Image: Charles Elmé Francatelli · Public domain
The Modern Cook
- Year
- 1846
- Era
- 19th century
- Origin
- England · Europe
- Language
- English
- Category
- English 19th C
The Modern Cook, first issued in 1846, is a substantial manual of haute cuisine compiled by Charles Elme Francatelli, an Italian-trained Englishman who served as chief cook to Queen Victoria. Drawing on the Carême tradition, it set out elaborate menus, sauces, garnishes and confectionery for grand households, and went through many editions across the nineteenth century, exerting lasting influence on Victorian professional and aspirational domestic cookery.
Cooking from this book
Bombe à la Victoria
Signature dishAs chef to Queen Victoria, Francatelli devised showpiece ices worthy of the royal table, and his moulded bombe named for the sovereign became emblematic of the book. A frozen dome of contrasting creams and fruit ices, often centred on strawberry or pineapple, it was unmoulded with theatrical flourish at grand dinners. The dish captures the ambition of The Modern Cook, where French haute cuisine technique was translated for the most fashionable English households of the 1840s.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
