TRACING THE LIFE OF MASTER CHEF LOUIS P. DE GOUY

“Mr. De Gouy has the gift of making cooking an adventure. Even the plainest dishes become exciting; and for those of bolder spirit, there are many roads opening to new and unexpected gustatory pleasures. He writes with infectious enthusiasm for his subject, salting the book with anecdotes and amusing tales on the origin and the history of philosophy and poetry about the timeless art of cooking and eating” – From the dust jacket of The Gold Cookbook, thirteenth printing, 1960.

“From time immemorial, soups and broths have been the worldwide medium for utilizing what we call the kitchen byproducts or as the French call them, the ‘dessertes de la table’ (leftovers), or ‘les parties interieures de la bete’, such as head, tail, lights, liver, knuckles and feet.” Louis P. De Gouy, The Soup Book (1949).

“Even today, some Dutch mothers place a piece of stale bread in their babies’ cradles to ward off disease. In Morocco, stale bread is considered an excellent cure for stuttering and present-day Egyptians believe that licking a stale crust will cure indigestion” from Breads Superstitions, Louis P. De Gouy The Bread Tray, Dover Publishing, 1974

“Be not deceived by the apparent nonchalance with which an expert cook or master chef throws together an attractive and tempting meal. It is merely proof that, through practical experience, she or he knows thoroughly all the steps and preparation that seem to follow each other so automatically to a successful conclusion. No beginner should feel ashamed to depend on whatever help other people can give, either through printed recipes or by personal instruction” –Louis P. De Gouy from Creative Hamburger Cookery, Dover Publishing, 1974

“Good soup is one of the prime ingredients of good living. For soup can do more to lift the spirits and stimulate the appetite than any other one dish.”
Louis P. De Gouy, The Soup Book, Dover Publishing, 1974

“One whiff of a savory aromatic soup and appetites come to attention. The steaming fragrance of a tempting soup is a prelude to the goodness to come. An inspired soup puts family and guests in a receptive mood for enjoying the rest of the menu.” Louis P. De Gouy, The Soup Book, Dover Publishing, 1974
And

“There is nothing like a plate or a bowl of hot soup, its wisp of aromatic steam making the nostrils quiver with anticipation, to dispel the depressing effects of a grueling day at the office or the shop, rain or snow in the streets, or bad news in the papers.” – Louis P. De Gouy The Soup Book, Dover Publishing, 1974.
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Until relatively recently, I had never heard of Louis De Gouy, and I didn’t have any of his cookbooks. Now I have one, The Gold Cookbook, and I have no idea where it came from–which, I am abashed to admit, is not unusual for me. I have acquired cookbooks singly and by the boxful…recently by the tote-bagful when my daughter in law and I went to the Lancaster Friends of the Library book sale. When two of my girlfriends died, five years apart, I was given most of their cookbooks. Mandy and I frequently bought the same cookbook at the same time, so now I had two of many different cookbooks.

As I was researching various other cookbook authors, I began coming across references to Louis De Gouy. Most surprising, I discovered that he was one of the founders of the now-defunct Gourmet Magazine which I loved and subscribed to for many years. (*When my husband and I moved to Florida in 1979, I discarded decades of old Gourmet magazines, never imagining they might be valuable). When we returned to California in 1982, I started up a new collection of Gourmet Magazines.

Gourmet Magazine debuted in January, 1941 and the final issue was published in November, 2009.

Gourmet Magazine was the idea of Earle R. MacAusland (1891-1980). He conceived the magazine in his mind in the late 1930s and began putting the pieces for it together. He approached Boston artist, Samuel Chamberlain, who agreed to be an out-of-house resource. Chamberlain was useful because he could both illustrate, and write well. MacAusland also recruited a professional chef, Louis Pullig de Gouy. Pearl Metzelthin was the first editor-in-chief.

The first issue appeared in December 1940 (dated January 1941). MacAusland was 50 years old at the time. That first issue was a mere 48 pages, with an illustration of a roasted boar’s head on its cover. The main piece was on the food and wine of Burgundy. In fact, the early years of the magazine would focus on French cooking as well as eastern American food.

In 1941, Clementine Paddleford came onboard as a regular contributor (Clementine Paddleford is one of the cookbook authors on my to-do list to write about). The “You Asked for It” column of recipes requested by readers started in 1944. The magazine started running serial narrative articles that became popular with readers. The covers were often created by Henry Stahlhut.
I learned that De Gouy was the Chef at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel for 30 years but curiously, despite spending three decades at one hotel, he served at numerous other establishments, both here and abroad.

De Gouy began his career as chef under his famous father, who was then Esquire of Cuisine to the late Emperor Francis Josef of Austria. Later he studied under the renowned Escoffier. In time his name became associated with some of the great culinary establishments in Europe and America. In France: Grand Hotel, Hotel Regina, Hotel du Louvre, Hotel de Paris, and Monte Carlo. In England: Carlton Hotel, Leicester Square, Hotel Kensington, and Grand Hotel, Folkstone. in Spain: Casino of San Sebastian and Hotel Maria Christina. In America: the old Hotel Belmont and the old Waldorf-Astoria in New York City; Old Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, Conn.; La Tour d’Argent in Chicago; and countless others. He served as Chef Steward aboard the J. P. Morgan yacht Wild Duck when it made its cruise around the world. (For a man who only lived to be seventy-one years old, he really got around).

In addition to being one of the founders of Gourmet Magazine, De Gouy was consulting editor and chef for Restaurant Management Magazine, and consulting chef for the National Hotelmen Association of America.

And if that were not enough, Chef De Gouy authored sixteen cookbooks! How was that accomplished? Well, I can do the math—many of them were published after De Gouy had passed away but it appears that he had compiled the manuscripts and obtained copyrights on them. It would be interesting to know who inherited his works and managed to put them into a respectable collection of cookbooks. And perhaps this also explains the huge value placed on SODA FOUNTAIN/LUNCHEONATTE/DRINKS AND RECIPES published in 1940. There is one listed on Amazon.com and the price is $5,000.00! (I don’t want ANY book that much, to pay such an exorbitant price for it! It’s not like you’re talking about the Gutenberg Bible! And I can’t help but think how many cookbooks I could buy with five thousand dollars!)

The following is a list of De Gouy’s cookbooks with an effort made to putting them in their original date order. I have spent hours searching for additional information but for the most part, come up empty-handed.

• The Derrydale Fish AND GAME Cook Book 1930s (** see footnotes)
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• Ice Cream and Ice Cream Desserts: 470 Tested Recipes, original copyright 1938, Copyright renewed 1966
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• Sandwich Manual For Professionals, 1939, Published by The Dahls in Stamford Ct.
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• Soda Fountain & Luncheonette Drinks & Recipes, 1940, Published by The Dahls in Stamford, Ct.

• The Bread Tray: Recipes for Homemade Breads, Rolls, Muffins and Biscuits, Original copyright 1944, Copyright renewed 1972
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• The Gold Cook Book, originally published 1947, with numerous reprints, up to and including 1960, Published by The Chilton Company-Book Division
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• The Soup Book, Copyright 1949 by Mrs. Louis De Gouy, Dover Edition 1974
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• The Salad Book, 1950

• Creative Hamburger Cookery; 182 Unusual Recipes for Casseroles, Meat… 1951

• The Pie Book, 1974 Dover Publishing
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• The Oyster Book
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• Sandwich exotica: The sandwich manual for connoisseurs
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• The Ultimate Sandwich Book: With Over 700 Delicious Sandwich Creations
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• The Cocktail Hour, copyright 1951 by Mrs. LDG, Greenberg Publishing
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• Chef’s cook book of profitable recipes; 1500 recipes for hotels
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• The Burger Book; tasty ways to serve ground meat
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**I am listing the Derrydale Fish & Game Cookbooks as a single entry even though I have seen dozens of listings showing them separately – either the fish or the game cookbook which confused me, initially, because the listing would be something like “Derrydale Fish Cookbook” accompanied by a photo of the cookbook showing illustrating it as “Derrydale Fish AND Game Cookbook”. I finally found the following which I think clarifies the listing:

“In 1927 Eugine Connell III established the Derrydale Press, the leading publisher of outdoor and sporting books in America. Its original 169 published titles are prized by book collectors around the world. Louis De Gouy was a master chef with possible lineage to a chef of the Austrian Royal Court. Louis was also one of the original founders of Gourmet Makes which made its debut in 1941. This set of wonderful cookbooks was first published in 1937. These are a set of the 1987 reprints and were a limited edition of 3000. This two volume set is a classic in culinary literature. Written in encyclopedic form they are guides to cooking every type of game, fish and crustaceans imaginable. From bear to woodcock and bass to whiting you will never be at a loss for something new and unusual again. These hard bound leather editions are filled with 634 pages of recipes in mint unused condition. They are the perfect gift for the hunter, fisherman or culinary genius in our life.”

Postscript: I have begun collecting the cookbooks of Louis De Gouy, searching for any kind of copies, to read, not necessarily for cookbook collecting value. Out of five that I recently purchased from Alibris.com, four were published by Dover Publishing, and one by Running Press. A clue was found almost immediately by opening the pages of The Bread Tray. Inside is this:

This Book is fondly Dedicated
To the Memory Of
Louis P. De Gouy
(1876-1947)
By His Daughter
Jacqueline S. Dooner

The original copyright for The Bread Tray was obtained by Chef De Gouy in 1944 and renewed in 1972 by his daughter. Curiously, the copyright for De Gouy’s “Creative Hamburger Cookery” was obtained by MRS. Louis P. De Gouy in 1951. This, too, contains the same dedication to De Gouy’s memory by his daughter, Jacqueline.

“Ice Cream and Ice Cream Desserts” is listed by L.P. De Gouy, who seemed to favor changing his name around from time to time. (Did he, perhaps, think that using his own Louis P. De Gouy name on all of his books might flood the market? The original copyright on “Ice Cream and Ice Cream Desserts” is 1938 by L.P. De Gouy and the copyright was renewed by his wife in 1966. It seems fair to assume that Louis P. De Gouy obtained copyrights on all of his original manuscripts whether published or not, and those copyrights were renewed by his heirs.

Not much can be found on the internet that I haven’t already shared with you. Louis P. De Gouy was only 71 years old when he passed away (I can say “only” because I am now 70, approaching 71). And yet he accomplished so much in his lifetime!

I am looking forward to reading his cookbooks. You might want to read them too. These are all “from scratch” cookbooks and I doubt you will find a can of mushroom soup or a box of onion soup mix anywhere in the lot. For those interested, the best prices I’ve found to date were on Alibris. Com.

Happy Cooking – and Happy Cookbook Collecting!

Sandra Lee Smith