The man Cook, now become a requisite member in the establishment of a
man of fashion, is in all respects the same as that of a female Cook.
He is generally a foreigner, or if an Englishman, possesses a peculiar
tact in manufacturing many fashionable foreign delicacies, or of
introducing certain seasonings and flavours in his dishes, which render
them more inviting to the palate of his employer, than those produced
by the simply healthful modes of modern English Cooks.
The man Cook has the entire superintendance of the kitchen, while his
several female assistants are employed in roasting, boiling, and all
the ordinary manual operations of the kitchen. His attention is chiefly
directed to the stew-pan, in the manufacture of stews, fricassees,
fricandeaux, &c. At the same time, his situation is one of great labour
and fatigue, which, with the superior skill requisite for excellence in
his art, procures him a liberal salary, frequently twice or thrice the
sum given to the most experienced female English Cook.
As the scientific preparations of the man cook would themselves fill
a large volume, and are not generally useful in English families, it
is not deemed necessary to give place to them in this work; but the
following useful receipts having, inadvertently, been omitted under
the head Cook, they are inserted in this place rather than omitted
altogether.
As the art of Cookery, or _gourmanderie_, is reduced to a regular
science in France, where an egg may be cooked half a hundred ways, so
those who can afford large families of servants, and give frequent
entertainments, consider a man-cook as economical, because he produces
an inexhaustible variety without any waste of materials, and that
elegance and piquancy of flavours which are necessary to stimulate
the appetites of the luxurious. In France, all culinary business
is conducted by men, and there are, at least, as many men cooks as
considerable kitchens; but in England, men cooks are kept only in about
3 or 400 great and wealthy families, and in about 40 or 50 London
hotels. But it is usual in smaller establishments to engage a man cook
for a day or two before an entertainment.[21]
METHOD OF PREPARING AN EAST INDIA CURRY, WITH THE ARTICLES
USED THEREIN.
Let the fowl, duck, rabbit, meat, fish, or vegetable, &c. be cut
up into small pieces, sprinkling a little flour thereon, fried in
butter, (with two middle-sized onions sliced fine,) or what is called
drawn in a pan, then stewed in the gravy from a pound of beef (though
water is as frequently used) over a brisk fire, for about twenty
minutes, with two or three table-spoonsful of the mixture, as below,
stirring the whole occasionally; or the powder may be rubbed well
over the fowl, &c. and fried with it, adding two ounces of butter,
the juice of a fine lemon, or half a wine glass of lemon juice,
or lemon pickle,—two cloves of garlic, chopped very fine, and one
tea-spoonful of salt. If any of the ingredients predominate too much,
or an insufficiency prevail, subtract or add according to taste. For
a larger quantify of meat than the weight of a large fowl, use more
of the mixture in proportion. The curry will be much improved by the
mixture being made into a thin paste with a few spoonsful of cream,
and then rubbed over the meat, previously to its being put into the
stew-pan.