Program Note

Emile Dumont’s La Bonne Cuisine Française (Tout ce qui a rapport à la table, manuel-guide pour la ville et la campagne) (“Fine French Cooking (Everything That Has to Do with the Table, Manual Guide for City and Country”) was first published in 1899. “Plum Pudding,” adapted by the composer from a larger recipe, appears under Mets anglais (“English Dishes”). “Queues de boeuf” (“Ox-Tails”) is taken whole. “Tavouk Gueneksis,” a Turkish delight, is also complet, and comes from the sections Patisserie et confiserie turques (“Turkish Pastry and Sweets”). Two ingredients of the original recipe are missing from the musical setting of “Civet à toute vitesse” (“Rabbit at Top Speed”): muscade (“nutmeg”) and un verre d’eaude-vie (“a glass of brandy”). During his lifetime, the volume sat on the Bernstein kitchen shelf along with other cookbooks.

1. Plum Pudding
2. Queues de Boeuf (‘Ox Tails’)
3. Tavouk Guenksis
4. Civet à Toute Vitesse (“Rabbit at Top Speed”)

Source: www.leonardbernstein.com