Woman’s Home Companion Cook Book – Part 5

I absolutely love snacky food so I was looking forward to the chapter on Appetizers. It has 24 pages of lovely definitions and loads of recipes for canapés, hors d’oeuvres, dunking trays which accompany hors d’oeuvres, plus recipes for cocktails juices and ways of garnishing fruit cups.

The Chapter starts:

“Though Socrates argued that hunger was the best appetizer, the ancient Greeks and their Roman conquerors munched celery, chicory and endive before meals, and the custom of eating to encourage eating has continued. To crisp salad greens, Europe added more elaborate introductions – Russian caviar, Italian antipasto, French pâté de foie gras, cheese or or smoked sausages, and Scandinavian pickled or smoked fish or smögåsbord. America adopts them all and adds Yankee inventions involving shellfish, or California premières of fruit.

Hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and light canapés, clear soups and introductory salads serve as teasers, their purpose to excite rather than satisfy hunger. They are, in a sense, advertisements of the dinner to follow; hence they should be carefully prepared and attractive to look at. Don’t begrudge the tie it takes to make them subtle harmonies of colour and flavor; first impressions are important. On the other hand, don’t forget that some guests will prefer the simple potato chip or unadorned olive to the most elaborate achievements in canapé design.

Canapés and hors d’oeuvres made to eat with fingers instead of forks are the thing to serve with cocktails before dinner. Sea-food cockctails, fruit cups, first-course salads and appetizer soups are served at the table.

Parties, whether afternoon or evening, also call for canapés and hors d’oeuvres; and the heartier sort of appetizer may do duty as the main dish of the buffet supper.”

There are some recipes that are new to me in this chapter so I am looking forward to trying them out.