I Catered Napoleon's Wedding: Carême, the First Celebrity Chef

Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio

Milk Street Radio

Food, Arts

4.4 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

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Summary

He cooked for the czar of Russia, the Rothschilds, and he even made Napoleon Bonaparte's wedding cake. He invented the chef’s hat and published the first recipes for soufflé and meringue, but you’ve probably never heard his name. This week, it’s the story of the world’s first celebrity chef: Marie-Antoine Carême. Plus, we’re joined by one of today’s best chefs, Enrique Olvera; Kenji López-Alt returns with a brand-new way to fry an egg; we make Indonesian Beef and Sweet Soy Sate; and Chris and Sara take your calls — how to organize handwritten recipes, why we season everything with pepper, and much more.

Get this week’s recipe for Indonesian Beef and Sweet Soy Sate here.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Christopher Kimball. We just announced our winter spring departures for our culinary tours in
0:05.3	26, including Mexico City in February. Now, I've just returned for Mexico City. Paco de Santiago
0:12.7	and Emilio Perez took me on taco crawls and market visits and also taught me great lessons in Mexican cuisine,
0:20.4	including how to make a quick and easy enchilada
0:22.9	and the importance of charring chilies and vegetables.
0:26.8	On our tour, you can eat tacos with Paco and cook with Emilio as well
0:30.5	and get the same insider access to Mexico City that I did by joining us in February.
0:36.6	See the full itinerary at 177Milkstreet.com
0:41.3	slash tours. That's 177 milkstreet.com slash tours.
0:51.3	This is Milk Street Radio from PRX and I'm your host, Christopher Kimball.
0:57.2	Today it's the story of the first celebrity chef, and you've probably never heard his name.
1:03.4	We find out who he cooked for.
1:05.6	He made Napoleon Bonaparte's wedding cake, and of course, we hear about his food.
1:10.7	The food is fascinating, and the food is drama. The food is love and lust, obviously,
1:17.1	but it's also power and history and nostalgia and regret. The life and food of Marie Antoine
1:24.7	Kerem, that's coming up later on the show. But first, we're joined by one of
1:29.2	today's celebrity chefs. Enrique O'Vera. He's the chef behind one of the most celebrated
1:35.0	restaurants in the world. That's Puyol in Mexico City. Since 2011, it's been consistently ranked
1:40.8	on the world's 50 best restaurants list, and in 2019, it was named the
1:44.9	best restaurant in North America.
1:47.1	Now he has a new book called Sunny Days Taco Nights.
1:52.1	Enrique, welcome to Milk Street.
	...

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