Celebrity chefs are nothing new. The only difference between those of previous centuries and the ones we know now is the comparative power and reach of the mass media through which their work spread.
There is some speculation on the Web about the identity of Harriet de Salis. Some people think she was a corporate fiction, like Betty Crocker. However, she flourished in a period when such fictions weren’t common, and indeed were looked down upon. As far as we can tell, she was a real person. She had a regular column in the upmarket and forward-looking 19th-century women’s periodical The Lady’s Realm. But the real source of her fame was her series of little cookbooks, almost all of which had the words Á La Mode — “stylish” — in their titles. They went through tens of printings each, totaling hundreds of thousands of copies, and were wildly popular.
These little books — all of them are paperback size, though in hard covers — are short, sweet and to the point. Mrs. de Salis’s recipes are designed for the lady of the house who can no longer afford a cook or similar kitchen “help”, or prefers to do without one. Harriet’s recipes are simple and straightforward, but surprisingly modern in tone. She constantly references modern prepared food products like bottled sauces and so forth, and expects her late-1800’s-early-1900’s readership to be familiar with such hot new household appliances as refrigerators. Many of the recipes in the book would cause talk, very positive talk, if they turned up as starter courses in modern restaurants.The ingredients are fairly sophisticated, and the treatments for the most part bring out their best flavors.The original De Salis cookbooks are getting increasingly hard to find. Some now command hefty prices from specialty booksellers — and some have been brought back into print in modern editions at prices to match. However, the contents of the original works are in the public domain now, and free to distribute to those who’re looking for something new… or maybe old.
Here for your downloading pleasure is an Adobe Acrobat-based scan of our copy of Mrs. de Salis’s little treatise on appetizers / starters, Savouries Á La Mode. Please note that this is a 22 megabyte download. (The book itself is 78 pages.)
Enjoy!
