The Elegant Art of Dining: Bohemian San Francisco, Its ... - iMedia

were a medicine. The use of garlic, so much decried as plebeian, is the secret of
some of the finest dishes prepared by the highest chefs. It must not be forgotten
that in the use of all flavors and condiments there may be an intemperance,
there lying the root of much of the bad cooking.
Garlic, for instance, is a flavor and not a food, yet many of the lower class
foreigners eat it on bread, making a meal of dark bread, garlic and red wine. It
is offensive to sensitive nostrils and vitiates the taste when thus used, but when
properly added to certain foods it gives an intangible flavor which never fails to
elicit praise. What is true of garlic is also true of the many herbs that are used.
It is easy to pass from a rare flavor that makes a most savory dish to a taste of
medicine that spoils a dinner. With the well-known prodigal and wasteful habits
of America the American who learns the use of herbs usually makes the initial
mistake of putting in the flavoring herbs with too lavish a hand, and it is only
after years of experience that a knowledge of proper combinations is obtained.
Visitors have often expressed wonder at the variety of foods and delicate flavors
in San Francisco restaurants, and possibly this brief explanation may give some
comprehension of why San Franciscans always want to get back to where they
“can get something to eat.”
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