The French Cook

Little is known of the early life of the French chef Louis Eustache Ude (d.1846). He claims in this work, first published in 1813 and reissued here in its 1827 eighth edition, to have had 'upwards of forty years practice and assiduous application to the study of his profession'. The book describes him as 'ci-devant cook to Louis XVI', but the greater part of his career was spent in England. His first English employer, the earl of Sefton, paid him the considerable sum of 300 guineas a year. After twenty years, Ude moved on, to the United Services Club and then to the duke of York's household, though he was most famous for his cooking at a notorious gambling club, Crockford's, between 1828 and 1838. Ude attempts to convey to professional English cooks 'a knowledge of the science of French cookery', which he naturally regards as superior to all others.