Escoffier

The Old Way Is Still Good

Here's an interesting gift idea, the Escoffier Cookbook.  I like that it's a translation of the original Guide Culinaire, , published in 1903 by Auguste Escoffier.  There are no directions beginning, "Heat oven to 350º ... . "  Instead, one cooks "in a somewhat moderate oven, that the heat may reach the center of the soufflé by degrees."  One did not lower the range burner to "medium" either.  One "moved the pan to the corner of the fire."  No Crisco, or Wesson oils. It was animal fats and clarified butter. And you did not drain the used grease into a soup can and throw it away, so instructions for reconstituting your cooking fats were important.  “ Every time the frying fat is used it should, after having been melted, be strained through a towel, for the majority of foods which it has served to cook must have left some particles behind them which might prove injurious to the foods that are to follow. ” A squirt of lemon oil will remove odors. There are in all 2973 recipes, beginning with sauces and stocks. Amazon sells the hardcover new for $17.19, but it can be had used for $6.  My copy is 35 years old, and runs good.  My suggestion is to buy it used for friends and relatives who vote (D), and explain that thanks to the ratbastard democrats, you've lost your savings and can't afford new anymore, so it's their fault. That way you can be kind and thoughtful, and spiteful all at once.  USA!  It's why we'll win.