FoodNetArchive

Practical gastronomy and culinary dictionary

1892

Page 405

Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Amongst his appointments was that of chef de cuisine to the Earls of Chelmsford and Dudley, Lord Kinnaird, Sir W. Massey Stanley, and Mr. Rowland Errington of Melton Mowbray, which town is even now famous for pork-pies made from a recipe provided by him. He was for a time manager of Crockford's Club, whence he removed to the Eoyal Household as maitre d'hotel and chief cook in ordinary to Her Majesty. He next superintended the then flourishing Coventry House Club, and was for about seven years chef to the Reform Club. As manager of the celebrated Freemasons' Tavern he did much to ensure the exceeding popularity of that house, which it has maintained to the present day. As an author on cookery he has had few equals. His first work, '* The Modern Cook," appeared in 1845, and ran through twelve editions. In 1861 he produced " The Cook's Guide and Butler's Assistant," and shortly after a book on " Cookery for the Working Classes." Next appeared his " Royal English and Foreign Confectionery Book." In 1876 he departed this life at the ripe age of seventy-one. 55 864 PRACTICAIi GASTRONOMY ALFRED SUZANNE. Alfeed Suzanne was born in Normandy in the year 1829. His father and his grandfather before him were both notable chefs ; but he was destined for another sphere of life, and entered upon his studies in Paris. Unforeseen circumstances, however, determined him to abandon his collegiate career at the age of eighteen, and embrace the calling of his parents ; and nowhere have we a more striking exemplification of Darwin's hereditary theorem than n the case of Suzanne, for, without even a know- ledge of the rudiments of cookery, he confesses that he resolutely embraced his father's profession, and, student-like, laid the foundation of future sxiccess by a careful perusal of the works of the immortal Careme, Brillat-Savarin, and the leading authorities of the day upon culinary and gastronomic matters. With the theoretical information thus acquired, he com- menced his practical career as an apprentice in the kitchen of the Earl of Clarendon, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and, mirahile dictu! at the end of six short months found himself promoted to the honourable position of head pastrycook at Dublin Castle, a position which he held for a period of four years. From thence he passed into the service of the Earl of Wilton as chef de cuisine. The '* wicked Earl " — to give him the name by which he was known among his familiars — was at that time at the zenith of his fame as a sportsman, musician, lady-killer, and leader of society. His epicurism was of the first water, and no man more assidu- ously studied his creature comforts. For the lengthened period of twenty-eight years M. Suzanne ministered to the delights of the table at his lordship's generous board. On the death of Lord Wilton, in 1882, the Duke of Bedford secured M. Suzanne as controller of his kitchen, and this position he retained for five years, until indiflierent health led him to seek permanent repose and the otiuvi cum dignitate to which good and even brilliant work had entitled him. ^(P ALFPyED SUZANNE 'J^' % J FAMOUS CHEFS AND EPICURES 865 In the charming Parisian suburb of Neuilly, M. Suzanne and his amiable wife are now domiciled, in circumstances which make life worth the living.