Old Cookery Books and Ancient CuisineHazlitt, William Carew
History
Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine
Hazlitt, William Carew
Cooking -- Bibliography; Cooking -- History
At the time that the "School of Instructions" was written, the French
and ourselves had both progressed very greatly in the Art of Cookery
and in the development of the _menu_. DelaHay Street, Westminster,
near Bird-Cage Walk, suggests a time when a hedge ran along the
western side of it towards the Park, in lieu of brick or stone walls;
but the fact is that we have here a curious association with the
office, just quoted from Rose, of Master Confectioner. For of the plot
of ground on which the street, or at any rate a portion of it stands,
the old proprieter was Peter DelaHaye, master confectioner of Charles
II. at the very period of the publication of Rose's book. His name
occurs in the title-deeds of one of the houses on the Park side, which
since his day has had only five owners, and has been, since 1840, the
freehold of an old and valued friend of the present writer.
It may be worth pointing out, that the Confectionery and Pastry were
two distinct departments, each with its superintendent and staff. The
fondness for confections had spread from Italy--which itself in turn
borrowed the taste from the East--to France and England; and, as we
perceive from the descriptions furnished in books, these were often of
a very elaborate and costly character.
The volume is of the less interest for us, as it is a translation from
the French, and consequently does not throw a direct light on our own
kitchens at this period. But of course collaterally it presents
many features of likeness and analogy, and may be compared with
Braithwaite's earlier view to which I shall presently advert.
The following anecdote is given in the Epistle to Fox: "Many do
believe the French way of working is cheapest; but let these examine
this book, and then they may see (for their satisfaction) which is the
best husbandry, to extract gold out of herbs, or to make a pottage of
a stone, by the example of two soldiers, who in their quarters were
minded to have a pottage; the first of them coming into a house and
asking for all things necessary to the making of one, was as soon told
that he could have none of these things there, whereupon he went away,
and the other coming in with a stone in his knap-sack, asked only for
a Pot to boil his stone in, that he might make a dish of broth of it
for his supper, which was quickly granted him; and when the stone had
boiled a little while, then he asked for a small bit of beef, then for
a piece of mutton, and so for veal, bacon, etc., till by little and
little he got all things requisite, and he made an excellent pottage
of his stone, at as cheap a rate (it may be) as the cook extracted
Gold from Herbs."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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