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Fannie Farmer Cookbook

Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Boston Cooking School; Alfred A. Knoff, New York, 1979

Fannie Farmer was born in 1857 in Boston. She suffered a stroke at the age of 16 while in High School. For several years, she was unable to walk and remained in her parents' care at home. During this time, Farmer took up cooking, eventually turning her mother's home into a boarding house that developed a reputation for the quality of the meals it served.

At the age of 30, Farmer, now walking but with a limp, enrolled in the Boston Cooking School. Farmer trained at the school until 1889 during the height of the domestic science movement. Farmer was considered one of the school's top students. She was then kept on as assistant to the director. In 1891, she took the position of school principal. And then Fannie published her best-known work, The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, in 1896!

This is one of my favorite cookbooks. Bear in mind that there was a lot going on in the European culinary circles of the time. August Escoffier, the King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings, had published the Guide Culinaire. For the first time a cookbook was written to categorize French Cuisine. And in the hotel world great strides were being made to accommodate the revelry of the 1890s: Caesar Ritz had teamed up with Escoffier in Monte Carlo, the Ritz in Paris opened, followed by the Savoy and Carlton Hotels in London. In fact, members of the Boston Cooking School visited Escoffier at the Savoy to get a first-hand look at what he was cooking.

We're talking about a cookbook that is over 125 years old and that still has hundreds of recipes that are still unbeatable by any chef today---how can this be? Well, it was actually first published in the nineteenth century, and my copy is the twelfth edition published in 1979. Revisions were made, recipes added, and some removed to make the cookbook current. This is a complete cookbook with charts, great instruction and illustrated techniques, and great recipes that include soups, salads, appetizers, main course dishes, desserts and bakery items.

This is one of the best American cookbooks ever written!

Vichyssoise
(6 Cups)
This splendid chilled soup was devised on American soil by a French chef, Louis Diat who was the Executive Chef of the NYC Ritz-Carlton in the 1930's. It is also good served hot.

4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
4 leeks, white part only, finely sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
2 sprigs parsley 4 cups (1 L) Chicken Stock
(p. 81) or canned broth 1 cup (1/4 L) heavy cream
1 tablespoon finely chopped
chives
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Melt the butter in a large pot, add the onion, leeks, and celery, and cook over low heat, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes or until limp but not brown. Stir in the potatoes, parsley, and stock. Cook, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Put through a strainer or vegetable mill or puree in a blender or food processor. Pour into a bowl, stir in the cream and chives, and chill in the refrigerator. Add more salt and pepper to taste before serving.