Introduction

Few cookery experts, I presume, have had the privilege of hearing a well known actor declaiming and explaining cookery recipes. But Hector Abbas, like so many great artists, has a keen understanding and appreciation of the gastronomic art and a veneration for the traditional dishes of his native land. His eyes glistened as I mentioned the names of certain Dutch dishes which evoked memories of his boyhood. I could picture him as a small boy, prowling about in a Dutch kitchen—that immaculate and spotless sanctuary, as sacred to the Dutch housewife as a Victorian “parlour” was to the Victorian housewife—watching and learning the intricacies of various culinary processes. He remembered how certain things were “beaten,” how a slice of meat was rolled and tied into a neat little parcel—tied in a particular way, so that it could be quickly untied; and his explanatory gestures were as descriptive and enlightening as his words. I must thank him for giving me a few hours of his valuable time and helping me to select these typically Dutch recipes, and I must also thank a fellow countryman of his—Mr. A. V. de Beaufort, secretary of the Dutch Club—for supplying me with much of the material for this section of my book.