I love books and have quite the collection. Recently I have primarily focused on e-books such as this that I bought for my Kindle. I also have several sources for discount books so this cost me just two bucks from Amazon. I focus and history and cookbooks usually and this is both!

“Specialities of the House” is a publication from 1940 by a group called The American Friends of France. Of course in that year the Germans were just settling into their occupation of France and the money went to the war effort to free the French. It is an amazing cookbook of French, American and other cuisines. The language is very much of its time and not the currently accepted format for recipes. For instance, one of the sandwich recipes call for: “with just a suspicion of mayonnaise” on the bread.

It is fun to see the more than 200 recipes and the approaches taken in the period kitchen (they seemed to use a lot of lard). The recipes were contributed by celebrities and prominent society families of the time. Below is a sampling of the contributors, most of whom you should recognize.

Mrs. Henry James, New York City

Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, The White House, Washington, District of Columbia

Madame Igor Stravinsky, New York City

Helen Keller, New York City

Mrs. James Roosevelt, Hyde Park, New York

Laurence Olivier

Vivien Leigh

Pearl S. Buck, Perkasie, Pennsylvania

Robert E. Sherwood, New York City

Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, New York City

Mrs. Vincent Astor, New York City

Mary Pickford, Hollywood, California

Alfred Lunt

Fanny Brice

Tallulah Bankhead, New York City

Aldous Huxley, Pacific Palisades, California

Mrs. Wendell Willkie, New York City

Noël Coward

Clifton Webb

Mrs. Samuel Goldwyn, Beverly Hills, California

Miss Helen Hayes

Charles Chaplin, Hollywood, California

Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, New York City

Mrs. William H. Vanderbilt, Newport, Rhode Island

Mrs. Cole Porter

Miss Elizabeth Arden

Clare Boothe Luce, New York City

Emily Post, New York City

Christian Dior

Some recipes are just a concept:

Crêpes Farcies Rudolf 

Cut the meat from a cooked lobster and crabmeat in very small pieces and mix with some light curry sauce and a few chopped mushrooms and truffles. Roll some very fine crêpes with this preparation and serve hot with mustard or curry sauce. 

The Colony Restaurant, New York City

And look here – a specialty of a certain actress you may recognize:

Chicken Burgundy Style 

2-3 lbs. chicken (cut in pieces) 

1 medium carrot (cut lengthwise) 

½ leek 

1 clove garlic 

1 cup heavy cream 

Mushrooms 

Chicken stock 

2 medium-sized onions 

1 clove 

2 stalks celery 

4 sprigs parsley 

1 bay leaf 

3 yolks of eggs 

Juice of ½ lemon 

Sour pickles 

Flour 

Butter 

Roll chicken in flour and cook slowly in butter without browning for a few minutes. Moisten with just enough light chicken stock to cover meat. Add vegetables and seasoning. Cover the pot and let simmer until done (about 35 minutes). Remove vegetables. Take off fire and stir into the sauce yolks of eggs mixed with cream and lemon juice. Place on fire again until it begins to boil. Thicken but do not let boil any longer. Serve with sautéed sliced mushrooms and fine small sour pickles sprinkled on top. 

Katharine Hepburn, Hollywood, California

And here is another from an artist you may recognize…

Neptune Nonsense 

½ lb. scallops 

½ green pepper, cut fine 

1 tbsp. mayonnaise 

1 envelope gelatine 

1 tsp. salt 

Pepper 

½ lb. cooked shrimps 

4 hard-boiled eggs 

¼ tsp. onion juice 

½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce 

¼ tsp. dry mustard 

4 tsps. lemon juice 

A dash of chili sauce 

Cook scallops 10 minutes with 2 cups salted water. Cool. Grind shrimps, scallops, eggs, and green peppers together. Add 1 cup liquid from scallops. Soften gelatine in ¼ cup cold liquid from scallops and dissolve in remaining liquid heated. Mix all these ingredients and put in a mold to jell. Turn it out onto a platter. Serve with whole shrimps as decoration, sliced tomatoes, and “New Orleans” sauce. 

New Orleans Sauce 

1 cup mayonnaise 

½ cup chili sauce 

2 tsps. lemon juice 

3 tsps. horseradish 

½ tsp. chili powder 

½ tsp. salt 

½ tsp. prepared mustard 

¼ tsp. pepper 

Mix together. 

Salvador Dalí, New York City

And on and on it goes. I have been captivated by this little volume in both a culinary and historical immersion. Gee, I wonder if my purchase price is still being donated to Free the French.