Perhaps the first celebrity chef, Alexis Soyer (1810-58) was a flamboyant, larger-than-life character who nonetheless took his profession very seriously. As the chef of London's Reform Club, he modernised its kitchens, installing refrigerators and gas cookers. They became something of a showpiece, even opening for tours. In contrast, Soyer also organised soup kitchens during the Great Famine in Ireland and volunteered his services in the Crimea in 1855 to improve military catering. He was also a prolific inventor of kitchen gadgets, notably promoting the Magic Stove, used for cooking food at the table. This work, first published in 1846, is an illustrated culinary textbook - complete with plans for different types of kitchen and nearly 2,000 recipes - written primarily for grander households with a large kitchen staff, but not neglecting those with more modest budgets. Also reissued in this series are Soyer's Modern Housewife or Ménagère (1849) and his Culinary Campaign (1857).
