In 1995, among David Tudor's numerous cookbooks in his Stony Point kitchen, I came across a tiny handwritten book of favourite recipes. A pocket looseleaf-paper memo book, 102 tiny pages long, with a black leather cover. When I brought it to the house at Tomkins Cove where Tudor was living, he was excited: it contained the recipe for his favourite triple-seed cake, along with that for its fruit juice glaze, as well as dozens of other enticing items. Most of the recipes are for Indian dishes, the rest are an eclectic international mix. Tudor said it was written out in one sitting.

His reputation as a cook, especially of Indian food, is legendary. Stories abound of intricately prepared dinners, several days in the making, served to large gatherings of friends at the Stony Point house during the 1970s. I thought, when I saw the tiny cookbook, that it deserved to be published in a facsimile edition. It would be a perfect hommage to this aspect of Tudor's creative and social life, reflecting also on his musical practice which he also conducted in the manner of a master chef, with expert combination of sweet, sour and pungent ingredients. The word started to get around that this concise recipe collection of Tudor's existed; the little book was photocopied several times by friends.

A physical facsimile edition may never be realized, but the cookbook has lent itself well to an electronic edition, and it is presented here in color scans from beginning to end. You can proceed linearly two pages at a time, or jump to an alphabetical index of the recipes. From the index page you can jump to a list of David's abbreviations found in the recipes.

My thanks to David Tudor for offering his cookbook to be shared in this way.

Matt Rogalsky
October 1995, rev. March 1998, April 2001
mrogalsky@wesleyan.edu

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