ANTIQUE LONDON PRINTS - REFORM CLUB KITCHEN - CHEFS - ALEXIS SOYER (c.1850)

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PRINT No.1 - Antique London steel engraving, titled REFORM CLUB - THE KITCHEN, with captions in English, French and German. We do not know where this print came from, but the dominant bearded figure standing centre is almost certainly ALEXIS SOYER (1810-1858), a French chef who arrived in England in 1830, working in the households of the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Sutherland, the Marquess of Watewrford and the Marquess of Ailsa before being appointed Chef at the Reform Club in 1837. The club was newly built and he helped to design the kitchens with Sir Charles Barry, installing gas cooking facilities, refrigerators cooled by cold water and ovens with adjustable temperatures. The kitchens became so famous that they were open for conducted tours and his recipe for Lamb Cutlets Reform remains on the club's menu to this day. Soyer invented SOUP KITCHENS during the Irish Potato Famine in 1847, where his "famine soup" was served to thousands in Dublin for free. He also wrote SOYER'S CHARITABLE COOKERY, with all proceeds going to charity, and during the Crimean War he advised the Army on cooking , designing a special field stove, THE SOYER STOVE, which was installed by every regiment to ensure soldiers were properly fed.PRINT No.2 - Antique London steel engraving, clearly from the same source, also with captions in English, French and read more

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