Audiobook · read by volunteers
Good Things to Eat As Suggested By Rufus
Rufus Estes (1857–1939)
Read by Dr. Pamela Russ, Denny Sayers (d. 2015), Kristen McQuillin, Scott Walter, Catherine Fitz, Robin Cotter, Alys AtteWater, Patricia Oakley, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Joyce Nussbaum · 20 chapters · 6 h 12
About the book
Rufus Estes was born into slavery in Tennessee in 1857, and by the turn of the twentieth century he had become the principal chef of a private railway car belonging to the steel magnates of the age. Good Things to Eat is his cookbook, filled with recipes for soups, fish, meats, desserts and much more, and with practical hints for the kitchen. It opens with a sketch of his own life, which makes it a personal document as well as a cooking manual. Twenty chapters and over six hours, shared among ten readers, present a remarkable picture of American food at the beginning of the last century, as well as of a man who rose against the odds. Listen for the old-fashioned names of dishes, and for the pride of a professional cook.
Introduction
Rufus Estes, who lived from 1857 to 1939, was born a slave in Tennessee and experienced first hand the turmoil of the Civil War. He began working in a Nashville restaurant at the age of sixteen, and in 1883 he took up employment as a Pullman cook. In 1897 he was hired as principal chef for the private railway car of U.S. Steel magnates, the late nineteenth century equivalent of today’s corporate jets. There he served succulent fare for the rich and famous at the turn of the twentieth century.
Good Things to Eat As Suggested by Rufus was published in 1911 and is an early cookbook by an African American chef. It collects hundreds of recipes, in a lively and practical manner, and it also includes a short autobiographical sketch. The text begins with a foreword, a sketch of his life, hints for kitchen maids and a table of weights and measures, and then moves through soups, fish, beef, veal and pork, and so on through a full range of dishes.
For listeners, the book is both a historical document and a source of curiosity. Some recipes will sound unfamiliar, and quantities are given in the style of the time. It offers a glimpse of American dining habits of the period, from everyday cooking to formal meals.
The LibriVox recording is divided into twenty chapters and lasts about six hours. Ten volunteers share the reading, among them Dr. Pamela Russ, Denny Sayers and Kristen McQuillin. It is a practical book, but it is also moving to hear the voice of a man who built a distinguished career from such difficult beginnings.
Public domain
Rufus Estes died in 1939: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text