A Book of Hors d’Oeuvre

Title: A Book of Hors d’Oeuvre
Genre: Cookbooks
Author: Lucy G. Allen (1867-?)
Publisher: Bramhall House, Carkson N. Potter, Inc., New York, New York
Year: 1941 (revised and updated edition of 1925 book)
Pages: 142
Format: Hardcover, with dust jacket.
Provenance: “149” written in pencil on first page.
Contents: A Chat About Hors d’Oeuvre; Hors d’Oeuvre Foods and Garnishes; to Make Canapés; Flavored Butters; Canapés for Cocktails; Pierced Savories; Hors d’Oeuvre for the Compartment Dish; Spreads for Self-Service; First-Course of Table Hors d’Oeuvre; Miscellaneous Recipes; Varied Combinations for Serving.
Opening Sentence: “An hors d’oeuvre or appetizer is a small portion of highly seasoned and flavored food formerly used to precede a meal and now used for many occasions.”
Random Passage: “Spread anchovy butter on rounds of fried bread and on the outside edge arrange a border of the smallest-sized pearl onions. Set a curled anchovy in the center and in the center of the anchovy pipe a rosette of green or of red butter, using pastry bag and tube.” (Anchovy Canapés I recipe, from Canapés for Cocktails)
Goodreads Review Excerpt: “Why, Lord, why? Just when I start thinking food is universal, and with proper care you can make anything good, I run across something like this gem and remember the atrocity that was fussy food of the mid-twentieth century.” — Alessandra, February 12, 2012.
Notes: Hors d’oevres are the smallest, most labor-intensive of dishes. Although most 1940s-era people were seeking out simpler ways of preparing these foodstuffs (usually for smaller, more casual gatherings than that of the previous generation), Allen’s book pretty much sticks with the old-fashioned way using the most effort for eye-catching (if not too appetizing) results. The Goodreads reviewer was correct in describing this stuff as “fussy.” See for yourselves, below.