OP: The Epicurean
The Hotel Monthly Press, Evanston, IL, 1920. Hardcover. Very Good Minus.
Charles Ranhofer (1836–1899), who for 31 years presided over the kitchen at the great Delmonico’s restaurant in New York City, was, without question, one of the models for the celebrity chefs of today. Born in France and apprenticed in a bakery at the age of 12, Ranhofer came to America in 1856 and, after a few prestigious positions, settled at Delmonico’s. There he reigned supreme, right in the heart of the Gilded Age, hobnobbing with the greats and naming dishes after such distinguished guests as Alexandre Dumas, Sarah Bernhardt, Jules Verne, Victor Hugo, and President Grover Cleveland.
In 1894, he published a book called The Epicurean, representing his work and serving as a manual suitable for a professional audience—restaurant chefs and those who cooked for households of some substance. It is almost hypnotic in its volume and its scope. Just under 1200 pages long, it ranges over every aspect of food preparation and the materials and the activities that surround it.
Ranhofer first addresses table service (American, French, and Russian), menus and menu planning, elementary cooking methods, and kitchen utensils and their uses—an astonishing variety, including 75 illustrated with superb engravings.
After all this come the recipes—3704 of them. From soups to beverages, the coverage is unstinting with 180 recipes for sauces, nearly 250 on ices and ice creams, right down to a dozen on plover and twice that on partridge.
Many are familiar but demonstrate Ranhofer’s own touch. Others are not at all common: sheep ears and tails, peacock, cods’ tongues, and thrushes and larks. The style, while leaning French, is noticeably international and geared toward Americans. So, in among sweetbreads Monpensier and the more humble potage à la fermière, one can see gumbo, corned beef hash, corn on the cob, crabs Carolina, clams Philadelphia, references to bison, and terrapin in the style of Baltimore and even of Trenton.
Following the recipes is a second section of menus, these all from events at Delmonico’s.
Although collectors do occasionally ask for the original 1894 version, it is interesting that the edition most asked for is the 1920—a better-made volume in a striking blue case, embossed in color with a coffee pot on a tray. The contents are, to the best of our knowledge, the same as the 1894.
We offer that 1920 edition here. The interior is exceptionally clean and the binding tight. The case shows a fair amount of rubbing to the point that the gilt and red decorations are nearly entirely faded.
