Decoding the Real Story of Carême

Apple TV+ has a new period drama featuring the story of Antonin Carême, the first celebrity chef. Set during Napoleon Bonaparte’s reign post-French Revolution, the show follows Carême, played by Benjamin Voisin, as he creates innovative pastries to impress the people his employer, French foreign minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (Jérémie Renier), is negotiating with.

So, who was the real Carême that inspired this show?

Antonin Carême is known for being the first chef to achieve wealth and fame by publishing cookbooks. One of his cookbooks famously introduced the phrase ‘you could try this yourself at home.’ He also pioneered the iconic chef’s hat, sporting a tall, stiff white hat that set him apart from his kitchen staff. In a pioneering move of celebrity chef promotion, Carême even directed readers to a shop where they could purchase their own tall white hats.

Some of Carême’s famous recipes, like vol-au-vent and tournedos Rossini, are difficult to recreate at home. He viewed his work as a chef as an art form and wanted cooking to be taken seriously as such. Food, for him, was a form of diplomacy, showcasing France’s finest to its allies.

The show captures the turn of the 19th century, a time that greatly influenced French cuisine. After the Revolution, food became a coping mechanism for the French, leading to the birth of gastronomy. According to Kelly, the period shaped how France viewed food and dining.

Beyond the kitchen, there’s plenty of intrigue in Carême’s life. The show portrays him as quite the ladies’ man, indulging in romantic escapades, including with Napoleon’s wife, Josephine. While the affair with Josephine is a creative liberty, it’s rooted in historical facts about her personal life. Carême’s involvement with Napoleon’s second wife, Marie-Louise Habsburg, is also part of the drama.

As for Carême’s actual personal life, much remains a mystery. Kelly notes that there’s ample room for creative interpretation since little is known about him. Though Carême did claim that his dishes had medicinal properties, stories such as using bitter herbs to cure Napoleon or his childhood tales are harder to verify.

In his book, Kelly shares nuggets of wisdom from Carême. The chef believed that cookbooks were a chef’s legacy and insisted that dinner parties should last at least two hours, if not more. He had strong opinions about food and dining etiquette, even suggesting slamming the door on late restaurant guests.

Carême was a pioneer in the culinary world, shaping French cuisine and advancing the idea of food as an art form. His legacy lives on through his recipes and his influence on the role of a chef in society.