The Shamrock Cook Book

P. Burns & Co. - 1915

Printed by the Calgary-based Western Printing & Lithographing Co., this particular edition is not included in Elizabeth Driver’s Culinary Landmarks; other 1915 editions were printed by S.A. Hynd Litho-Print Ltd. of Calgary (1043–44). P. Burns and Co. was established by Patrick Burns in Calgary in 1890, soon expanding to Edmonton and Vancouver as well. After the scandal of Upton Sinclair’s meat-packing exposé The Jungle (1906), this small cookbook emphasized the nutritional and sanitary quality of the Burns plants, particularly the “mammoth Calgary Packing-house,” open for inspection by consumers’ leagues and domestic science classes. It also points out that “The utmost care is taken in making our sausage—the kitchen is a model of cleanliness—all meat is Government Inspected meat.” Burns also ran a chain of retail stores, selling the Shamrock prestige brand, which encompassed meat, lard, butter, and eggs; Glendale Brand Fancy Creamery Butter; and Dominion brand, a lower-priced alternative. The recipe for “Escalloped Salmon” indicates that Burns also sold fish. While many of the recipes emphasize pork, Burns and Co. also declared that “The good red beef of Alberta—first cousin to ‘the Rare Roast Beef of Old England,’ is, after all, our great specialty.” This book followed traditional household manuals by including pithy and edifying quotes running across the top of the page. Another World War I-era Shamrock Cook Book featured two Irish characters, the tall and thin Shamrock, and short and stout Weaney (Driver, “Canadian Cookbooks” 34). Unfortunately this was their only appearance.