Bohemian San Francisco — Some Food Variants/3 recipes, About Dining

Some Food Variants Variants of food preparation sometimes typify nationalities better even than variants of language or clothing.

Take the lowly corn meal, for instance.

We find that Italian polenti, Spanish tamale, Philadelphia scrapple and Southern Darkey crackling corn bread are but variants of the preparation of corn meal in delectable foods.

It is a long step from plain corn meal mush to scrapple, which we consider the highest and best form of preparing this sort of dish, but all the intermediate steps come from a desire to please the taste with a change from simple corn meal.

Crackling corn bread is the first step, and here we find that the darkies of the South found good use for the remnants of the pork after lard was tried out at hog-killing time, by mixing the cracklings with their corn meal and making a pone which they cooked before an open fire on a hoe blade, the first of this being called "cracklin' hoe cake."

Good scrapple is one of the finest breakfast dishes that we know during the winter, and when prepared after the recipe given here it precedes all other forms of serving corn meal.

To mix it properly one must know the proper values of herbs and condiments, and this recipe is the result of much discriminating study.

Modesty prevents us giving it more than the name of "scrapple."

It is prepared in the following manner, differing from that made in Philadelphia: Scrapple Take a young pig's head and boil it until the flesh drops from the bones, in water to which has been added two good-sized onions, quartered, five bruised cloves of garlic, one bay leaf, sweet marjoram, thyme, rosemary, a little sage, salt, and pepper.

Separate the meat from the bones and chop fine.

Strain off the liquor and boil with corn meal, adding the chopped meat.

Put in the corn meal gradually, until it makes a stiff mush, then cook for half an hour with the meat.

Put in shallow pans and let cool.

To serve slice about half an inch thick and fry in olive oil or butter to a light brown.

As originally prepared the tamale was made for conveyance, hence the wrappings of corn husk.

This is a Spanish dish, having been brought to this country by the early Spanish explorers, and adopted by the Indian tribes with whom they came in contact.

In the genuine tamale the interior is the sauce and meat that goes with the corn meal which is alternately laid with the husks, and when made the ends are tied with fine husk.

For meat, chicken, pork, and veal are considered the best.

There is also a sweet tamale, made with raisins or preserves.

The following recipe for tamales was given us by Luna: Tamales Boil one chicken until the meat comes from the bones.

Chop the neat fine and moisten it with the liquor in which it was boiled.

Boil six large chili peppers in a little water until cooked so they can be strained through a fine strainer, and add to this the chopped chicken, with salt to taste and a little chopped parsley.

Take corn meal and work into it a lump of butter the size of an egg, adding boiling water and working constantly until it makes a paste the consistency of biscuit dough.

Have ready a pile of the soft inner husks of green corn and on each husk spread a lump of dough, the size of a walnut, into a flat cake covering the husk.

In the center of the dough put a teaspoonful of the chopped meat with minced olive.

On a large husk put several tablespoonfuls of chopped meat with olives.

Roll this together and lay on them other husks until the tamale is of the size desired.

Tie the ends together with strips of fine husk and put in boiling water for twenty minutes.

Either veal or pork may be used instead of chicken.

Polenti, properly prepared, is a dish that requires much labor, and scarcely repays for the time and exertion spent in its making.

It differs from scrapple in that the ingredients are mixed in a sauce and poured over the mush instead of being mixed in the meal.

In the New Buon Gusto restaurant, in Broadway, they cook polenti to perfection, and when it is served with cippino it leaves nothing to be desired.

This is the recipe: Polenti For the gravy: Make a little broth with veal bone, a small piece of beef, a pig's foot, neck, feet and gizzard of chicken.

In a separate kettle cook in hot oil one sliced onion, one clove of garlic, a little parsley, one bell pepper, one tomato, a small piece of celery, and a carrot.

Cook until soft and then add this to the broth with a few dried mushrooms.

Cook slowly for thirty minutes and then strain.

For the mush: Boil corn meal until it is thoroughly done and then cool it until it can be cut in slices for frying.

Mix butter and olive oil and heat in a frying pan and into this put the slices of corn meal, frying to a light brown.

Place the fried corn meal in a platter in layers, sprinkling each with grated Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.

Take parsley and one clove of garlic chopped fine and a can of French mushrooms cut in quarters, and fry in butter, then add enough gravy to pour over the fried corn meal.

Place this in an oven for a few minutes then serve.

About Dining Table d'hote is the feature of San Francisco's restaurant life.

It is the ideal method for those who wish a good dinner and who have not the inclination, or the knowledge, to order a special dinner.

It is also the least expensive way of getting a good dinner.

It also saves an exhibition of ignorance regarding the dishes, for if you are in doubt all you have to do is to leave it to the waiter, and he will bring the best there is on the day's menu and will serve it properly.

It is really something to elicit wonder when one considers the possibilities of a table d'hote dinner in some of the less expensive restaurants.

Take, for instance, the Buon Gusto, in Broadway.

This restaurant boasts a good chef, and the food is the finest the market affords.

Here is served a six course dinner for fifty cents, and the menu card is typical of this class of restaurants.

What is provided is shown by the following taken from the bill of fare as it was served us: Hor d'ouvres--four kinds; five kinds of salad; two kinds of soup; seven kinds of fish; four kinds of paste; broiled spring chicken; green salad with French dressing; ice cream or rum omelet; mixed fruits; demi tasse.

With this is served a pint of good table wine.

As one goes up with the scale of prices in the restaurants that charge , . 25, . 50, , . 50, and for their dinners it will be found that the difference lies chiefly in the variety from which to choose and from the surroundings and service.

Take, for example, the following typical menu for a dollar dinner, served at the Fior d'Italia, and compare it with the fifty-cent dinner just mentioned: Salami and anchovies; salad; chicken broth with Italian paste; fillet of English sole, sauce tartare; spaghetti or ravioli; escallop of veal, caper sauce; French peas with butter; roast chicken with chiffon salad;

ice cream or fried cream; assorted fruits and cakes; demi tasse.

Wine with this dinner is extra.

Now going a step up in the scale we come to the . 50 dinner as follows: Anchovies, salami (note that it is the same as above); combination salad; tortellini di Bologna soup; striped bass a la Livornaise; ravioli a la Genoese and spaghetti with mushrooms; chicken saute, Italian style, with green peas; squab with lettuce; zabaione; fruit; cheese; coffee.

Wine is extra.

Let us now look at the menu of the . 50 dinner, without wine: Pate 'de foie gras--truffles on toast; salad; olives; Alice Fallstaff;

Italian ham "Prosciutto;" soup--semino Italiani with Brodo de Cappone;

pompano a la papillote; tortellini with fungi a funghetto; fritto misto;

spring chicken saute; Carcioffi all'Inferno; Capretto al Forno con Insallata; omelet Celestine; fruit; cheese, and black coffee.

This dinner must be ordered three days in advance.

These menus will give a good idea of the different classes of dinners that can be obtained.

Between are dinners to suit all tastes and pocketbooks.

If you wish to go beyond these there is no limit except the amount of money you have.

If but the food value be taken into consideration then one will be as well pleased with the fifty-cent dinner as he will be at the higher priced meals, but if light and music and brilliant surroundings are desired, then one must pay for them as well as for the meal he eats.

All of the restaurants mentioned serve good table d'hote dinners, giving an astonishing variety of foods for the money, and it is all cooked and served in a manner that leaves nothing to be desired.

As before mentioned if you wish a table d'hote dinner composed entirely of sea food you can get it at the Shell Fish Grotto for one dollar.

A good rule to follow when dining at any of the restaurants is: When in doubt order a table d'hote dinner.

You will always get a good meal, for the least out lay of money and least expenditure of thought.

Often one desires something a little different, and this is easy, too, and you can conserve your brain energy and get the most for the least money by seeing the proprietor or manager of the restaurant and telling him that you wish to give a little dinner.

Tell him how many will be in the party and give him the amount you wish to spend.

It will be surprising, sometimes, to see how much more you can get for a slight increase in the price.

Of course your wines and cocktails will be extra and these must be reckoned in the cost.

From this we come to the ordered dinner, and here is where your own knowledge and special desires come in.

Here, too, comes a marked increase in the cost.

You now have the widest range of possibilities both as to viands and as to price.

It is not at all difficult to have a dinner, without wine, that costs twenty-five dollars a plate, and when you come down to the more normal dinners, unless you confine yourself to one or two dishes you will find that you far exceed in price the table d'hote dinners of equal gastronomic value.

While this is true it is well to be able to order your dinner for it frequently occurs that one does not care to go through the heavy course dinner provided table d'hote.

Sometimes one wants a simple dish, or perhaps two, and it is well to know something about them and how to order them.

We have made it a rule whenever we have seen something new on the bill of fare to order it, on the theory that we are willing to try anything once, and in this way we have greatly enlarged our knowledge of good things.

It is also well to remember national characteristics and understand that certain dishes are at their best at certain restaurants.

For instance, you will be served with an excellent paste at a French restaurant, but if you want it at its best you will get it at an Italian restaurant.

On the other hand if you desire a delicate entree you will get the best at a French restaurant.

For instance, one would not ask for sauer braten anywhere except at a German restaurant.

It will readily be seen that the Elegant Art of Dining in San Francisco means much more than the sitting at table and partaking of what is put before you.

Dining is an art, and its pleasure is greatly enhanced by a knowledge of foods, cooking, serving, national characteristics, and combinations of both foods and wines.

How few people are there, for instance, who know that one should never drink any hard liquor, like whisky, brandy, or gin, with oysters.

Many a fit of acute stomach trouble has been attributed to some food that was either bad or badly prepared when the cause of the trouble was the fact that a cocktail had been taken just prior to eating oysters.

Some of the possibilities of dining in San Francisco may be understood when we tell you of a progressive dinner.

We had entertained one of the Exposition Commissioners from a sister State and he was so well pleased with what he had learned in a gastronomic way that he said to us: "The Governor of my State is coming and I should like to give him a dinner that will open his eyes to San Francisco's possibilities.

Would it be asking too much of you to have you help me do it?"

"We shall be glad to.

What do you want us to do?"

"Take charge of the whole business, do as you please and go as far as you like."

"That is a wide order, General.

What is the limit of price, and how many will be in the party?"

"Just six.

That will include the Governor and his wife, you two and myself and wife.

Let it be something unusual and do not let the cost interfere.

What I want is something unusual."

It has been told us that when the Governor got back home he tried to tell some of his friends about that dinner, but they told him he had acquired the California habit of talking wide.

This is the way we carried out the dinner, everything being arranged in advance: At 6:30 we called at the rooms of the Governor in the Palace Hotel and had served there dry Martini cocktails with Russian caviar on toasted rye bread.

An automobile was in waiting, and at seven o'clock we were set down at Felix's, in Montgomery street, where a table was ready for us and on it were served salami of various kinds, artichokes in oil and ripe olives.

Then came a service of soup, for which this restaurant is famous, followed by a combination salad, with which was served a bottle of Pontet Canet.

The automobile carried us then over to Broadway and at the Fior d'Italia our table was waiting and here we were served with sand-dabs au gratin, and a small glass of sauterne.

All the haste we made was on the streets, and when we finished our course at the Fior d'Italia we whirled away over toward North Beach to the Gianduja, where had been prepared especially for us tagliarini with chicken livers and mushrooms, and because of its success we had a bottle of Lacrima Christi Spumanti, the enjoyment of which delayed us.

Again in the automobile to Coppa's where Chicken Portola was served, with green peas.

Accompanying this was a glass of Krug, and this was followed by a glass of zabaione for dessert.

Back again to the heart of the city and we stopped at Raggi's, in Montgomery street near Commercial where we had a glass of brandy in which was a chinotti (a peculiar Italian preserved fruit which is said to be a cross between a citron and an orange).

Then around the corner to Gouailhardou & Rondel's, the Market Cafe, where from a plain pine table, and on sanded floor, we had our coffee royal.

As a fitting climax for this evening we directed the chauffeur to drive to the Cliff House, where, over a bottle of Krug, we talked it all over as we watched the dancing and listened to the singing of the cabaret performers.

This dinner, including everything from the automobile to the tips cost but fifteen dollars for each one in the party.