A Treasure Of Bohemian San Francisco Classic Recipes
I discovered a treasure of classic San Francisco Bohemian cuisine as I was browsing through an old cookbook there. People often brag about NYC and it’s food and restaurants and how world class they are. Of course, they’re right, but personally I love to go to San Francisco and enjoy their eats being that New York City is so far from Los Angeles.
Look out into the ocean in NYC and tell me if you picture clean tasting oysters or other shellfish. I think not. Now take a view out into that beautiful Pacific Ocean anywhere from the hills of San Francisco and you can see that the oysters and shellfish are happier and more carefree, they don’t mind coming to someone’s dinner table and delivering great taste. Dem darn NYC seafood critters pull weapons on you, want to play 3 card molly before they let you eat them and then want you to give them a separate subway token just to ride home with them.
I love both cities for the great choices of food and prices they provide. San Francisco to me is more romantic and has beautiful women that I think appreciate romance a bit more than those New Yackers…I find myself sneaking over to San Francisco whenever I can get me one of those cheap tickets so I can go on a “great food at cheap prices” treasure hunt. The city never let’s me down.
Here in Mississippi this week we were bombarded with Gustav, who peed all over the state , with fresh water of course, a few downed trees, and power outages along with many of our fellow Louisianians. Thanks folks for coming here. We always enjoy you.
Now that we have 2 other hurricanes working there way here(don’t know the names yet) I figured I’d catch up on reading some of my vintage cookbooks, so I could come up with some kinda meal that reminds me of sunny days. The book I chose is titled,”Bohemian San Francisco :Its Restaurants and Their Most Famous Recipes.” The Elegant Art of Dining. This book is a 4 out of 5 stars in my opinion, and that’s only because I wanted more of those recipes!!!!
This book was written in 1907 and the recipes are just as good today as they were back then. I promise you that. It takes you on a tour of the restaurants that were popular back then and I think some of them still exist. The chef and cooks(some of them sneaked the recipes out) talk about some of their most famous recipes and popular dishes. One of the dishes I discovered in that cookbook immediately caught my attention because it uses a whole coconut to cook the chicken in. I immediately went to the store and got me some coconuts. I would suggest you following the directions in the recipe but know that I cook so much in my professional life, I made some changes to accommodate my cooking style. I add kaffir lime leaves, (or lime zest,) lemongrass, chopped cilantro and chopped fresh jalapenos in mine. I also use a serrated knife or small coping saw to cut the tops of the coconut so that I can place them back on the coconut once I have put my ingredients in it. I also wrap the whole coconut with heavy duty aluminum foil. That’s just me though, You do what you like …but please… enjoy this recipe as much as I did.
Chicken Portola a la Coppa
Take a fresh coconut and cut off the top, removing nearly all of the meat. Put together three tablespoonfuls of chopped coconut meat and two ears of fresh, green corn, taken from the cob. Slice two onions into four tablespoonfuls of olive oil, together with a tablespoonful of diced bacon fried in olive oil, add one chopped green pepper, half a dozen tomatoes stewed with salt and pepper, one clove of garlic, and cook all together until it thickens. Strain this into the corn and coconut and add one spring chicken cut in four pieces. Put the mixture into the shell of the coconut, using the cut-off top as a cover, and close tightly with a covering of paste around the seals to keep in the flavors. Put the coconut into a pan with water in it and set in the oven, well heated, for one hour, basting frequently to prevent the coconut’s burning.
A bare recital of the terms of the recipe cannot bring to the uninitiated even a suspicion of the delightful aroma that comes from the coconut when its top is lifted, nor can it give the slightest idea of the delicacy of the savor arising from the combination of the coconut with young chicken. It is not a difficult dish to prepare, and if you cannot get it at any of the restaurants, and we are sure you cannot, try it at home some time and surprise your friends with a dish to be found in only one restaurant in the world. If you desire it at Coppa’s on your visit to San Francisco you will have to telephone out to him in advance (unless he has succeeded in getting back to the city, which he contemplates) so that he can prepare it for you, and, take our word for it, you will never regret doing so. If you want to get this cook book just go to my bookstore: Oldschoozchef
You will not be disappointed in this or any of the recipes from my other Vintage Cookbooks. If you’re serious about cooking and want to get back to authentic cuisine…
Try Vintage Cookbooks at Oldschoozchef
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