|
Classic
Cook Books
< last page | next page >
page introduction 2
talent, nor have I ever heard of an attempt to patent a receipt or a new salad.
It was therefore a great pleasure to see the little book in which my friend has
preserved some of the famous receipts of the Creole kitchen. When, too, I saw,
and indeed heard, the gay songs which were considered needful to be sung in the
making of a Gumbo or of a Jumballaya, I felt that this was an addition to the
business of the cook which must have lifted it to the level of the Arts we call
Fine; for surely the mingling of music with a sauce or a salad dressing is a
refinement of which no cordon bleu has ever dreamed! I have heard of but one
other use of song in the preparation of food. A certain bishop, staying in a
modest farmhouse, was struck with the fact that, just before breakfast, he heard
the cook singing a well-known hymn. On expressing his satisfaction at this act
of early devotion, he was told she had discovered that exactly the time needed
to sing two verses was that which was required to boil an egg. I am sure there
are many who will be charmed by the pretty little songs in the Creole patois of
the far Southern kitchen, and will in a double sense appreciate the taste of the
receipts, and the effort to preserve the folk-lore of the Southern cook. As I
recall her, in Virginia, she was usually a fat woman of middle age, with a gay
bandana kerchief about her head--proud of her art, somewhat despotic, and
usually known as Aunty.
"A creature not too bright or good For human nature's daily food." S. WEIR
MITCHELL
< last page | next page >
Classic
Cook Books
|
