"Paul M. Cook" > wrote in message
...
>
> "M. JL Esq." > wrote in message
> ...
>> Steve Pope wrote:
>>> Paul M. Cook > wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Nobody cooks like that anymore. I mean come on, a half dozen
>>>>Maine lobsters to make sauce for 4 people? Very wasteful and that
>>>>symbolized a lot of the old French style.
>>>
>>>
>>> Entire lobsters? Or just the shells? I could envision a bisque-like
>>> sauce that involved the shells.
>>>
>>> Steve
>>
>> There is also an edition of his book for the home cook where in the
>> amounts are modified for the home cook.
>>
>> The market for cook books was different when it was first published than
>> it is now. But it is still in print.
>>
>> The original was written for the trade. And in amounts more common to
>> commercial establishments or large households with kitchen staff. The
>> man was a military veteran, and a working chef for the rest of his
>> professional life, head Chef of several of the best hotels of his day and
>> iirc responsible for setting up the original kitchens at the Waldorf
>> Astoria in NYC.
>>
>> Anyone familiar with August Escoffier's work knows he decries waste and
>> excess as much as he demands absolute freshness in all his ingredients.
>
> His definition of waste would not be the one we recognize today.
>
>> His text does contain some historical curiosities where in he starts the
>> recipe with words to the effect that "this recipe is rarely produced
>> today although it was quite common in days gone by"
>>
>> And in his section home made liquors he adds "which is to be much
>> regretted" .... that people don't make these home made liquors any more
>> (circa 1921 c.e.)
>
> By waste he meant food that was left to spoil. He did not consider a
> sumptuous feast of ingredients that could feed an entire family of 12 just
> to make a sauce for 2 to be a waste. Now it those ingredients spoiled,
> that was a waste. He cooked for the wealthy who demanded sumptuous and
> extravagant dishes. No expense was spared to that end. Waste as in 20
> pounds of seafood to make a soup for a table of 4 or a whole 100 pound sea
> turtle for soup for the same table was not an offense to their standards.
> Back then there was ample supply and ample money. Waste had a whole
> different definition.
>
> Paul
>
>
One description of this I read suggested this is a recipe for a sort of
blenderized newberg. You create a thicker spread you put on toast, or
something. Actually it sounds good, and would work with leftover Dungeness
crab.

Kent