The Pleasures of the Table: An Account of Gastronomy from Ancient Days to Present Times. With a History of Its Literature, Schools, and Most Distinguished Artists; Together With Some Special Recipes, and Views Concerning the Aesthetics of Dinners and Dinner-givingEllwanger, George H. (George Herman)
History
The Pleasures of the Table: An Account of Gastronomy from Ancient Days to Present Times. With a History of Its Literature, Schools, and Most Distinguished Artists; Together With Some Special Recipes, and Views Concerning the Aesthetics of Dinners and Dinner-giving
Ellwanger, George H. (George Herman)
Gastronomy
"Get the liver of the sheep, when you kill one, and cut it
as thin as you can, and chop it; mix it with as much suet
shred fine, half as many crumbs of bread or biscuit grated,
season it with some sweet herbs shred fine, a little nutmeg
grated, a little beaten pepper, and an anchovy shred fine; mix
all together with a little salt, or the anchovy liquor, with
a piece of butter, fill the crust and close it; boil three
hours."
In Mrs. Smith's "Compleat Housewife" (1736) we find these instructions,
entitled "To Collar A Pig":
"Cut off the head of your pig; then cut the body asunder; bone
it, and cut two collars off each side...."
In Mrs. Glasse's injunctions for roasting a pig, the author is yet more
colourful:
"Stick your pig just above the breast-bone, and run your knife
to the heart...."
It will be immediately evident that injustice has been done to this
noble and worthy companion of man--that of confounding him with the
hare, whose only practical use is in a _civet_ or a pie, and in
furnishing amusement in coursing. For neither in "The Art of Cookery"
nor in her "Compleat Confectioner" does Mrs. Glasse utter the axiom,
"First catch your hare," but, as we have seen, "First stick your pig"!
It was Beauvilliers who said, in presenting his recipe for hare-pie:
"_Ayez un lièvre._"
Among the dishes presented in "The Art of Cookery" which will be
appreciated by the feminine reader is one termed "A Bride's Pie," which
no doubt was considered fully worthy the appellation of an old culinary
writer--"a darling dainty":
"Boil two calves' feet, pick the meat from the bones, and
chop it very fine, shred small one pound of beef suet, and
a pound of apples, wash and pick one pound of currants very
small, dry them before the fire, stone and chop a quarter of
a pound of jar raisins, a quarter of an ounce of cinnamon,
the same of mace and nutmeg, two ounces of candied citron,
two ounces of candied lemon cut thin, a glass of brandy and
one of Champagne, put them in a china dish with a rich puff
paste over it, roll another lid and cut it in leaves, flowers,
figures, and put a glass ring in it."
It may have been some of Mrs. Glasse's compounds that prompted
Johnson's remark, "Women can spin very well, but they cannot make a
good book of cookery." Many other works during the eighteenth century
succeeded "The Art of Cookery," though none achieved its marked
popularity. Sufficient has been said of ancient English manuals,
however, to present some idea of their quality and enable the reader
to judge of the culinary science as it was understood by former
generations. Far more slow to develop than in France, English cookery
has still much to attain among both the middle and well-to-do classes,
and even in the case of most of the restaurants and hotels; the era has
not yet dawned in Great Britain when, on arising from the dinner-table,
one may truly exclaim:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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