COOKING, most particularly the creation of original dishes, is a demanding art, just as in music, painting, or architecture, the artist must have special knowledge and a particular sensitivity. To build a culinary art of one's own requires expérience, patience, and care.

As is true of every art, cooking varies from place to place, through the years fashions change and cooking, too, must change and even at times be revolutionized. But since it appeals to the senses as well as to the mind, and since palate and stomach are not easily fooled, cooking must be fundamentally honest. It must be free from complicated artifice and unnecessary extremes or it will quickly be exposed as inferior.

Nor, however, must it be limited only to what is considered classic in culinary art. To lean always on the famous regional dishes or the established recipes of tradition is to standardise ones art. My expérience has been that the right way to cook is to draw ones inspiration from many sources, both old and new, and from many regions and countries. The directing principle is to adopt all that is of value and never to exclude anything of quality. This and the disdain of false élaboration are the rules that have governed the Chantraine cuisine.

I long considered that it was my province to perforrn my art to the best of my ability and that I should leave the writing of cookbooks to others. However, rnany friends.of long standing, my dear wife, and so many of the guests at our restaurant, from all parts of the world, who have honored us with their complirnents-all these kind people finally persuaded me to write these recipes for publication. Their argument has been that our cooking should be enjoyed by others in their own homes as well as in our restaurant and that many who may not have the good fortune to visit Belgium would never know of the work we have done here unless LA CUISINE CHANTRAINE were published.

And so, the writing of this original recipes was undertaken. The result of this labor is a small volume that is in no sense a comprehensive cookbook but is instead the collection of our family's original recipes, created by my father, my uncle, and myself. It includes basic préparations that are common to all fine cooking.

LA CUISINE CHANTRAINE is dedicated to my wife Yvonne in particular, to my family and friends in general, and to all those who encouraged me to write it. We hope it will bring pleasure to those who read it and that in time we may hear echoes of satisfaction from those who use it.

Since this is my art, I have followed an old custom that will perhaps not be unfamiliar to you and dedicated many of the recipes to those who have befriended me, my family, and, on occasion, my country.
CHARLES CHANTRAINE
1966