes, many of which are still cooked in restaurants and homes today. Among the best-known are vol-au-vent, charlottes and hare à la royale.he also invented the concept of petits fours," continues Marie-Pierre Rey. In other words, small bites cooked in a small oven, when the oven is turned off but still hot."This creation was a huge success with women of the time, when the fashion was for slim silhouettes, and tasting small quantities was ideal, "to give oneself a clear conscience".

He invented recipes from scratch, adding the names of his employers, such as "fish à la Rothschild", and using expensive ingredients such as truffles and champagne, which he was the first to use in a dish.

Antonin Carême was also keen to lighten old recipes,"to shake them up by modernizing them", smiles the historian. He took advantage of his travels to draw inspiration from foreign cuisine, introducing lasagne, macaroni and "Parmesan cheese on pasta" to French cuisine, which he considered to be "the best".

The first chef

Antonin Carême wants to leave his mark. While cooking is ephemeral (each meal consumed disappears), he decided to publish books mixing recipes and anecdotes.he was the first to write down cooking times and oven power precisely," explains Marie-Pierre Rey. His books were bestsellers, selling over 5,000 copies - a success for their time!" He wrote a treatise (a collection) of sauces explaining how to prepare 150 sauces from four master recipes. A forerunner, he drew on a number of innovative principles for the 1830s: "don't stuff yourself. He says that gastronomy is the anti gluttony. He also respects the quality of ingredients, as well as local origin and seasonality. This is notable, because canned food had already been invented by then." The chef "believed that a good diet could save up to 10 years of life," smiles Marie-Pierre Rey. "He didn't have the word dietetics, but he already had the notion!"

In the kitchen, employees wear a hat resembling a nightcap. But Antonin Carême wanted a classier look, "one that didn't give the impression that the cooks had just woken up". So he wears a large white chef's hat. The cooks who worked with him were seduced.

in his day, kitchen staff were servants. The chef was the one who rose through the ranks to become the head of the kitchen. "But in 1820, at the end of Antonin Carême's career, James de Rothschild helped to make him a public figure by no longer saying 'my chef', but 'my chef'". Today, this term is used in everyday language.