Alexis Soyer - Innovations

Innovations

In 1837 Soyer became chef de cuisine at the Reform Club in London. He designed the kitchens with Charles Barry at the newly built Club, where his salary was to be more than £1,000 a year. He instituted many innovations, including cooking with gas, refrigerators cooled by cold water, and ovens with adjustable temperatures. His kitchens were so famous that they were opened for conducted tours. When Queen Victoria was crowned on 28 June 1838, he prepared a breakfast for 2,000 people at the Club. Soyer's eponymous Lamb Cutlets Reform are still on the Club menu.

During the Great Irish Famine in April 1847, he invented a soup kitchen and was asked by the Government to go to Ireland to implement his idea. This was opened in Dublin and his "famine soup" was served to thousands of the poor for free. While in Ireland he wrote Soyer's Charitable Cookery. He gave the proceeds of the book to various charities. He also opened an art gallery in London, and donated the entrance fees to charity to feed the poor.

In 1849 Soyer began to market his "magic stove" which allowed people to cook food wherever they were. It was designed to be a tabletop stove.

Soyer resigned from the Reform Club in May 1850. The next year, he opened his "Universal Symposium of All Nations" opposite the gates of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, on a site now occupied by the Royal Albert Hall. He was forced to close his great venture after losing £7,000.

Soyer wrote a number of books about cooking, possibly with assistance. His 1854 book A Shilling Cookery for the People was a recipe book for ordinary people who could not afford elaborate kitchen utensils or large amounts of exotic ingredients.

During the Crimean War, Soyer joined the troops at his own expense to advise the army on cooking. Later he was paid his expenses and wages equivalent to those of a Brigadier-General. He reorganized the provisioning of the army hospitals. He designed his own field stove, the Soyer Stove, and trained and installed in every regiment the "Regimental cook" so that soldiers would get an adequate meal and not suffer from malnutrition or die of food poisoning. He wrote A Culinary Campaign as a record of his activities in the Crimea. Catering standards within the British Army would remain inconsistent, however, and there would not be a single Army Catering Corps until 1945. This is now part of the Royal Logistics Corps, whose catering HQ is called Soyer's House. His stove, or facsimiles of his stove remained in British military service into the late 20th century.

Soyer returned to London on 3 May 1857. On 18 March 1858, he lectured at the United Service Institution on army cooking. He also built a model kitchen at the Wellington Barracks in London.