Where do music, beautiful lettering and food come together? Why, on the 6th Floor, of course! This month's 6th Floor Test Kitchen celebrates the 100 year old San Francisco Symphony and comes from the
Richard Harrison Collection of Calligraphy and Lettering.
San Francisco Symphony Cook Book: a collection of International recipes - the favorites of San Francisco musicians, guest artists and patrons of music was compiled in 1963 by the San Francisco Symphony Foundation. It includes recipes from appetizers to desserts and everything in between. Each comes with a short description where the recipe came from written by the contributor. "I think," states the editor, "that those who attend the San Francisco Symphony concerts will have a dimension added to their present enjoyment. It may cross their minds, during a rendition of
Prelude à l'après-Midi d'un Faune, in a grateful and companionable sort of way, that the Principal Flute supplied them with that divine recipe for 'Mushrooms Fantastique' -- or that the French Horn's opening passage in Schubert's C
Major Symphony is being played by the donor of 'Dutch Honey Spice Cake'!"
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Photo of Byron J. Macdonald from
Letter Arts Review, vol. 15, no. 1 (1999)
Harrison Collection of Calligraphy & Lettering, SFPL |
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But it is not the delicious recipes or the connection with the city's symphony that merits the cook book's addition to
Book Arts & Special Collections, it is the fact that the
San Francisco Symphony Cook Book was designed by one of San Francisco's premiere calligraphers, Byron J. Macdonald.
Byron J. Macdonald began his career in the lettering arts painting billboards and "showcards" for the theater. Eventually he became a successful independent lettering artist working for companies such as the Emporium, Pacific Telephone, and Benson & Hedges Cigarettes. He also worked for various political and governmental agencies, including the position of scribe to the White House during the Kennedy and Carter administrations.
1
Macdonald is most recognized for his layout expertise - producing calligraphic layouts in shapes such as religious crosses, spirals, circles, and Christmas trees. Many examples of his work, as well as
books he authored, can be found in the
Richard Harrison Collection of Calligraphy and Lettering in the
Book Arts & Special Collections Center on the 6th Floor.
Macdonald shared his enthusiasm for the art by helping to found the
Friends of Calligraphy and by teaching at the California College of Arts & Crafts in Oakland. He was also an avid patron of music in San Francisco, which leads us back to the SF Symphony Cook Book and our recipe of the month: Chocolate Coffee Ring (aka,
Schokoladen-Gugelhupf.)
Eugene A. Winkler, an SF Symphony cellist, contributed the Gugelhupf recipe and with 6 eggs, 2½ cups of sugar and almost a pound of butter - who could resist? Add in a swirl of cocoa and you've got a real crowd-pleaser! Here is the recipe from the San Francisco Symphony Cook Book-- enjoy!
1¾ cups butter 4 tsp baking powder
2¼ cups sugar 6 egg whites, stiffly beaten
6 egg yolks (large eggs) 4 Tbsp cocoa
1 cup milk 4 Tbsp lukewarm water
4¼ cups sifted flour 2 Tbsp sugar
Rind of one lemon, grated
- Beat butter until creamy. (This is the most important part of the recipe; the beating might require from 18 to 20 minutes. Feed the butter into the beater with a spatula.)
- Add sugar, egg yolks, milk, half the flour, and lemon rind; stir until fluffy. Combine baking powder with remaining flour and add to mixture. If the mixture is very heavy and sticky at this point you might as well stop here and throw the whole thing away. Otherwise beat your egg white now and fold them into the mixture.
- Divide mixture into 2 parts. Stir cocoa with water and sugar until smooth. Add this to one part of batter and blend well.
- Butter and flour deep-fluted ring mold (Gugelhupf-Form). Put one layer of white and one layer of dark batter into mold; repeat.
- Bake in 350 degree oven 1½ hours. (Perhaps it will be done in one hour; mine never was.)
Serves: 12-15 people -- if they're not teen-agers!
Chocolate Coffee Ring (aka, Schokoladen-Gugelhupf)!
photo: L. Weddle.
1 Barbara Lande, "Remembering a Man with a Fourish for Life," Letter Arts Review, vol. 15, no. 1 (1999): 8-13.
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