Born a slave in 1857, Rufus Estes worked his way up from a Pullman Private Car attendant to a job preparing meals for the top brass at one of the country's largest steel corporations. This cookbook, the first to be written and published by a black chef, includes a number of dishes from Estes’ vast culinary collection.
Commenting briefly on his Southern childhood and early years as a railway attendant, Estes goes on to offer simple instructions for preparing such standard fare as fried chicken, beef roast, and glazed carrots. But the heart of the book lies in mouth-watering recipes for dishes rarely found in contemporary cookbooks — among them Creole-style chicken gumbo, chestnut stuffing with truffles, cherry dumplings, and southern-style waffles. Nearly 600 recipes — from haute cuisine to family-style meals — are included.
Sure to intrigue food enthusiasts and collectors of old cookbooks, Rufus Estes’ Good Things to Eat will also appeal to anyone interested in the African-American experience.
In 1911, a black Chicagoan named Rufus Estes published his own cookbook, Good Things to Eat as Recommended by Rufus. Estes had worked for years as a chef in deluxe private railroad cars, where he honed his culinary skills preparing lavish meals for industry magnates and even American presidents. Estes ran a more stationary kitchen as a caterer to executives with the U.S. Steel Corporation, the first billion-dollar corporation in the world, by the time his cookbook appeared. Sadly, this man described in a black Chicago newspaper as "one of the best known chefs of Chicago" died in obscurity.