Theodore Child--an American gastronomic missionary who unfortunately
died young while traveling in Persia--remarks in his book, _Delicate
Feasting_, that while there are hundreds of cook books, many of them
admirable in their way, and bought by many, few are read or used, for
the reason that most of them consist of a vast number of recipes, and
"a cook must be already very learned in his art in order to know how to
use them with advantage."
In other words, these books fail to explain the principles of the
art of cooking--the ways of preserving, developing, and combining
Flavors--as I have attempted to do in this chapter.
There are exceptions, and the best of these, so far as I know, is
Mary Ronald's _Century Cook Book_ in which various methods of cooking
are explained lucidly, so that those who boil, fry, broil, and so on,
not only may know what to do but why to do it thus and not otherwise.
The different sections, on meats, fish, vegetables, entrées, breads,
desserts, etc., all have prefatory pages of most useful condensed
information.
A fairly complete list of the best cook books and other treatises
on gastronomic topics may be found in Ellwanger's _Pleasures of the
Table_.
No fewer than 2,500 books and brochures, mostly French, are listed in
George's Vicaire's _Bibliographic Gastronomique_.
Probably the best and most widely used of the French cook books are
those of Urbain-Dubois. There are seven of them: _Cuisine Classique_,
_Cuisine Artistique_, _Grand Livre des Patissiers et des Confiseurs_,
_Patisserie D'Aujourd'hui_, _Cuisine D'Aujourd'hui_, _Ecole des
Cuisiniers_, and _La Cuisine de tous les Pays_, which includes recipes
of all the nations who know how to eat.
To another French classic, Richardin's _La Cuisine Française_ (_L'Art
du Bien Manger_) with its 2,000 _recettes_, its menus of historic as
well as gastronomic interest, I shall refer in the next chapter.
The Germans and Austrians not only have books on the special ways
of preparing food prevalent in different parts of the country, but
books about the specialties of other countries, such as the making of
marmalade in the English way, etc.
The author of _Die Kunst des Essens_, Emil Weissenturn, took the
trouble to make lists of the still surviving cook books of various
countries. Of 17 written in the fifteenth century, 10 were Latin, 1
English, while Germany, Italy and France each contributed 2. In the
sixteenth century Latin was still in the lead with 42, followed by
Germany with 30 and France with 21. Italy contributed 16, Spain 5,
Greece 2, England 2.
In the seventeenth century France heads the list with 104 books;
Germany printed 39, 31 were in Latin, 18 Italian, 10 English, 7 Dutch,
1 Portuguese, 1 Swedish. In the eighteenth century Germany comes to the
fore with 96, France following with 60 and England with 34; 14 are in
Latin, 11 Dutch, 5 Italian, 4 Spanish, 3 Swedish.
In the nineteenth century Germany's lead is still more remarkable--374
books as against 152 contributed by France. England makes a spurt with
118. Italy rises to 15; Sweden contributes 10, Holland 8, Poland 7,
while Latin survives with 7.
Of recent English and American books that have come to me for review I
liked particularly Nicolas Soyer's _Standard Cookery_, Marvin H. Neil's
_How to Cook in Casserole Dishes_ and _Practical Cooking and Serving_,
by Janet McKenzie Hill, which is a complete manual of not only how to
cook food, but how to select and serve it. The author is the editor
of the "Boston Cooking School Magazine," and she has a great deal of
interesting and valuable information to impart.
In 1911 Soyer's _Paper Bag Cookery_ was published. In it the famous
chef who originated paper bag cookery--which has many advantages
provided the right kind of paper is used--explained his method. His
_Standard Cookery_ includes the substance of the smaller book while at
the same time covering all the branches of cooking, with over four
hundred pages of menus. Hors-d'Œuvres are here treated more fully
than in any other English book, fifteen pages being given to them.
No fewer than seventy pages are given to this subject in Escoffier's
excellent _Le Guide Culinaire_.
[Illustration: Chafing dish cooking]
French raffinement is shown in many of Soyer's recipes. Under
"Fried Eggs," for example the average American cook will read with
astonishment that they should be dealt with one at a time and that,
with a wooden spoon, the yolk should be quickly covered up with the
solidified portions of the white in order to keep the former soft.
Imagine Bridget taking so much trouble. She might, perhaps, be induced
to heed these directions in making an omelette: "Heat the pan until
nearly a brown color. This will not only lend an exquisite taste to the
omelette but will be found to ensure the perfect setting of the eggs."
Such seeming trifles make perfection.
Casserole Cookery is quite important enough to have a book to itself;
it is the cookery of the future, and Mme. Neil's monograph of 252 pages
should be, like the _Century Cook Book_ and Soyer's _Standard Cookery_,
or Mme. Hill's book, in every kitchen.
In French restaurants more is always charged for casserole dishes
than for others and they are decidedly worth it. The Flavor of food
is particularly rich and appetizing when it has been cooked slowly in
earthenware pots. For braising, pot roasting, and stewing, which are
slow-cooking processes, the casserole is far superior to metal pans in
every way.
Chafing Dish Cooking is treated in Chapter XIV of the _Century Cook
Book_, and there are several smaller volumes specially devoted to
this interesting branch of the art--dining-room cooking it might be
called--one by Alice L. James.
Who has not enjoyed a welsh rarebit made in a chafing dish--or
terrapin, or lobster à la Newburg, or chicken livers, or crab toast,
smelts, venison, etc.?
For housekeepers of moderate means who want to know what wonders of
palatable cooking can be achieved with scraps and left-overs, among
other things, no guide is better than _The Helping Hand Cook Book_ by
Marion Harland and Christine Terhune Herrick. It contains menus for
every breakfast, lunch and dinner from the first of January to the last
of December.
While purchasers of fireless cookers are always provided with brief
printed instructions, I would advise every owner of such a box to get
a copy of Margaret J. Mitchell's _Fireless Cook Book_, which contains
full directions, with recipes and menus. The question of seasoning is
discussed; there are chapters on meats, vegetables, desserts, etc.;
hints as to how to tell good material from bad; directions to prevent
over or under cooking, etc.
[Illustration]
V