Part 1
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BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
"The Garden's Story, or Pleasures and Trials of an Amateur Gardener." Illustrated by Louis Rhead.
"The Story of My House." With a frontispiece by Sidney L. Smith.
"In Gold and Silver." Illustrated by A. B. Wenzell and W. Hamilton Gibson.
"The Rose." By H. B. Ellwanger. Revised edition, with an Introduction by George H. Ellwanger.
"Idyllists of the Country Side." With a title-page by George Wharton Edwards.
"Love's Demesne: A Garland of Contemporary Love Poems Gathered from Many Sources."
"Meditations on Gout, with a Consideration of its Cure through the Use of Wine." With a frontispiece and title-page by George Wharton Edwards.
Copyright, 1902, by DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.
"Gasteria is the Tenth Muse; she presides over the enjoyments of Taste."
BRILLAT-SAVARIN.
"The History of Gastronomy is that of manners, if not of morals; and the learned are aware that its literature is both instructive and amusing; for it is replete with curious traits of character and comparative views of society at different periods, as well as with striking anecdotes of remarkable men and women whose destinies have been strangely influenced by their epicurean tastes and habits."
ABRAHAM HAYWARD.
_INTRODUCTORY_
_It is far from the purpose or desire of the author to add another to the innumerable volumes having practical cookery as their theme--the published works of the past decade alone being too numerous to digest._
_The following chapters, therefore, though touching upon the practical part of the art, will be found more closely concerned with the history, literature, and æsthetics of the table than with its purely utilitarian side. Indeed, a complete manual of practical cookery is one of the impossibilities, for no person would have the patience to compile it; and even were such a work achievable, few readers could find sufficient time for its perusal. A glance at the portly "Bibliographie Gastronomique" of Georges Vicaire, in which English contributions to the subject are so meagrely represented, will suffice to show the difficulties such a task would impose. To classify properly the multitudinous dishes which, virtually identical, figure under so many different names, would of itself require years of severe application and laborious research. It may be observed, notwithstanding, that the world stands much less in need of additional inventions as regards the utilisation and preparation of foods than of an expert anthologist to garner the most worthy among recipes already existing in such bewildering profusion._
_In the succeeding pages the writer has drawn from many sources, both ancient and modern--wherever an anecdote which is not too familiar has been found amusing, or an observation has been deemed pertinent or instructive. An occasional recipe has been given, and the sweet tooth of femininity has not been neglected. The hygiene of the table has likewise been considered, and some pernicious customs in connection with dining have been plainly dealt with. There are also some allusions to wines with respect to their complementary dishes, although wine is so important a subject as to call for a volume by itself._
_It has not been deemed advisable to pass the cookery of the entire globe under review, even in a cursory manner. To devote separate chapters to Scandinavian, South American, and Oriental dishes, or even to purely Spanish, Mexican, and Russian food preparations, were both needless and cumbersome. The best have been embodied in the cosmopolitan kitchen; and the rest, for the most part, require the atmosphere of their native surroundings to be appraised at their proper value. It is with the French that the annalist of the table has chiefly to deal._
_Necessarily, in treating of what Thomas Walker has termed "one of the most important of our temporal concerns," many gastronomic expressions and names of dishes, and not a few observations relating to the table, which would lose their piquancy or precise colouring on translation, have been retained in the language in which they originally appear. "Les quenelles de levraut saucées d'une espagnolle au fumet," "les amourettes de bœuf marinées frites," "l'épaule de veau en musette champêtre," "un coq vièrge en petit deuil," for example, while natural and comprehensible in French, would sound somewhat bizarre as "Forcemeat balls of leverets sauced with a racy Spanish woman," "the love-affairs of soused beef fried," "a shoulder of veal in rural bagpipes," and "a virgin rooster in half-mourning." And surely, in reviewing the aide-de-camp of the cook, it becomes obligatory to employ a French term upon occasion, and equally seemly to address him now and then in the classic tongue of the kitchen._
_The principal meal has chiefly been considered, as through this to the greatest extent depend the health and frame of mind that determine the actions of man from day to day. It will, accordingly, be an entrée compounded of numerous flavourings, or a braise with its "bouquet garni" that has simmered gently over the smothered charcoal, rather than a familiar pièce de résistance which the reader is invited to partake of and discuss at his leisure._
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTORY ix
I COOKERY AMONG THE ANCIENTS 3
II WITH LUCULLUS AND APICIUS 24
III THE RENAISSANCE OF COOKERY 49
IV OLD ENGLISH DISHES 80
V L'ALMANACH DES GOURMANDS 112
VI A GERMAN SPEISEKARTE 145
VII THE SCHOOL OF SAVARIN 175
VIII FROM CARÊME TO DUMAS 199
IX THE COOK'S CONFRÈRE 229
X AMERICAN _vs._ ENGLISH COOKERY 248
XI AT TABLE WITH THE CLERGY 280
XII SUNDRY GUIDES TO GOOD CHEER 315
XIII OF SAUCES 344
XIV THE SPOILS OF THE COVER 354
XV TWO ESCULENTS PAR EXCELLENCE 383
XVI SALLETS AND SALADS 409
XVII SWEETS TO THE SWEET 428
BIBLIOGRAPHY 447
INDEX 469
"A Sa Toute-Puissance!" _Frontispiece_ From the painting by Gabriel Metzu, 1664
PAGE
Fantaisie culinaire: le poisson prévoyant iv By A. Thierry
Le Cuisinier xi After the engraving by Mariette
FACING PAGE
A Bacchante 3 From the stipple engraving in colours by Bartolozzi, after Cipriani
Portrait du Gourmand 24 After Carle Vernet
Le Livre de Taillevent 49 Facsimile of title-page of the edition of 1545
The Cries of Paris: "Old clothes, old laces!" 69 Facsimile of an old French plate
First of September 80 From the engraving after A. Cooper, R.A.
The English Housewife 94 Facsimile of title-page of the edition of 1675
"Un Viel Amateur" 112 A. B. L. Grimod de la Reynière, né à Paris le 20 9bre, 1756. From an old print
Le Premier Devoir d'un Amphitryon 121 Frontispiece of the fifth year of the "Almanach des Gourmands"
Les Méditations d'un Gourmand 132 Frontispiece of the fourth year of the "Almanach des Gourmands"
The Chef 145 From a print after an old Dutch master
The Bird of St. Michael 160 From the etching by Birket-Foster, R.A.
Promenade Nutritive 175 Frontispiece of "Le Gastronome Français" (1828)
"Pour voir de bons refrains éclore, Buvons encore!" 186 Frontispiece of "Le Caveau Moderne" (1807)
Alexandre Dumas 199 From the etching by Rajon
"L'Art du Cuisinier" (Beauvilliers') 213 Facsimile of title-page, 1824, Vol. II
Day's Closing Hour 229 From the etching by Charles Jacque
"First Catch Your Hare!" 248 From the engraving by J. W. Snow
"Rôti-Cochon" 261 Facsimile page from volume, 1696
Non in Solo Pane Vivit Homo 280 From the original oil-painting by Klein
La Contenance de la Table 296 Facsimile of title-page (early part of sixteenth century)
"Enfant, tu ne dois charger Tant de la première viande Se plusieurs en as en commande Que d'austres ne puisses menger."
Promenade du Gourmand 315 Frontispiece of "Le Manuel du Gastronome ou Nouvel Almanach des Gourmands" (1830)
La Table 331 Frontispiece of the Second Canto of "La Conversation" of the Abbé Délille, 1822
A Supper in the Eighteenth Century 344 From the engraving after Masquelier
The Spanish Pointer 354 From the engraving by Woollett, after the painting by Stubbs, 1768
Partridge Shooting. I. La Chasse aux Perdrix 364 From the coloured print after Howitt, 1807
Partridge Shooting--September 375 From the coloured engraving by Reeve, after the painting by R. B. Davis, 1836
Truffle-hunting in the Dauphiné 383 From the Salon picture after Paul Vayson
"Nouvel Manuel Complet du Cuisinier et de la Cuisinière" 397 Facsimile of frontispiece, 1822
The Wounded Snipe 409 From the engraving after A. Cooper, R.A.
"Après Bon Vin" 428 From the engraving by Eisen in the Fermiers-Généreaux edition of the "Contes et Nouvelles" (1762)
Le Pâtissier Français 442 Facsimile of title-page of the edition of 1655
THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE
COOKERY AMONG THE ANCIENTS
"L'art qui contient toutes les élégances, toutes les courtoisies, sans lesquelles toutes les autres sont inutiles et perdus; l'art hospitalier par excellence qui emploie avec un égal succès tous les produits les plus excellents de l'air, des eaux, de la terre."--FAYOT.
Cookery is naturally the most ancient of the arts, as of all arts it is the most important. Whether one should live to eat, is a question concerning which the epicure and the ascetic will hold widely varying opinions; but that one must eat to live, will scarcely admit of controversy. The man who is wise in his generation will be inclined to choose a happy medium. Or perchance the French axiom that we only eat to live when we do not understand how to live to eat, may somewhat simplify the matter. As it is largely through food and drink that man derives his highest mental efficiency and physical well-being, as equally through improper diet accrue countless bodily disorders, it would appear that the proper choice and preparation of aliments and the selection of beverages should receive the profound consideration of every one.
In few of the arts has progress been more apparent during modern times. The mechanic has improved its accessories until the utmost perfection would seem to have been attained, medicine and chemistry have endeavoured to determine what elements of our daily dietary are injurious to certain individuals or to all, volume after volume has been written upon the subject, while the grand army of cooks has been busy in inventing new combinations or in resurrecting forgotten recipes.
And yet the digestive ills of humanity have continued to multiply, even though there are over six-score ways presented by a single author of serving the rabbit, and a competent priest of the range can utilise the egg in hundreds of different forms. Is it that with greater variety in our aliments, a greater number of ailments is a necessary sequence, and that as mankind increases in culinary knowledge digestion decreases in power? It is an olden adage that too many cooks spoil the broth; and it may be worthy of consideration whether a superfluity of dishes is not responsible to a considerable degree for the furtherance of various stomachic maladies. Or, on the other hand, is it that with the trebled facilities of locomotion supplied by modern science, and the closer confinement of indoor pursuits, the cause may be largely ascribed to lack of exercise and insufficient oxygenation?
However this may be, the art of cookery is far less generally understood than its great hygienic importance demands, while the art of dining is understood only by the relatively few. As M. Fayot observed to Jules Janin, "Without doubt, Monsieur, as you have often said, it is difficult to write well, but it is a hundred times more difficult to know how to dine well." Or, as Dumas has expressed it, "To eat understandingly and to drink understandingly are two arts that may not be learned from the day to the morrow." He himself was a striking example of the accomplished _bon vivant_, and his marked intellectual superiority over his son may be readily attributed to his greater knowledge of dining.
Where, indeed, more than at the well-appointed dinner-table may one echo the sentiment of Seneca, "When shall we live if not now?" "An empty stomach produces an empty brain," observes the author of the "Comédie Humaine"; "our mind, independent as it may appear to be, respects the laws of digestion, and we may say with as much justice as did La Rochefoucauld of the heart, that good thoughts proceed from the stomach." It is, however, a source whence our joys and sorrows both may spring. Neglect and indifference may impair its action to destruction; but, humoured kindly, it ever guides us in paths of peace. In a healthy and a hungry state, it yearns for special gifts which gustatory edicts demand, and rarely will confusion attend them when their bestowal is flavoured with prudence. It is a faithful minister and discriminating guardian, which rebels only when its functions are imposed upon; but when they are, its resentment is thorough and relentless. Worthy then, most certainly, of solicitous regard is the nourishment of an organ which may shape our ends for weal or woe.
"Cookery," said Yuan Mei, the Savarin of China and author of a scholarly cook-book during the eighteenth century, "is like matrimony--two things served together should match. Clear should go with clear, hard with hard, and soft with soft.... Into no department of life should indifference be allowed to creep--into none less than into the domain of cookery."
Concerning the art itself, it may be remarked that the French have been to cookery what the Dutch and Flemish schools have been to painting--cookery with the one and painting with the other having attained their highest excellence. Rubens, Rembrandt, Teniers, Jordaens, Ruysdael, Snyders, Berghem, and Cuyp may be paralleled in another branch of art by Carême, Vatel, Beauvilliers, Robert, Laguipière, Véry, Francatelli, and Ude. But, as in painting during its earlier stages Flanders and the Netherlands owed much to the Roman and Venetian schools, so in cookery the French are vastly indebted to their predecessors and former masters the Italians, who, if less distinguished colourists, were not to be despised as draughtsmen, and who if by instinct not as skilled in the chiaroscuro of sauces, were most dexterous in creating breadstuffs and pastry. Montaigne's reference to an Italian cook of the period will be remembered in this connection--one of the artists who had been employed by Cardinal Caraffa who discoursed upon the subject in such rich, magnificent words, well-couched phrases, oratoric figures, and pathetical metaphors as learned men use and employ in speaking of the government of an empire.
It is a long stone's throw from the first apple eaten in the Garden of Eden--and this was a wild fruit, and not a Spitzenberg or a Northern Spy--to a Chartreuse à la bellevue or that triumph of the ovens of Alsace--the pâté de foie gras. The first dish of which any record exists is the red pottage of lentils for which Esau sold his birthright--a form of food still very common in Germany and France. The first direct mention of breadstuffs in the Bible occurs in Genesis, where Abraham tenders the angel a morsel of bread, and bids Sarah make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.
The primitive tribes and nations were content of necessity with the spoils of the chase and the then more limited products of the vegetable world; and long before John the Baptist's time the Hebrews lived to no small extent upon locusts and kindred insects. In his enumeration of the animal food which they might eat without rendering themselves unclean, Moses specifies four insects of the locust family (Lev. x, 22). Some species of the _Locusta_ are yet esteemed a delicacy in the East, these being cooked with oil, roasted upon wooden spits, baked in ovens, or broiled. The Bedouins, who are ever on the march, pack them with salt in close masses, carrying them in their leathern sacks. By the Athenians they were usually roasted; and mention is made by Athenæus of an _archimagirus_, or master cook, who, in his tour around the ovens and stock-pots, enjoins one of his subalterns to take the utmost precaution with them and see that they obtain only a light golden hue.
Eggs, milk, rice, and honey, onions, succory, leeks, and garlic, the leaves of the vine, radishes, and carrots, with other growths of the garden, formed the staple articles of diet among ancient peoples. Vegetable food was more common than animal, the latter being served principally in the case of entertainments and special occasions of hospitality (Gen. xviii, 7, 8). Instead of lard and butter, olive oil was employed, and is still almost entirely employed by the Orientals. Fish constituted an important article of diet, together with game, lambs, and kids. Though not common, the flesh of young bullocks and stall-fed oxen was highly prized (Prov. xv, 17; Matt. xxii, 4), the shoulder being considered the choicest part. The master of the house was the matador, and upon the mistress devolved the preparation of the food. Among primitive cooks, Rebekah proved herself a performer of no mean ability, as instanced by her dressing the flesh of a young kid after the manner of venison, in order to obtain a father's blessing for her favourite son. Roots, berries, fruits, and the quarry of the bow and harpoon composed the fare of aboriginal man, and proved all-sufficient. When the struggle for physical existence called for strong exercise in procuring necessary food, little variety in nutriment sufficed, at no loss of brawn and sinew.
With many savage races, bread-fruit, nuts, the plantain, the cocoa-palm--known as the "tree of life"--with numerous other food-yielding palms, served as a principal means of subsistence. The first fruit-tree cultivated by man is said by all the most ancient writers to be the fig, the vine being next in order. The almond and pomegranate were cultivated at an early date in Canaan, and the fig, grape, pomegranate, and melon were known to Egypt from time immemorial. In Solon's law's, the olive, the fig, and the vine are enumerated, as also the cabbage, crambe, or sea-kale, pulse of various kinds, and onions. Cabbage and asparagus were known to the Greeks from the earliest ages, and by them the chestnut, largely utilised for food, was termed the "Oak of Jupiter." The original home of wheat and barley is supposed to be Mesopotamia and the fertile plains of the Euphrates, whence, after a period of cultivation, they spread eastward to China and westward to Syria and thence to Europe. Among other food-stuffs of the inhabitants were onions, vetches, kidney-beans, egg-plants, pumpkins, lentils, cucumbers, chick-peas, and beans--with such fruits as the apple, fig, apricot, pistachio, almond, walnut, and the product of the palm and vine.
Coffee, of very remote use in Abyssinia, was unknown to the early Greeks and Romans; they were, however, familiar with the cucumber, cultivated in India for at least three thousand years. The cucumber was also known to Moses and the Israelites, the patriarch referring to fish and cucumbers, melons and leeks, as among the delicacies that were freely eaten in Egypt (Numbers xi, 5). Various kinds of _Cichorium_, or chicory, were familiar to antiquity, while _Lactuca_, or lettuce, was extensively grown as a salad. The onion was a favourite with the ancient Egyptians, garlic likewise being made much use of--a plant denounced by their priests as unclean.[1]