It gives me nothing but remorse to remember
that there were days when I tolerated, I may
even say I enjoyed, Hungarian Goulash. I could
not eat it now. As for Bulgarian Boosh or Tur-
kish Tch'kk, the mere names of them make me
ill.
For me, for the rest of my Hfe, it must be Allied
Food or no food at all. One may judge, therefore,
with what delight I received the news of this
patriotic enterprise. I at once telegraphed to
the editors the following words:
Allied CooKery 9
''Am willing to place at your service without
charge entire knowledge of cookery. Forty-six
years' practical experience."
To this telegram I received no reply. I am
aware that there is, even in cooking circles, a cer-
tain amount of professional jealousy. It may be
that I had overpassed the line of good taste in
offering my entire knowledge. I should have only
offered part of it.
I therefore resolved that instead of writing the
whole book as I had at first intended, I would con-
tent myself with sending to the editors, a certain
number of selected recipes of a kind calculated to
put the book in a class all by itself.
I sent, in all, fifty recipes. I regret to say that
after looking over the pages of the book with
the greatest care, and after looking also on the
back of them, I do not find my recipes included
in it. The obvious conclusion is that while this
book was in the press my recipes were stolen out
of it.
The various dishes that I had selected were of
so distinctive a character and the art involved in
their preparation so entirely recherche that it
seems a pity that they should be altogether lost.
They contained a certain je ne sais quoi which
would have marked them out as emphatically
the perquisite of the few. To say that they
lo Allied CooKery
were dishes for a king is to understate the fact.
It is therefore merely in the pubHc interest and
from no sense of personal vanity that I reproduce
the substance of one or two of them in this preface.
There was a whole section, for example, on Eggs,
which I am extremely loath to lose. It showed how
by holding an egg down under boiling water till it
is exhausted, it may be first cooked and then be
passed under a flat iron until it becomes an Egg
Pancake. It may be then given a thin coat of
varnish and served in a railway restaurant for
years and years.
I had also an excellent recipe for Rimi Omelette.
It read: "Take a dipper full of rum and insert an
omelette in it. Serve anywhere in Ontario.** I
am convinced that this recipe alone would have
been worth its weight in nmi.
But it would be childish of me to lay too much
stress on my own personal disappointment or regret.
When I realized what had happened I felt at once
that my co-operation in this book must take some
other form. I therefore sent to the editors a
second telegram which read:
'*Am willing to eat free of charge all dishes
contained in volume."
This offer was immediately accepted, and I am
happy to assure readers of this book that I have
eaten each and every one of the preparations in the
Allied CooKery il
pages that follow. To prevent all doubt I make
this statement under oath. I had intended to
make merely an honest statement of the fact
but my friends tell me that a statement under
oath is better in such a case than a mere honest
statement.
Stt^A^ ^^^coc/C^
FOREWORD
Allied cookery
1916Page 3
Presented as published in 1916. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
It gives me nothing but remorse to remember that there were days when I tolerated, I may even say I enjoyed, Hungarian Goulash. I could not eat it now. As for Bulgarian Boosh or Turkish Tchik, the mere names of them make me
For me, for the rest of my Hfe, it must be Allied Food or no food at all. One may judge, therefore, with what delight I received the news of this patriotic enterprise. I at once telegraphed to the editors the following words:
Allied CooKery 9
''Am willing to place at your service without charge entire knowledge of cookery. Forty-six years' practical experience."
To this telegram I received no reply. I am aware that there is, even in cooking circles, a certain amount of professional jealousy. It may be that I had overpassed the line of good taste in offering my entire knowledge. I should have only offered part of it.
I therefore resolved that instead of writing the whole book as I had at first intended, I would content myself with sending to the editors, a certain number of selected recipes of a kind calculated to put the book in a class all by itself.
I sent, in all, fifty recipes. I regret to say that after looking over the pages of the book with the greatest care, and after looking also on the back of them, I do not find my recipes included in it. The obvious conclusion is that while this book was in the press my recipes were stolen out of it.
The various dishes that I had selected were of so distinctive a character and the art involved in their preparation so entirely recherche that it seems a pity that they should be altogether lost. They contained a certain je ne sais quoi which would have marked them out as emphatically the perquisite of the few. To say that they
lo Allied CooKery
were dishes for a king is to understate the fact.
It is therefore merely in the pubHc interest and from no sense of personal vanity that I reproduce the substance of one or two of them in this preface. There was a whole section, for example, on Eggs, which I am extremely loath to lose. It showed how by holding an egg down under boiling water till it is exhausted, it may be first cooked and then be passed under a flat iron until it becomes an Egg Pancake. It may be then given a thin coat of varnish and served in a railway restaurant for years and years.
I had also an excellent recipe for Rimi Omelette. It read: "Take a dipper full of rum and insert an omelette in it. Serve anywhere in Ontario.** I am convinced that this recipe alone would have been worth its weight in nmi.
But it would be childish of me to lay too much stress on my own personal disappointment or regret. When I realized what had happened I felt at once that my co-operation in this book must take some other form. I therefore sent to the editors a second telegram which read:
'*Am willing to eat free of charge all dishes contained in volume."
This offer was immediately accepted, and I am happy to assure readers of this book that I have eaten each and every one of the preparations in the
Allied CooKery il
pages that follow. To prevent all doubt I make this statement under oath. I had intended to make merely an honest statement of the fact but my friends tell me that a statement under oath is better in such a case than a mere honest statement.
Stt^A^ ^^^coc/C^
FOREWORD