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Mar. 12, 2005 The greatest cook book writer in history is without a doubt George Leonard Herter, author of The Bull Cook series. Volume one is still readily available, and I encourage all cooks to go buy a copy. The value of the book is more than just the recipes which are excellent; the opinions that accompany the recipes are interesting and very amusing to read. The full title of the book is The Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices. The origin of each recipe is given though this is not a scholarly book, and the accuracy is dubious; but he writes with such convincing confidence that the reader wants to believe that Mr. Herter's version of history is the correct one, and all others are fairy tales as he claims. He has a strong writing style that is reminicent of Ernest Hemingway who he knew. In his third volume Mr. Herter includes several recipes attributed to the famous writer including a peanut butter and onion sandwich that was supposedly Hemingway's favorite. A bull cook refers to the cook in a chuck wagon, lumber camp, or fishing and hunting lodge. This usually brings to mind a cranky old man--irritated by having to get up early to cook everyone's breakfast, while possibly suffering from a hangover. But don't let the title fool you. These recipes range from simple to very sophisticated and refined. The book begins with meats, and the very first recipe is for corned meat. (I have my St. Patrick's Day beef brining in the refrigerator now.) Notice I wrote meat and not beef because he says the recipe is good for "venison, bear, antelope, and beef." Later in the book he adds javelina (a kind of wild pig) to the possible mix. He has a prize winning recipe for roast, and he explains what thirty-nine different cuts of steak are. I discovered the best way to cook a steak from this book. Try frying a one inch seasoned sirloin steak in an iron skillet for three or four minutes a side. Yum! There are also many hamburger recipes, and the book has the best barbecue sauce recipe I have ever tasted. He claims it's Stonewall Jackson's recipe, but I doubt it. Stonewall Jackson wouldn't eat hot pepper, and this recipe is loaded with it. As an avid outdoorsman, he, of course, has many fish and game recipes including several recipes for turtle. The book was originally self-published, and was sold in his sporting goods store and his mail order catalogue. Herter's went out of business around 1970 and was sold to another company. Another delicious discovery I came across in this book is an ancient beef and leek soup recipe. There are whole sections on sandwiches and sauces. The recipes for Worchesteshire sauce and mayonaise really work. The dessert recipes--rum cake, cream puffs, and struedel to name a few-- are sublime. Mr. Herter grew up during prohibition so he was also an expert wine maker, and this book has one hundred wine recipes, and he explains how to make gin, beer, and whiskey. The book ends with a helpful hints section; most interesting is "How to survive an atom bomb attack." This reveals the time period the book was written which was during the height of the cold war. I enjoyed this book so much that I went ahead and bought some of his other books: The Bull Cook Volume II, The Bull Cook Volume III, George the housewife and how to lose weight and never go hungry, How To Get Out of the Rat Race and Live on Ten Dollars a Month, and How to Go on an African Safari for $690. All are nuggets. The first three have more terrific recipes and hilarious commentary which is sometimes on purpose and sometimes not. In the latter two books he never gets around to telling exactly how one is supposed to live on ten dollars a month, or budget $690 for an African safari, but they are wildly fascinating boy scout like manuals. To complete my Herter collection I'm looking for a Herter catalogue from the 1960's, and the book, How to live with a B....ch. Mr. Herter was a know-it-all who wrote a book about marital counseling, and that's what he entitled it. If anyone has any biographical information about Mr. Herter, please e-mail me. His brother was Secretary of State under Eisenhower. I'd like to finish this column with three of my favorite Herter sayings. Herterisms, I call them. "If a politician spoke his real thoughts, he could not get elected." "A man may get tired of sleeping with the same woman, but he never gets tired of a good piece of cake." "Cake mixes are like rubber padded bras. There is just no place for them in this man's world." ------------ About the author Mark Gelbart: My book, Talk Radio, is a black comedy about a radio talk show host who gets kidnapped and psychologically tortured by a loser. It will be published by Publish America within the next year. Email: agelbart@aol.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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