Twenty-four Little
FRENCH DINNERS
AND
How to Cook and Serve Them

BY
CORA MOORE

NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
681 Fifth Avenue

Copyright 1919, by
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY

All Rights Reserved

Printed in the United States of America

PREFACE

The Little Dinners of Paris are world-famous.No one can have sojournedin the fascinating capital in its normaldays without having come under theirspell. To Parisien and visitor alikethey are accounted among the uniquelycharacteristic features of the city'sroutine life.

Much of the interest that attaches tothem is, of course, due to local atmosphere,to the associations that surroundthe quaint restaurants, half hidden inunexpected nooks and by-ways, to thefact that old Jacques “waits” in hisshirtsleeves or that Grosse Marie servesyou with a smile as expansive as herown proportions, or that it is Justin orFrançois or “Old Monsoor,” with hiseternal grouch, who glides about thezinc counter.

But there is also magic in the arrangementof the menus, in the combinationsviof food, in the very names of the confectionsand in the little Gallic touchesthat, simple though they are, transformcommonplace dishes into gastronomicdelights.

There is inspiration in the art thatenters into the production of a Frenchdinner, in the perfect balance of everyitem from hors d'œuvre to café noir,in the ways with seasoning that workmiracles with left-overs and preservethe daily routine of three meals a dayfrom the deadly monotony of theAmerican régime, in the garnishingsthat glorify the most insignificant concoctionsinto objects of appetisingbeauty and in the sauces that elevateindifferent dishes into the realm ofcreations and enable a French cook toturn out a dinner fit for capriciousyoung gods from what an Americancook wastes in preparing one.

The very economy of the French isan art, and there is art in their economy.It is true that their dishes, as we haveknown them in this country, are expensive,vii–viiieven extravagant, but that is becausethey have been for the most partthe creations of high-priced chefs. Theywho have made eating an avocationknow that it is not necessary to dineexpensively in order to dine well.

C. M.

New York, May, 1919.

CONTENTS