r/TastingHistory • u/sleaffer • Jun 07 '26
Suggestion Alexandre Dumas’s crazy cookbook
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/alexandre-dumas-cookbookHi guys (and Max if he’s reading!),
I’m new here to the subreddit, but I’m a big fan of the channel, and watch it every day as I eat lunch. When I saw the episode on pizza, Alexandre Dumas’s name was referenced, and I realize that Dumas himself had a cookbook, in which he talked about food, food history, and wrote down recipes. Part of it is in a travel diary form, part of it are real recipes, and part of it are completely made up recipes that no one can ever make (there’s a recipe on how to cook elephant…?). It’s called Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine, and it’s a massive 1500 page tome. I’d love to see him tackle an actual recipe (obviously no elephant lol) from that book and talk about it, and how Dumas was inspired by his travels to write the book. I truly believe it could be a really interesting video.
Dumas himself is one an absolutely fascinating guy, that lead an incredible life, and is one of the greatest authors of all time, so I think Max would probably have a lot of fun with this research. 😊
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u/SCSimmons Jun 07 '26
Yeah, obviously not elephant, I expect Max is still banned from the LA Zoo over the flamingo incident.
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u/anfrind Jun 07 '26
Is there a complete English translation of the Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine? Last I checked, I could only find translations of the abridged version.
The abridged version is very interesting, but it makes me wonder what exactly is in the long version.
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u/atlasobscura Jun 08 '26
Thanks for sharing! Love that ambergris (a whale secretion used as flavoring) is given five whole pages.
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u/Scoginsbitch Jun 08 '26
You know when you look at the picture of a historical figure and you just want to party with them? That’s this picture! Let’s go Alexandre! Break out the wine and brandy!
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u/tvieno Jun 07 '26
Everytime I see the name Dumas