Celebrity Chef

From promoting Hudson's Soap and popularising the then rarely encountered ‘Steak Diane’ named for Lady Diana Cooper which was a favourite of the Prince of Wales in the 1930s to preparing desserts for British actress June Thorburn in the 1950s, Bartolomeo Calderoni was a champion for the hospitality industry throughout his life.

In 1978 at 87 years old, Bartolomeo published The Complete Book of Cold Dishes.  On the occasion of its publication The Times ran an article Meo is brought to book at last in The Times Diary section of their newspaper.

To have invented Steak Diane would have been enough for most master chefs. Not so Bartolomeo Calderoni.  He also introduced scampi to Britons. A spritely 87, Meo is masterminding the Italian fortnight at the Café Royale which opened last night.  He picked all six chefs (flown over from Italy) and drew up all the menus. And to help launch the festa gastronomiques, has written his first book, ‘The Complete Book of Cold Dishes’.  He tells me that to qualify for the name, Steak Diane must not take more than three minutes to fry: lightly pink inside.  As for the scampi, he imported them from Venice’s Grand Hotel in exchange for British Smoked Salmon and grouse when he was head chef at Quaglino’s in the 1930’s. ("Meo is brought to book at last", "The Times Diary/PHS", The Times, 11 April 1978, p. 16)

(The Citizen Wednesday June 10 1930)

 British actress June Thorburn (1931 - 1967) tastes a dessert prepared by chef Bartolomeo Calderoni, March 12th 1959. (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)