Kirmess cook book

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The Kirmess Cook Book (1907) is a compendious American household cookbook that blends formal dining etiquette with an enormous range of recipes drawn from named contributors, society cooks, and established culinary authorities of the day. It opens not with recipes but with instruction on how a household should serve a proper multi-course dinner, complete with wine service and afternoon tea protocol, before moving into the recipes themselves: soups, fish and shellfish, poultry and game, meats, salads, sauces, vegetables, cheese and eggs, breads and sandwiches, frozen desserts, pies and cakes, candies, beverages, and chafing-dish cookery. With 985 anchored food records, it functions as both a practical kitchen reference and a guide to the etiquette of upper-middle-class entertaining in the early twentieth century. Many recipes are credited to specific contributors, including figures such as Mrs. Parloa and even Mrs. Grover Cleveland, reflecting the compiled, communal nature typical of charity or club cookbooks of the era (the title itself, 'Kirmess,' suggests a fundraising fair origin). The book closes with reference tables for cooking times and measures, along with period advertisements, offering a window into contemporary commercial food culture. For modern readers, it is a rich artifact of Edwardian-era American domestic life, formal service customs, and the aspirational, French-influenced cuisine of well-appointed households.

The book is organized into numbered chapters that move from service etiquette to recipe categories in a logical dinner-party sequence. It begins with chapters on how to serve dinners (sections 1-2), wines (section 1), luncheons and afternoon tea (sections 1-2), and fruit service (section 2), before turning to canapes and hors d'oeuvres, soups, and fish (sections 2-4). Subsequent chapters cover entrees and shellfish (section 5), poultry and meats (sections 6-9), salads and dressings (sections 9-11), sauces (sections 11-12), vegetables (sections 12-13), cheese and egg dishes (section 14), breads and sandwiches (sections 15-16), puddings and frozen desserts (sections 16-17), pies and cakes (sections 18-19), cookies and confections (sections 19-20), beverages and candies (section 20), and chafing-dish cookery with reference tables (section 21). Section 22 contains the table of contents and period advertisements, which mirror and confirm the chapter structure described above.