The United States is now beginning to wake up to
the fact that the preparation of food is something more
than a necessary evil, and from the old cooking classes
of our common schools has developed the classes in
Domestic Science, that which was formerly considered
drudgery now being elevated to an art and digniiied as
107
BOHEMIAN
a science. In Europe this stage was reached many gen-
erations ago, and there it is now an art which has ele-
vated the primitive process of feed-
SOMETHING ^"S to the elegant art of dining. In
ABOUT ^^" Francisco probably more than in
COOKING ^^y other city in the United States,
not even excepting New Orleans, this
art has flourished for many years with the result that
the average San Franciscan is disappointed at the food
served in other cities of his country, and always longs
for his favorite restaurant even as the children of Israel
longed for the flesh pots of Egj-^pt.
One needs to spend a day in the Italian quarter of
San Francisco to come to a full realization of the dif-
ference between the requirements of even the poorest
Italian family and the average American family of the
better class. We need but say that we have been study-
ing this question for nearly twenty years yet even now
we meet with surprises in the way of new delicacies and
modes of using herbs and spices in food preparation.
If we were to attempt even to enumerate the various
herbs, spices, flavorings, delicacies, and pastes to be
found in a well regulated Italian shop it would take
many pages of this book, yet every one of these articles
has its own individual and peculiar use, and the knowl-
edge of these articles and how to use them is what
makes the difference between American and Foreign
cooking. Each herb has a peculiar quality as a stom-
achic and it must be as delicately measured as if it were
a medicine. The use of garlic, so much decried as
plebeian, is the secret of some of the finest dishes pre-
pared by the highest chefs. It must not be forgotten
that in the use of all flavors and condiments there may
be an intemperance, there lying the root of much of the
bad cooking.
Garlic, for instance, is a flavor and not a food, yet
many of the lower class foreigners eat it on bread, mak-
108
i
SAN FRANCISCO
ing a meal of dark bread, garlic and red wine. It is of-
fensive to sensitive nostrils and vitiates the taste when
thus used, but when properly added
to certain foods it gives an intangible SOMETHING
flavor which never fails to elicit ABOUT
praise. What is true of garlic is also COOKING
true of the many herbs that are used.
It is easy to pass from a rare flavor that makes a most
savory dish to a taste of medicine that spoils a dinner.
With the well-known prodigal and wasteful habits of
America the American who learns the use of herbs
usually makes the initial mistake of putting in the fla-
voring herbs with too lavish a hand, and it is only after
years of experience that a knowledge of proper com-
binations is obtained.
Visitors have often expressed wonder at the variety
of foods and delicate flavors in San Francisco restau-
rants, and possibly this brief explanation may give
some comprehension of why San Franciscans always
want to get back to where they "can get something
to eat."
109
BOHEMIAN
"Surely the old Bohemians of San Francisco did not
Page 58
Presented as published in 1914. 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
The United States is now beginning to wake up to the fact that the preparation of food is something more than a necessary evil, and from the old cooking classes of our common schools has developed the classes in Domestic Science, that which was formerly considered drudgery now being elevated to an art and digniiied as
a science. In Europe this stage was reached many generations ago, and there it is now an art which has elevated the primitive process of feed- SOMETHING ^"S to the elegant art of dining. In
ABOUT ^^" Francisco probably more than in
COOKING ^^y other city in the United States,
not even excepting New Orleans, this art has flourished for many years with the result that the average San Franciscan is disappointed at the food served in other cities of his country, and always longs for his favorite restaurant even as the children of Israel longed for the flesh pots of Egj-^pt.
One needs to spend a day in the Italian quarter of San Francisco to come to a full realization of the difference between the requirements of even the poorest Italian family and the average American family of the better class. We need but say that we have been studying this question for nearly twenty years yet even now we meet with surprises in the way of new delicacies and modes of using herbs and spices in food preparation.
If we were to attempt even to enumerate the various herbs, spices, flavorings, delicacies, and pastes to be found in a well regulated Italian shop it would take many pages of this book, yet every one of these articles has its own individual and peculiar use, and the knowledge of these articles and how to use them is what makes the difference between American and Foreign cooking. Each herb has a peculiar quality as a stomachic and it must be as delicately measured as if it were a medicine. The use of garlic, so much decried as plebeian, is the secret of some of the finest dishes prepared by the highest chefs. It must not be forgotten that in the use of all flavors and condiments there may be an intemperance, there lying the root of much of the bad cooking.
Garlic, for instance, is a flavor and not a food, yet many of the lower class foreigners eat it on bread, mak-
ing a meal of dark bread, garlic and red wine. It is offensive to sensitive nostrils and vitiates the taste when thus used, but when properly added to certain foods it gives an intangible SOMETHING flavor which never fails to elicit ABOUT
praise. What is true of garlic is also COOKING
true of the many herbs that are used. It is easy to pass from a rare flavor that makes a most savory dish to a taste of medicine that spoils a dinner. With the well-known prodigal and wasteful habits of America the American who learns the use of herbs usually makes the initial mistake of putting in the flavoring herbs with too lavish a hand, and it is only after years of experience that a knowledge of proper combinations is obtained.
Visitors have often expressed wonder at the variety of foods and delicate flavors in San Francisco restaurants, and possibly this brief explanation may give some comprehension of why San Franciscans always want to get back to where they "can get something to eat."
"Surely the old Bohemians of San Francisco did not