A biographical, historical account of history’s most notorious and celebrated chefs, including Charles Francatelli, Eustache Ude, Eliza Acton, Agnes Marshall. This book is an account of history’s most forgotten cooks, from chefs Louis Eustache Ude, Charles Francatelli and Alexis Soyer, to American cooks. It includes Hercules, George Washington’s black enslaved American chef, George Speck, credited with the invention of the potato chip, Fannie Merritt Farmer of the Boston Cooking-School Cookbook fame, Charles Ranhofer of Delmonico’s, New York, and Amelia Simmons whose American Cookery is the first cookbook on American culture in the kitchen, including the first ‘koekje’ or ‘cookie’ recipe.