La Carême de la Carême

Michel Roux, owner of The Waterside Inn at Bray, who helped organize the bi-centennial celebration of Carême’s birth at the Royal Pavilion in June 1984, considers him to be the greatest chef of all time. ‘Escoffier did a lot to codify cooking. Codification is one thing, but Carême created art. He was the first chef to present food that was visually attractive, sometimes beautiful and always more than edible, quite stunning in fact.’

Roux was one of around 80 chefs from Britain and France who collaborated on a dinner and grand buffet to mark the anniversary. The event included an exhibition of the large ornamental items of patisserie or pièces montées that, along with his five-volume cookery book L’art de la Cuisine Française au 19ème siècle (1833), made Carême famous. Roux explained the significance of this occasion: ‘It was probably the first time that the finest patissiers in France bought their masterpieces made in sugar to Britain. And it was Carême’s name that drew them.’