George Mardikian’s favorite recipes:

According to the Life article, Mardikian told a Turkish United Nations delegation member eating his food, “A few years ago my greatest joy would have been to put poison in your eggplant just because you are a Turk. But now that I am an American I feel no animosity.”

Mardikian took his culinary skills abroad as a food consultant for the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1954. After the end of WWII he found many displaced Armenian families throughout Europe and convinced and helped more than 5,000 to immigrate to the United States by forming the American National Committee to Aid Homeless Armenians (ANCHA).

In 1951, Mardikian was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Harry S. Truman for his work as a consultant to the Quartermaster General of the United States Army. A portion of the citation reads, “With vigorous energy, keen powers of observation and analysis and a dynamic personality, he enlisted the enthusiastic interest of commanders and soldiers alike in the preparation and service of food under varying conditions in the combat zone.” Later that year, Mardikian would appoint his uncle as his chief Armenian typist and Soghomon Tehlirian as his assistant.

In 1976 Mardikian was honored by Presidents Nixon and Ford during the Bicentennial Fourth of July Commemorations for his sincere devotion to the United States and his great contributions to the greatness of the American democracy. In 1977 he was honored during the ceremonies for the opening of the Ellis Island Museum with five other prominent Americans who first saw the U.S. from the island.

It is said that George Mardikian’s recipe for a good life has three basic ingredients: belief in yourself, belief in your country and, most important, belief in God. Combine everything and back it up with hard work and a sense of humor – you can’t miss.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s obituary for Mardikian said, “He liked to tell army mess sergeants that they were competing with every soldier’s mother and that they had better use their wits to convert a slice of Spam into something more appetizing and attractive.” So concerned was Mardikian with conserving food during World War II, he issued 10% refunds to diners in war stamps if they would simply clean their plates.

George Mardikian’s final resting place is at Ararat Armenian Cemetery in Fresno. His wife Nazenig, his brother Archie and sister-in-law Minnie, and nephew Gregory are buried with him in the Mardikian family lot. Established in 1885, the cemetery is the burial place of many prominent figures of Armenian-American history, including Soghomon Tehlirian, Victor Maghakian, and William Saroyan.

“He was a great force of nature, with boundless energy,” said his son Haig Mardikian. “I literally don’t think this man slept.”

Here are some of George Mardikian’s favorite recipes featured at the United States War Food Administration website from February 1945:

Potato Salad

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh potatoes

2 hard-boiled eggs

1 teaspoon salt

White pepper, to taste

1 cup vinegar

1 pimiento (chopped finely) or cherry pepper

About 2 cups mayonnaise, to taste

1 small onion, sliced

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Preparation:

Boil potatoes in skins. When potatoes are cool, peel and cut in quarters. Then slice or dice. Add vinegar, mix well, and let soak. Slice onion and sprinkle salt over it. Then squeeze out all the juice and wash salt away with cold water. Mix onion with the potatoes, add the pimiento, eggs, salt and pepper, parsley and mayonnaise. Mix well and chill in the refrigerator for some time before serving.

Kouzou Kzartma (roast shank of lamb)

Ingredients:

4 lamb shanks

4 large pieces of potato

2 tomatoes, quartered or 1 cup tomato puree

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon paprika

2 cups water

Preparation:

Wash the lamb shanks well and let it stand in clean water for at least 15 minutes. Place lamb in an open roasting pan; add tomatoes, salt, paprika and water. Cook for half an hour at 375ºF. Turn meat over and cook for another half hour. Now add the potatoes to the same pan and roast with the lamb shanks for 30 minutes, then turn both potatoes and meat and let cook for another 30 minutes. Meat should cook for at least 2 hours altogether. Serve with its own juice as gravy.

Victory Garden Meal

Ingredients:

1 pound parsnips or celery root, shredded

1 pound carrots, shredded

1 pound potatoes, shredded

1 cup chopped parsley

2 cups sliced onions

1 cup peanut or olive oil

Salt and pepper

Bell peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes to stuff

2 cups tomato puree or sauce, to taste

Preparation:

Sauté onions in oil for 15 minutes. Then add shredded carrots, parsnips or celery root and cook for 15 minutes. Add shredded potatoes, parsley, salt and pepper, and cook until partly done. Stuff this vegetable mixture into the prepared peppers, eggplants or tomatoes or a combination of the three and set in a baking pan. Pour the puree or sauce on top and bake for 30 or 40 minutes. If there are leftovers, they are equally tasty when served cold for luncheon the following day.

Omar Khayyam’s Spinach Salad

Remove stems from raw spinach. Wash very well in cold water. To help remove sand and grit add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the water in which you wash it. Drain spinach well and cut into strips 1-inch wide. Season with salad oil and lemon juice and chill. When ready to serve add hard-boiled eggs (chopped) and garnish with tomatoes and asparagus. Serve with the following dressing.

Omar’s Dressing

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

7 cups catsup

1 pint salad oil

1 cup vinegar

2/3 cups warm water

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients except the oil, vinegar and water in a mixing bowl that has been rubbed with a clove of garlic. Stir ingredients into a smooth paste. Add the oil slowly alternating with the vinegar. Beat with an electric mixer into a thick dressing, adding the warm water slowly. Cover and keep in a cool place.

Bean Plaki

Ingredients:

1 pound white dry beans

1 cup diced potatoes

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup chopped onions

1-2 cups chopped parsley

2 cups tomatoes

1 cup olive oil or peanut oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped finely

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Soak the beans overnight. Wash them and cook in fresh water in a large pot. After cooking beans for 1 hour, add all other ingredients and cook for 1 hour more. Serve hot as a main dish in stew bowls, or serve cold, as a salad, on a lettuce leaf with a slice of fresh lemon.

Stuffed Rolled Cabbage Leaves

Ingredients:

1 green cabbage, medium-size

1 pound ground meat (lamb)

1 pound onions, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 cup rice

1 teaspoon salt

Black pepper, to taste

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup tomato puree or sauce

1 teaspoon dried mint or tarragon

Preparation:

Rinse the cabbage clean, then immerse it in a large pot of boiling water and cook it for 4-5 minutes until leaves are soft and pliable, but not overly soft.

Cut cabbage leaves into almost 6-inch squares. Mix well meat, onions, parsley, rice, pepper, juice of 1 lemon, mint or tarragon, and 1 teaspoon salt, and make into a stuffing. Put about one or two teaspoons of stuffing into cabbage leaves and roll like a long round package, say about 3 inches long, and 1 inch thick. Place in rows in a baking or cooking pot, add salt and 1 cup of tomato puree or sauce, and cover with water. Cover the pan and bake in the oven at 350ºF or cook on the stove until the rice is cooked. Cook for at least 1 hour. Check rice to ensure it is cooked. Serve hot.

Gregorian Cocktail

2 cups catsup

1 cup pickled relish

1 cup broiled and mixed chopped green peppers

1 medium onion and 1 tomato

6 dashes Tabasco sauce

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/6 teaspoon white or black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh or dried mint

7 cups juice of pickled grape leaves

Preparation:

Broil vegetables (I really mean broil either over charcoal or on the gas broiler), and chop very finely. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and chill. Keep covered in the refrigerator. When serving, cover top of this dish with chopped walnuts.

Dziranov Eavgit (Eggs with Apricots)

Ingredients:

6 eggs

1 large can apricots or 2 cups cooked dried apricots

1 cup butter

Preparation:

Drain off the juice and put apricots through a sieve. Pour pulp into a preheated buttered pan and simmer. Beat the eggs thoroughly and add to the apricots, stirring constantly so that eggs will not lump. Serve at once on hot plates with rice pilaf.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library. Compiled especially for CONSUMER TIME listeners by San Francisco’s famous chef, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library.

For these recipes, go to: https://archive.org/stream/CAT31071178/CAT31071178_djvu.txt

Some of these recipes were formerly posted on: www.lostrecipesfound.com

Dinner at Omar Khayyam’s Hardcover – April 14, 2020 by George Mardikian (Author). America’s ‘best known and best loved’ chef ran a world-famous Armenian restaurant in San Francisco. This is a new edition of the 1944 classic by George Mardikian, America’s first celebrity chef.

From the Foreword of this 150-page book, William Saroyan said, “It is a prize package of a book, but it is more than a cookbook. It is the smiling chef himself — the generous-hearted, enthusiastic, easygoing George Mardikian himself talking to you, just as he does in his famous restaurant, Omar Khayyam’s. When George Mardikian came to San Francisco to open his famous restaurant, Omar Khayyam’s, he was well aware that he followed an ancient and honorable tradition. George had taken pains to study the record, to examine the growth of American cookery in general and most especially California’s and San Francisco’s contribution to the tradition. What George really wants in this book is to tell you something of how he cooks the food that has won his restaurant in San Francisco a secure place in a city famous for providing gustatory pleasures.”

Order at Sophene Books: https://sophenebooks.com/collections/books/products/dinner-at-omar-khayyams

Order at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dinner-Omar-Khayyams-George-Mardikian/dp/1925937313

References:

For George Mardikian’s “Havabour” or “Wedding Soup,” go to: https://thearmeniankitchen.com/my-dinner-at-omar-khayyams/

See: https://armeniapedia.org/wiki/George_Mardikian

See: Remarkable Armenians at: https://www.remarkablearmenians.com/blog/george-mardikian

See: https://horatioalger.org/members/detail/george-m-mardikian/

See: https://www.facebook.com/armenianandmiddleeasterncooking/posts/how-george-mardikian-introduced-middle-eastern-food-to-americafor-over-50-years-/10156251618170794/

See: https://www.diningindiaspora.com/stories/2017/8/11/the-life-and-times-of-george-mardikian

See: https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/America-s-best-known-and-best-loved-chef-ran-16347392.php

See: http://ciadigitalcollections.culinary.edu/digital/collection/p16940coll1/id/9507/

See: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1067279190783552&id=273312546846891

See: https://mirrorspectator.com/2024/01/11/recipe-corner-dinner-at-omar-khayyams-armenian-grape-leaves-sarma/

See: https://mirrorspectator.com/2022/06/09/george-mardikians-famous-chicken-tchakhokbelli/

See: https://mirrorspectator.com/2021/03/04/recipe-corner-armenian-dolma-sarma-from-san-franciscos-sloat-garden-center/

See: https://mirrorspectator.com/2021/01/21/recipe-corner-dining-in-diasporas-armenian-yogurt-spice-cake/

See: https://www.tumblr.com/cakegirlabroad-blog/10907399128/creating-splendid-assemblies

See: “A Glimpse into the Life of the Armenian DPs in Europe” by Knarik O. Meneshian From the Armenian Weekly 2016 Magazine Dedicated to the 101st Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide: https://anca.org/a-glimpse-into-the-life-of-the-armenian-dps-in-europe/

See: https://islandlife-inamonastery.blogspot.com/2021/04/