Roofer LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. ^ap. QnpF'Sl' fo A Shelf.-..b..S.4 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. BEAL COOKEEY. EEAL COOKEEY i^ BT W67 y ' NEW YORK CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY 104 5f 106 Fourth Avenue 4^^'^ ^^*^ Copyright, 1893, by CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY. A II rights reserved. THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS, KAHWAY, N. J. PEEFACE TO THE AMEEICAN EDITION. You must permit me to offer a word of explanation and of apology in inviting your attention to this pamphlet. It is based upon the supposition of no school and no traditions of good cooking. Now these do exist in the great centres from New York to California, and even perfect cooking can be found in places remote from capital towns, in Louisiana, Maryland, and Long Island, because of the tradition having been kept alive through gene- rations. But, alas, *' messy " cooking has of late years crept in to an alarming extent, and it is against this that I am warning you ; hence, I feel justified in presenting to you an extreme view of the existing state of things, a caricature, perhaps, but still true enough as regards the great majority of Anglo-Saxon feeders. ii PBEFACE TO THE AMEBICAN MDITIOJ^. To you, familiar as you are with the broiler, the grill, and the chafing dish, I need hardly whisper : Do not fry or bake meats ; but I wish to preach simplicity, and to inspire you with the desire of studying this important subject more or less your- self, instead of leaving everything to your excellent and well-paid cook. As to the variety I urge, it will prove a much easier task for you than for your British cousin, because you have everything he possesses except the sole, and you have an enormous variety besides, unless it be perhaps an occasional canvas-back, or a dish of terrapin that found its way across, the gift of a friend. The Gaul has the advantage of you in the matter of truffles — I do not admit goose livers, because, if you chose, you could have as good as ever were reared in Alsace ; you have only to stuff your bird with Indian corn in the Alsatian fashion, if the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals would let you. On the other hand, neither Gaul nor Briton can PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. iu boast the glorious variety of food offered by the American Continent — variety so great that entrees become comparatively an easy question to solve. I do not feel the need of a made dish, secundum artem, if you give me a soft shell crab; and who would want a salmi of game, if you give him a grass-plover or a canvas-back ? The hard crab in mid- winter is, by the way, a shellfish unapproached by any in Europe, and contains (I mean the female) the richest, sweetest, and most digestible fat I know. The tiny clam, raw or stewed, is also an advantage you have over your cousins, but it is only in the knowledge of its excellence, because the clam (and the soft clam, too) exist in abundance on the coast of Ireland and Scotland, only the natives would rather starve than eat them. The only source of danger with you is that you will but too often be tempted to have vegetables or fruit out of season and when not fully matured. I know you do not mind what the cost may be, provided you have a primeur to set before your iv PEE FACE TO THE AMEBIC AN EDITION. guests, but I maintain a good sound Newtown pippin is better than strawberries tasting of straw. Your larder is so bounteously filled with good things of all kinds that you may succeed with only a moderate amount of judgment and care on your part in putting a good dinner before your friends, and I hope the very few principles I attempt to lay down may enable you to produce your most excel- lent victuals in a simple and, notwithstanding the simplicity, in their most succulent form. ADDITIONS TO AMERICAN BILL OF FARE. Breakfast. (Dyspeptics beware of all sorts of hot bread and cakes.) Hash of all kinds. Fish balls. Stewed clams. Rice cakes. ) _, Buckwheat cakes. J ^ut no syrup. Hot corn bread. Dinner. Besides oysters, Little-neck Clams. Soups, Chicken with fresh Okra. PBEFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. v Entries, Green peppers, stuffed. >i » with Tomato Sauce. Game, Canvas-back ducks. Reed-birds. Rails. Upland Plover. CONTENTS. PABT I. CHAPTEE I. PAGE On what Indian cooks call " painted dislies," and on cooks running opposition shops to decorative artists — Dainty meals and real cookery capable of achievement with far less trouble . . .13 CHAPTER II. No meats to be fried — All sauces, except the natural gravy, to be served separately — Grilhng on char- coal — Eschew gas stoves for cooking of meats, and do not bake your joints . . . .17 CHAPTER III. On seasoning in the kitchen — Patent sauces not real cookery — Soups and vegetables not to be peppered CONTENTS. in the kitchen — Pure wine only, no " cooking " wine — Grilling preferable to frying for fish and fowl, as well as for meat — Caution as to over- cooking ..... 18 CHAPTER IV. On bills of fare and their composition . ^ ,20 CHAPTER V. Bills of fare (continued) — Best materials only to be used, including butter and everything that enters your kitchen . . , r . .22 CHAPTER VI. Simplicity, and again simplicity— On the folly of trying to produce dinners on the same lines as the banquets of the rich, who employ first-class French cooks — An excellent dinner quite possible in any house, even in lodgings . . » 24 CHAPTER VII. !)n entrees — The " messy " entree — The too rich entree — The flabby entree, and why always mashed potatoes as a basis for the "flabby" ? ... 26 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. PAGE Entrees (continued) — Good entrees, or none at all- Sauces to be served separately , . .29 CHAPTER IX. On the importance of taking an interest in cookery, of being on good terms with your cook, and of judicious criticism and praise — On studying the literature of cookery ... 30 CHAPTER X. On the mistake of employing a French chef if you are not a good judge of cookery— On the well-trained Mary Jane . . . . . .33 CHAPTER XI. On the decoration of the table — Again simplicity — No strong- scented flowers— No " greenery-yaUery " stuffs— Lighting of the table and shades— No fads or frills— Electric light— Fruit— On menus, and why always French menus, even for the most simple and most thoroughly Enghsh dinners? — On wines ; here again simplicity and sincerity as to quality . . , . , .35 10 CONTENTS. PART II.—BECIPES, Etc. Breakfast. Bread Tea Coffee Chocolate Eggs Eggs on tlie plate Scrambled eggs Hominy . Dinner. Soups , Shellfish Lobster salad Grilled lobster Curried lobster Baked lobster Lobster (" G. N. Crawfish Whitebait .. Other fish Meat Steaks . Game Entrees . Vegetables . Sauces . Sweets Ices ^ill of Fare « « PAOB 44 45 45 46 47 47 48 49 49 50 51 52 54 54 55 56 56 57 58 59 60 61 64 67 73 75 77 PART L PAET I. * I have seen the mahoganies of many men " (Thackeray, " Mr. Brown's Letters to his Nephew"). CHAPTER I. On what Indian cooks call "painted dishes," and on cooks running opposition shops to decorative artists— Dainty meals and real cookery capable of achievement with far less trouble. If there is one thing in this world you, my dear reader, and I can cordially agree about, that one thing, assuredly, must be our dinner — the every- day " plain roast and boiled," as well as the average dinner party. The monotony of the former, I know, is as hateful to you as the vulgar richness of the latter. Do you remember Mrs. Smith- is 14 BEAL COOKERY, Jenkins*, the other day, with its pretentious, end- less French menu, and the " saumon en surprise f*^ consisting of a cupid in rice paste, adorned with rose-coloured horse-shoes, and underneath these a green-dyed puree of salmon ? And the "/oie graSy' stuffed into a flock of miniature geese (again in rice paste), these delectable geese floating in a pond of green aspic-jelly ? Why all this masque- rade, I ask ? Are we a parcel of children that we require victuals in the shape of toys ? Is it because of the cook's ancient, but silly, privilege to show us they, too, can be painters and sculptors ? No, it is because of our insane desire to dish up every- thing in some astonishing way — what things taste like matters not. Nor could you expect excellence of flavour when " dummies " and garnishes absorb more of the cook's time than the cooking itself. All this is vanity, humbug, and affectation, if we would only be candid enough to own it. Keal cookery — sincere and honest cookery — is quite another thing. The object I have in view is to explain to "MESSY" COOKERY. 15 you how, with comparatively little trouble, both your own every-day meal ai:id the magnificent parade of Mrs. Smith-Jenkins could be made pleasant, digestible, and delightful, and it would be easier for me to make myself understood if you will permit me, for the moment, to imagine you slightly dyspeptic, and, therefore, most particular as to the preparation of your food.* To illustrate the ** messy " way we now have of dressing simple things, suppose we take a plain lamb cutlet. It does not matter where you may call for that simple dish, whether hotel, restaurant, * For those who are really dyspeptic, or invalids, I have sketched a bill of fare, with a view to the patient submitting it to his medico. As a rule, the doctor's time being Hmited, the bills of fare or directions as to diet they give to their patients are equally limited, and, as many classes of sufferers require a varied diet, I would urge all such to get their physicians to look through this bill of fare, amplified by them if they have favourite dishes to insert. I venture to say the medical man could more quickly strike out what is unsuitable than he could write out himself what is fit for his patient. Thus the patient may be tempted to eat, and so to gain strength, by a judiciously varied bill of fare. The cooking in every ca^e must be simple but dainty. {See ;page 77.) 16 REAL COOKERY. or club, you will be served with a parcel of thin, bread-crumbed cutlets fried to death, and swimming in, not a sauce, but a sort of soup, flavoured with tomato-ei.tract and, possibly, with Peppershire or similar sauces as well. If your palate be so depraved as to make you fancy you enjoy this dish, your common sense, if not your experience, must tell you it is very far from the digestible, tasty cutlet you require, and that the true mode of serving it is a very different one. I need not tell you, an old traveller, that a plain lamb cutlet (cotellete d'agneau nature) means all over France and the civilised Continent, a moderately thick juicy cut, carefully grilled over a brisk charcoal fire, and served with its own gravy only, with a slice of lemon on a bed of watercresses. This brings me to my first three points, discussed in the next chapter. CHAPTEK II. No meats to be fried — All sauces, except the natural gravy, to be served separately — Grilling on char- coal — Eschew gas stoves for cooking of meats, and do not bake your joints. My first three points are — fir.-tly, no meats are to be fried; secondly, they are not to be served with any gravy or sauce save their own, and that gravy not diluted to the extent of a soup, any other sauce being served separately ; thirdly, in- variably use a charcoal stove for grilling — nothing better than charcoal for developing the flavour of meat. This stove costs but a few shillings, and will often save a coal fire. No preparing of meats on gas stoves and no bating of meats to be permitted. 2 17 CHAPTER in. On seasoning in the kitchen — Patent sauces not real cookery — Soups and vegetables not to be peppered in the kitchen — Pure wine only, no " cooking " wine — Grilling preferable to frying for fish and fowl, as well as for meat — Caution as to over- cooking. Do not allow your cook to send up meats un- seasoned. Salt and freshly ground black pepper should be judiciously used while cooking, if the flavour of the meat is to be fully developed ; but do not, on any account, admit nutmeg, mace, and hot sauces of the Peppershire kind into your kitchen. No condiments to be used, except such as may develop or heighten, none such as are apt to disguise, the natural flavour of each dish, while all peppering of soups and vegetables in the kitchen 18 ON GRILLING FISH AND FOWL. 19 should be altogether prohibited. If any wine be used, it must be sound, pure, grape-juice out of your own cellar, and not so-called " cooking wine," bought by the cook. It is only too often an adulterated article. Persuade your cook to substitute the grill for the frying-pan, as to fish and fowl as well as for meat. I am sure both your palate and your digestion will be the gainers by that change. Caution your cook in regard to overcooking. As a rule, fish and fowl are cooked more than neces- sary, much to the detriment of flavour and delicacy, not to mention both thereby being rendered tough and indigestible. This remark applies in par- ticular to shell-fish and to the sauces of which shell-fish are the basis. Nothing could be worse than overcooked shrimp or lobster sauce; and many a time, when you thought your fish was not fresh, I am sure it was simply overcooked. (See page 73 for my suggestions as to the preparation of such sauces.) CHAPTER IV. On bills of fare and their composition. Do not expect your cook, unless more than usually intelligent, to compose the bills of fare for your daily dinner, or for a party, but do it yourself until, at least, you have properly trained your cook and until you have made her understand your ways. Of course, if the good wife should happen to have a taste for such small matters as cookery, she will do very much better than any one else. For my own part I would not trust any cook to compose a bill of fare for me. It is an easy task to tell, when you dine out, whether the chef was the sole author, or whether the chatelaine has stamped the menu with her own seal. When six out of eight dishes are truffled, no matter whether 20 BILLS OF FABE. 21 the dinner be in January or in July, you may safely back the chef's authorship. And where there is hardly one plain dish, when lobsters, ducklings, &c., appear in the shape of moiisselines or soufflees long odds may be laid on the chef's having had no one to say him nay. CHAPTER V. Bills of fare {continued) — Best materials only to be used, including butter and everything that enters your kitchen. Whether your dinner be for yourself alone or for a party, choose your dishes with an eye to their lightness and digestibility, as well as with a view to careful opposition of colour and flavour, and never attempt to serve a dinner except with the very best materials that can possibly be procured. I do not mean so-called first-class articles, but those of the highest degree of excellence. Make it your business to find out where the finest can be had, and, if you be frightened by the price, serve fewer dishes and really first-rate rather than a larger number not quite so good. BEST MATERIALS ONLY, 23 When I say *' best materials," I mean everything that is used for cooking. If it be butter, let it be the best, such as you would yourself eat for break- fast. Your cooking butter cannot be too good, be- cause the inferior article is apt to spoil any dish beyond hope, and you would only be " spoiling the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar." Now, this principle applies to all materials used in cooking. CHAPTEK VI. Simplicity, and again simplicity — On the folly of trying to produce dinners on the same lines as the banquets of the rich, who employ first-class French cooks — An excellent dinner quite possible in any house, even in lodgings. Let your dinner, even for a party, be simple. Eeally good French cooking is simple and not a bit like the rich, make-believe French dishes we so often meet with, intended to charm the eye by decoration in doubtful taste rather than to rejoice the palate. Allow me also to say to those who are not dyspeptics, but who may be leading indoor lives, that simple, daintily cooked and judiciously varied meats would be far better for their health and comfort than the usual style of cooking at a London dinner party. 24 A DINNEB IN LODGINGS. 25 Do not overrate the capacity and the talents of your excellent, but not highly artistic, cook, by urging imitation of the fancy dishes of the distinguished chef of your most noble friend, the Marquis de Carabas. Depend upon it, with first-class materials, a simple dinner is vastly more successful than an elaborate one. One of the very best dinners I ever enjoyed was given by a bachelor in his lodgings, and the bill of fare consisted only of oysters (no soup), a John Dory, a saddle of mutton, potatoes baked in the ashes, a pheasant, a plum-pudding, and a piece of well-matured Camembert cheese, all washed down with 74 champagne, followed by a grand bottle of claret. In this case perfection had been secured by the care our host had displayed in personally selecting each article, and by the equally careful instructions given by him to the modest cook, or possibly to the landlady herself. CHAPTEK VII. On entrees — the *' messy" entrSe — The too rich entrk — The flabby entree, and why always mashed potatoes as a basis for the "flabby " ? Of course you require a fuller bill of fare for a regular dinner party, with soup, ices, and dessert. You will study to a nicety the oppositions in colour and in flavour of the dishes, plain though they be. Each dish then forming a pleasing contrast to the preceding one and each being first-rate of its kind, you may rest contented with only one or, at most, two made dishes or entrees as a fillip to your other- wise simple dinner. Being a sensible man, you will know that your entree should not be a messy, decorative monstrosity, but a daintily cooked, digestible dish. Do not attempt to set before 26 ENTBEES, COMMON, RICH OR VAPID. 27 your guests such doubly rich and utterly indi- gestible horrors as a terrine de foie graSy covered with a salade russe (a vegetable salad drowned in mayonnaise sauce). Another fashionable and hideously unwholesome dish is mousse de foie gras, made of tinned goose livers, whipped up with cream. The French way of preparing it is a very different one : Fresh goose livers, whipped up with champagne, cooked with fresh truffles and served moulded in aspic jelly. As a matter of fact, the average pdUf or terrine de foie gras is not a first-rate article, greasy as a rule and containing a good deal of sausage meat. The very finest pates en croute are, of course, an exception, but you can approach them very nearly by potting fresh goose livers with fresh truffles. Both can be had at Benoist's in Piccadilly. On the other hand eschew the vapid, flabby style of entree. I mean dishes of the boiled fowl kind, with a flour and milk-cum-nutmeg sauce, or the fried sweetbread floating in an acid, ** tomato- extract " soup. I fancy these unsophisticated 28 BEAL COOKEBY. attempts at entrees have very nearly goae out of fashion, but they survive in the shape of equally flabby and tasteless, if more ornamental, dishes such as supreme (breasts) of chicken, adorned with insipid preserved truffles, or soaking, in the form of cutlets, around a heap of vapid tinned green peas, all walled in by little mounds or a wreath of mashed potatoes. If the chicken were accompanied by a dish of fresh, grilled, but not overcooked mushrooms no larger than a florin, it might find favour with your guests without costing more. CHAPTEE VIII. Entrees {continued) — Good entrees or none at all — Sauces to be served separately. You will readily conclude from the foregoing remarks that your entrees, simple though they be, must be more toothsome than the vapid dishes I have named. You will find later on abundant suggestions for entrees^ but, I should suggest your being content with a good beefsteak and potatoes, rather than striving to produce a dish beyond your powers or simply worthless. In the matter of sauces let them be served separately. I do not know why the vile habit of drowning every piece of meat in sauce and allowing it to soak has penetrated into almost every house. Let your grilled or roasted meat come to table hot and unimpaired in flavour, in its own gravy only ; then, if I do iiot fancy your sauce, I may go without. 29 CHAPTER IX. On the importance of taking an interest in cookery, of being on good terms with your cook, and of judicious criticism and praise — On studying the literature of cookery. I HOPE you have now arrived at the conclusion that you ought not to be above taking a very close interest in cookery. And why, indeed, should you be above doing so ? Does not your health depend upon your getting properly cooked and inviting food ? Are you one of the favoured few who lead an out-of-door life and who take sufficient exercise to assimilate coarse fare ? And you, dear madam, let me urge you to consider the importance of an attractive dinner table if you wish to keep your husband from his ^lub. Be persuaded by me that ^ sm^ll — oom* LITEBATUBE OF COOKEBY. 81 paratively very small— amount of attention and study will assuredly accomplish success. Do not fear, having once trained your cook in your own sensible ways, that your time and trouble will be lost, for the tradition of good cooking, once estab- lished, will survive in your kitchen. Naturally, you and she have become better acquainted through a mutual interest in the art of cookery, aud you are, I trust, on excellent terms with one another. You will never withhold praise from her, when praise is due, and you will never criticise her achievements without assigning good reasons for your remarks and without being able to set her on the right track. Do not doubt your ability to do so, for you will be surprised yourself how quickly you will learn, if you use your palate with intelli- gence, and if you read such works as Sir Henry Thompson's * admirable book on " Food and Feeding," Mr. Theodore Child's t volume, *' Delicate * Sir Henry Thompson, " Food and Feeding." F. Warne and Co. 1891. t Theodore Child, " Delicate Pining." J. Jl, Osgood, Mcllvaine and Co. 1891. 32 BEAL COOKEBY. DiniDg,'* and A. Hay ward's* "Art of Dining," with Goaffe's classical " Livre de Cuisine," f as a work of reference whenever you happen to be in doubt. But, above all, you must give five minutes to Thackeray's chapter on "Great and Little Dinners " ("Mr. Brown's Letters to his Nephew"). * A. Hay ward, "Art of Dining." J. Murray. 1883. f J. Gouffe, " Le Livre de Cuisine." Hacliette and Co. 1888. CHAPTEK X. On the mistake of employing a French chef if you are not a good judge of cookery— On the well -trained Mary Jane. It is not a wise plan for you to engage a superior class of cook, unless you be a good judge yourself. Ten to one he will not be amenable to your wishes, deeming his own judgment superior. He will run not in all sorts of fancy dishes, des tmffes truffees will pervade every meal, and he will treat you to high art in the shape of des pieces montees, such as you may see depicted in Gouffe. As a sample here is one ; a classical vase, contents unknown, capped by a Roman, armour-clad torso (in paste, of course, from a mould ad hoc), the said torso flanked by truffles, pierced by swords or skewers. Unless it ^ 33 34 BEAL COOKERY. be the Cupid and horse-shoes (mentioned page 12) could bad taste go further than this? On the other hand, your chef will be for neglecting his sauces, and may even degenerate to the extent of asking for "Peppershire" or other patent sauces, to save himself the trouble of preparing his sauces meres. If you are wise you will be satisfied with a well- trained Mary Jane, not too old to be taught your own ideas and wishes, and you will make a point of going into your kitchen from time to time. I know many ladies do not venture to do so for fear of being turned out by the cook. All I have to say is, that kind of a cook ought to have five minutes* notice to leave the house. CHAPTER XI. On the decoration of tlie table — Again simplicity— No strong-scented flowers — No " greenery-yallery " stuffs— Lighting of the table and shades — No fads or frills— Electric light— Fruit— On menus, and why always French menus, even for the most simple and most thoroughly English dinners?— On wines ; here again simplicity and sincerity as to quality. When you give a modest banquet, judiciously ordered, you will let the decoration of your table be as simple as your dinner. No strong-scented flowers, I hope, and none very expensive. Why- waste your substance on cut flowers? Spend all you like on excellent food and the best of wine. I am glad to know you despise ** greenery- yallery " dirty-coloured stuffs disposed limply on TOur table, with a flower or two, artfully •^ 35 36 BEAL COOKEBY. stuck into the folds, wherever possible. You seek all your glory in the finest white napery, bright silver, glass of the whitest, purest, and finest shaped, and flowers as nearly as possible of one pale tint, the leaves being of very light colour. You have nothing on the table so high as to hide one guest from the other, and your lights are so contrived as to light up well the charming faces gathered around your festive board. You have a lamp, suspended just above their heads, and candles on the dinner-table itself, both well screened, not obscured ; but no fads or frills in the shape of umbrellas or parasols in lieu of shades over the lights. Only too often have you seen the frills ending up in a flare. Green or opalescent shades throw a ghastly hue over every face, and electric light in the ceiling infallibly casts every eye into deep shadow. Why, since the intro- duction of electric light, this mode of lighting a dinner-table from the ceiling has come into fashion, must ever remain a mystery. I am sure you are not as unkind as all this to your fair friends. ^XTBAVAGANT DE88EBTS. 37 There has been, and there is still, much con- troversy as to fruit being banished from the table. I hope you will weigh that question well, and, whatever you decide finally, I trust you will have no fruit that is not intended to he eaten. Any dish of fruit or confectionery on the table solely for the purpose of decoration, is a sin against good taste. Why all this gorgeousness of dessert ? Would not one or two dishes of fruit in season serve every purpose ? You have given your guests a bounteous feast, surely there is no necessity to pile a quantity of fruit and confectionery on the top of it all. Since we are at one, so far, and since you mean to be simple, you will not, of course, elaborate your accessories, such as the menu-cards and stands, and, as for the menu itself (which you have suc- ceeded in producing of only reasonable length), as your courage failed you in your attempt to write it in plain English, let the French list of the English dishes produced by your British goddess below stairs, be revised by some well-educated 38 BEAL COOKEBY. Frenchman (not by a French chef), else you will be sure to come to grief.* I am sorry Sir Henry Thompson condemns all attempts at English bills of fare, because, he says, the introduction of certain indispensable French words would result in a " mongrel patois," but, with all deference to Sir Henry's opinion, I hold the " mongrel "to be pJ-eferable to the schoolgirl French, frequently misspelt, of most of our French menu achievements. As a fair sample of these I will select the familiar ceufs de pluvier (plover's eggs), known to the French only as ceii/s de vanneau (lapwing's eggs). As a matter of fact, the latter are the very eggs we delight in as the plover's ; they are the lapwing's or peewit's, belonging to the plover family, but they are not those of the grey or golden plover, which do not nest in this country. I fancy these 0?^(/s de pluvier would prove something of a conun- drum to a French poulterer; but if you, my fair * Pray save me from menus printed in gold type. Why add to the difficulty of reading small print ? FBEIfCS MENUS. B9 reader, mean to stick to that word in spite of all, please use the singular and not the plural, also say *' sauce a la diable " and not " sauce au diable." Why is our honest Southdown almost invariably styled pre sale by our intelligent composers of menus ? Surely this is reducing it from the first to the third rank in the mutton world. The French pre sale (salt-marsh) mutton cannot compare with our Southdown and, in point of fact, it is quite another article. Perhaps the same intelligent composer would call Severn salmon sawnon du Rhin ? What I wish to ask now is this : you, with your usual sincerity and good taste, write in your bill of fare tender-loin steaks a la Rossini, and a Frenchman, in his, roast-beef a VAnglaise ; can either be called a " mongrel patois " ? I hold that culinary terms ought to be entitled to free passes into every language. Supposing, too, that all our French menus, from the schoolgirl's to the confectioner's or purveyor's of ball suppers, were unobjectionable French, what is the good of them to, say, one-half of your guests, 40 BEAL COOKEBY. whose knowledge of French, admittedly, is of the slightest ? And as for the hired Eobert, do you expect him to be a French scholar and to bring you that dish with a long French name to it ? As like as not he will serve something else instead and will tell you " Hoff, sir." I am happy to say the fashion of serving many kinds of wine is going out. Sherry, claret, and champagne served together throughout the dinner as well as champagne with the after-dinner wine, are amply sufficient for most people, and doubtless those who indulge in a greater variety will pay the penalty some day. I prefer one wine throughout and that very good, and if I have any doubts as to the quality of the tap, I ask for plain whiskey and soda. In all things, then, be simple and sincere. Many men besides the writer have urged simplicity. Forty or more years ago one ** who had seen the mahoganies of many men " said, " Great folks, if they like you, take no count of your feasts and grand preparations, and can but eat mutton like men." PART IL PAET II.. You who have done me the kindness to follow me thus far, do not, please, expect a complete treatise on the art of cooking, or a list of recipes, such as the professed cook is in the habit of referring to. My object is only to en- lighten you — and any intelligent cook — as to good and sound principles. The recipes I give are very few, and are only intended to illustrate these principles, which are : — I. Do not fry or bake meats. II. Do not cook meat on gas stoves. III. Grill whenever you can. IV. Do not overcook. V. No shams, no "messes," no pretentious efforts. VI, Simplicitj^. 43 44 BEAL COOKEBY. VII. Variety whenever possible. VIII. Best materials only. And now we will run through the bill of fare attached to this book and see what suggestions may offer themselves. In every case let your palate and your brains be your best guides. BKEAKFAST. Bread, As a rule, is not for the dyspeptic. All but the crust of our home-made bread may fairly be called indigestible. If you do not eat biscuits, try properly made toast. I do not mean the ordinary J inch or f inch thick piece of sodden bread, simply browned on both sides, lying like a lump in your stomach, but a slice xV i^^ch thick or thinner, thoroughly toasted through and well dried. If it is all crust, as it should be, it will give your teeth three times the work that bread or ordinary toast would give. Stale bread is best for the purpose, TEA. COFFEE. 45 Tea If allowed to stand 5 minutes develops tannin, which we know to be most injurious. Make your tea in an earthenware pot, and, after 1 to 2 minutes' drawing, strain off (no leaves, if you please) into the pot it is to be served in. If it has drawn longer than said above, add a pinch of bicarbonate of soda. Avoid taking a great quantity of tea, better have — Coffee. Use the best quality only. If you cannot manage to roast your own beans every day, procure freshly roasted, but be sure to grind them in your own kitchen just before preparing the coffee for use. By roasting your own beans you will avoid having an inferior, and possibly an adulterated article palmed off on you; you will thus secure most of the aroma which, in the ground state, is quickly lost to an appreciable extent. Do not attempt to boil your coffee, or to invest in this or that patent machine— none of these are equal to 46 BEAL COOKEBY, the earthenware percolator. Place in this the freshly ground coffee, IJ dessert spoonsful for 1 small cup of after-dinner coffee (or coffee extract), pat it down lightly, put a strainer over it, and gently pour through it the boiling water. If you be allowed to indulge in this after luncheon and dinner — mind, without cream — ^you will, for breakfast, add twice the quantity of hot milk or water. Chocolate. You cannot possibly get a good article fit for your table at 2 or 3 shillings a pound. As a rule, it is far from being unadulterated with rice-flour, sugar, &c. Better pay a high price for the choco- late, and if you still care to mix it up with rice- flour, &c., then buy that, too, and your purse will not suffer. I use Marquis' surjin mi-vanilley costing lOj francs; the Kilo of 2^ lbs. (about 4 shillings per pound), and I fancy equally good can be obtained elsewhere in Paris, but not for much less money. For cooking purposes choco- late without sugar (sans sucre) is recommended by EGGS. 47 experienced cojifiseurs. As a beverage I prefer it prepared with water only. Pour very little hot water into the grated chocolate until well mixed ; then go on pouring water gradually, and finally let it simmer awhile. If you whisk it to a froth in the cup, you will not wish for milk ; on festive oc- casions only indulge your guests, if not yourself, in a spoonful of whipped cream. I should recom- mend also your preparing your Cocoa with water only. Eggs. By all means have a great variety in your egg dishes. They are all good, whether boiled, poached, scrambled and in omelette form, provided they be soft and provided they be not fried in grease. Eggs on the plate or shirred (oeufs sur le plat). Put a little butter into an earthenware dish or small pot and cook the eggs no longer than abso- lutely required to set the white. Serve quickly as fchey will go on cooking in the pot. 48 BEAL COOKERY. A few peeled shrimps thrown over the eggs after cooking are a pleasing addition to this dish, and so are, if you do not mind the expense, oysters. These should be added, with a pinch of cayenne, before taking off the fire; long enough to be warmed through, but not to cook. Scrambled {or buttered) Eggs. Keep stirring the eggs in the previously melted butter, and take them off the fire while still in a liquid state. The usual hard, solid mess is quite unfit to eat. Excellent additions to this dish, or to as lightly cooked an omelette, are peeled shrimps or prawns, crawfish tails and claws, which, being already cooked, must only be warmed up in the dish ; also mushrooms, previously cooked, or a thick sauce of beef stock, &c. Eggs, boiled 3|- minutes, the whites just set and the yolks liquid are excellent, served whole, free from the shells, in a bechamel (white stock) sauce with chopped mushrooms, or with peeled shrimps. I prefer this style to the rather flat oeufs d la SOUPS. 49 poulette, and I do not fancy any preparation of eggs with cheese and cream as being too rich. I much prefer shrimps to prawns, because better flavoured and not so tough as the latter. If you do want a rich dish of eggs, then add to it the shrimp-prawn or crawfish (ecrevisses) butter, pre- pared by pounding the shells, &c., and stewing with butter. By the way, why do people persist in speaking of ecrevisses as crayfish ? The crayfish is the clawless lobster (langouste). Hominy. An American preparation of Indian corn, can be had at the American grocers in Piccadilly. Must be boiled at least IJ hours. After boiling, grill in little cakes with butter, and season slightly. DINNEK. Soups. Diner-out that you are of many years* standing, will you tell me how often you have come across a good plain clear soup, tasting of the meat and 4 50 BEAL COOKEEY. vegetables, and not of diluted glue, wine, spices, and hot sauces? The trouble with most of our cooks is that they let the meat simmer too long in the pot by 2 or 3 hours, consequently it tastes of bone, and that gluey flavour has to be disguised by condiments. If you do put vegetables into the soup, I would urge your not sending these to table, but to have fresh vegetables cooked and put into the soup ready to serve, or you may prefer a plain soup with macaroni, vermicelli, Italian paste, custard or what not. If you are not quite fit for solid food, a plain soup with a poached egg in it is excellent. Use veal and chicken (an old hen is best) liberally for flavouring your soup. Do not brown your meat intended for soup, and do not colour the soup with caramel. Shellfish. That excellent gourmet. Commodore McVickar, of New York, U.S.A., teaches us how to cook a lobster : — ** If you have ever tasted a lobster * boiled in * I find the same applies to a crab. SHELLFISH. 61 my way you will never be so stupid as to buy one ready boiled which, for all you know, may be of yesterday's boiling, if not of the day before. Get a live (green) lobster and put it into a court- houillon of parsley, carrots, a shallot (unless you prefer a touch of garlic), a handful of salt, and a pat of fresh butter. Let the water be absolutely boiling, then boil 15 minutes and add a claret glass of Chablis or Marsala, and allow it to cool in its own court-houillon.^* So far the Commodore, who then goes on to describe the dressing of the lobster salad. For my own part I prefer the lobster served hot in its own court-houillon strained ; better still with the latter served in a sauce-boat. Fifteen minutes is a good average time for boil- ing, but, as lobsters vary in size, it is well to observe- that the fish is done as soon as it begins to float. Lobster Salad. If you serve the lobster in the shape of a salad, with lettuce and a little watercress and "mustard," 52 BEAL COOKEEY. do not, please, kill its flavour by a rich mayonnaise sauce. Be content with oil and vinegar, salt and pepper, and do not let the lobster remain soaking in the mixture, but serve as soon as prepared, not forgetting to add the strained court-houillon to the dressing. I have not the slightest doubt many an indigestion attributed to the much-maligned lobster was due to the mayonnaise sauce in which it probably was slumbering for hours before it came to table, and to other things indigestible, eaten before or after. I do not hold with those who forbid lobster, not even when my friend is a dyspeptic ; but in that case I recommend him to be careful as to the rest of his menu. Grilled Lobster. This is a very popular dish in the United States, and a very innocent one indeed. Again we are dealing, not with the boiled, but with the green lobster, cut in two lengthways. Now, please, fair madam, do not imagine that LOBSTER 53 this is a cruel way of killing it. As a matter of fact, the lobsters you buy ready boiled at your fish- monger's are killed in a far less humane way, because a great number of them are put into the pot together, and they linger for many minutes, because the water, though boiling at the moment they are put into it, is chilled at once by the great mass of fish, and I have even heard it asserted that they squeal in their death struggles. Cutting it in two, commencing at the brain, kills the lobster at once, and you may now proceed to put it on the grill, having, of course, washed it well before cut- ting; add a little butter during the process of grilling. Ten minutes will suffice if, as you ought, you had a hot fire to start with. Some amateurs like the shell burnt to a coal, but I do not quite subscribe to this. Of course you have cracked the claws and joints before putting on the grill. Serve very hot, with a remoulade sauce, if you wish it. I don't I 54 BEAL COOKEBY. Curried Lobster. Being determined not to use any fishmonger- boiled lobsters, I have none but " green" ones for a curry. Cut up the lobster and stew in its own juice and the curry IB minutes only. Pick the meat from the shells and return to the curry when the latter is sufficiently reduced and ready to serve. If you desire a rich dish, add the lobster butter, as described page 71 (crawfish butter). The fish thus prepared ought to be exquisitely tender. If you had taken a boiled lobster it would have been hard and dry. Why cook a thing twice ? Shellfish twice boiled — in short, overcooked — must be indigestible. Baked Lobster. Stew the green lobster, as above shown, shred the meat and put back into the shells with a little of the court-houilloii (see page 51), a few bread crumbs and slightly bake in the oven, salamander. Serve with the lobster butter separately, or with the sauce dijplomate (see page 71). LOBSTEB (« G. N."'). 65 Lobster (" G. N."). One of the best dishes of the French cuisine is the Homard d VAmericaine (by the way, not at all an American dish), and there are several very ex- cellent recipes for it. But, to my mind, it is a very inconvenient dish, even if prepared for you alone, because you have to handle the shells floating in a rich sticky sauce. Therefore, I suggest the follow- ing modification : — Having cut it up, stew the green lobster with its juice in a *' mirepoix " (see Sauces, page 71), add from half a pint to a pint of good, sound, white wine and half a glassful of brandy. Take out the lobster after 13 minutes, pick out the meat in as large pieces as possible, keep warm in a heated silver dish. When the mirepoix is sufficiently reduced and thickened only, if necessary, with flour or egg, place a boiled head (shell) of lobster upright in the dish and pour over the meat arranged around it the mirepoix, and over that again the lobster butter. French authorities give 20 to 40 minutes as the 56 HEAL COOKERY. proper time for stewing this fish. My own experience is that 13 to 14 minutes suffice to cook it and I am against cooking any longer than is absolutely necessary. Crawfish. These, too, are generally overcooked. Let the court-houillon of aniseed, carrots, and a little white or red wine (or none) be well on the boil before you plunge the fish into the kettle. Have a red-hot poker ready and keep stirring all the time. One minute will do the trick. They are much better served hot than cold. The best can be procured at 81, Wigmore Street. Whitebait. These are the only fish you are to fry, and you are to pay great attention to the ** surprise " of Brillat-Savarin's mode of frying in the very hottest of dripping or oil. Not a particle of grease to adhere to them when served. OTHER FISH. 67 Other Fish. Frying being tabooed, you will readily discover other and excellent ways of preparing fish. Grilled, baked, or au gratiiiy or roasted as suggested by Sir Henry Thompson, or, if simply boiled, then served with plain melted butter and hashed parsley (not " drawn " butter), or with oil and lemon juice, or with a simple sauce verte (see page 68). Sir H. Thompson and Mr. Child draw attention to the much-neglected juice of the fish itself. Stew fish in its own court-bouillon and serve the latter, strained, but leaving the whole peppers and per- haps a laurel leaf or two in it, garnishing with slices of lemon. The addition of a little thicken- ing and a little white wine will bring you very close to the sauce au vin hlanc. Let your grilled fish taste of the fire and serve with a pat or two of maitre dlwtel butter, if a bit dry. Boiled white fish, as most good cooks know, are improved in colour by rubbing with lemon before boiling. 58 BEAL COOEEBY, Above all things eschew purees of fish or shell- fish : they are hateful, and, I think, indigestible to boot. Many kinds of fish can be dressed mi gratin in the oven. When you are tired of sole, take a good- sized whiting, remove the bones, then a little butter and a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of chopped mushrooms and chives will produce a capital result. Cover your fish with buttered paper. Cold trout and other fish are excellent with a sauce of oil, salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon. Finely-chopped chives, too, are a grateful addition to this sauce. Meat. In roasting as well as in grilling it is essential that the meat be exposed to a very fierce fire to begin with, in order to set the albumen which then forms a coat in which the juices remain unimpaired ; no knife or fork ought to be put into the meat, be- cause then the juice would escape. For testing steaks or chops a pair of light tongs may be used. MEAT. 69 If the meat be spongy to the touch, it is not cooked enough, but as soon as it becomes firm, though not hard, it is done. I have already spoken of the charcoal stove as producing excellent results. It costs a trifle, and a few more shillings will procure a slight wrought-iron stand with rests at various heights, so the grill may be further away from the fire after the first exposure to a fierce heat. If you wish to well develop the flavour you must well brown your steak, chop, or cutlet, the well-cleaned grill, thoroughly heated, having first been rubbed with good butter or dripping, and with onion as well, provided you do not object to a suspicion of its flavour. The tender-loin, ox filet, is the tenderest, but the sirloin (entrecote) furnishes the best flavoured steak. A tender rumpsteak, too, is a capital dish. Steaks. , Serve, only on sending to table, with a pat or two of maitre d'hotel butter, placed on top of the steak. (Butter slightly mixed with twice-washed, 60 BEAL COOKERY. finely-cut parsley and a few drops of lemon juice. Do not fatigue it by too much mixing.) Cutlets should be cut from the best end of the neck and they should be thick. Trim neatly and serve on watercress with a lemon cut into 8 pieces. Some authorities say a few drops of lemon juice help the digestion of meat. Veal is rarely good or tender in this country. If you must have veal cutlets, have them \ inch thick only after the Viennese style, and serve grilled with lemon or maitre d'hotel butter or with a sharp sauce of beef stock and pickled gherkins. Game. Eoasting, whether of meat or of game, is so thoroughly well understood in this country that I need only say — roast, don't bake. But the roasting of wild duck is, to my mind, more carefully done in America, where a big bird, like the canvas-back, would have 20 minutes over a very fierce fire, and a smaller bird, like the widgeon, but 16 minutes. A» excellent bird, the latter, and very juicy, cooked ENTBJ^ES. 61 that way, but it should be served in the American fashion ; that is to say, not carved into thin slices, but each breast to make one slice, or at most two (by cutting across, not lengthways). Served in this way, most of the juice remains in the meat, and you will not pant for lemon juice and cayenne to drown the flavour. A salad of tender celery stalks, cut small, wdth a dressing of thin mayon- naise is excellent with any wild duck. Entries. I have spoken of meat before touching on entrees. These precede the former at the dinner-table, but they are not so important a subject ; besides the suggestions already made, there is little left to describe in the shape of entrees. Eemember only my advice — if you have not a " cordon bleu,'' the simpler they are the better. Sweetbreads. — 1 prefer them blanched (cut into round, flat slices) and grilled. If you do not have the sauce diplomate, which is delicious, properly made, with them, J suggest either grilled mush- €5 ■ '^■^' ffTT, "▼T& JiilaBk. — .3 ENTBEES. 63 into his kitchen. I also draw the line at preserved tmffles.) Purees of mushrooms and of troffles are poison- ous. Foie gras (goose liver) should be served in the simplest form, and never when out of season (after the month of April j. Chicken stewed with Celery, — Stew the fowl with celery half an hour, then take it out, and, having previously prepared a sauce with a little butter, celery, and very little flour, mix it with the stock the chicken was stewed in, minus the celery. Chaudfraids of game birds. Larks stnfiTed with forced meat (preferable to minced liver). Cold Lamb cutlets. — A good neck of lamb, rather underdone, glazed with aspic jelly. Cut into cutlets, and cover each with a mixture of aspic jeUy and vegetables, such as carrots, string beans, &c. Boiled ham and very small broad bean* instead of the usual spinach. 64 BEAL COOKEBY. Vegetables. None to be peppered in tbe kitchen except tomatoes, mushrooms, &c. Potatoes. — Always prefer the mealy to the waxy tuber. If you like them very mealy, put them into cold water, boil up quickly, and give them a good shaking in the pot when done. If mashed, they must not be a damp, firm paste. No milk or butter to be used. They are excellent simply passed through a close wire sieve ; and so are potato chips properly pre- pared, i.e., without a particle of grease sticking to them. Potatoes boiled or baked in their skins have more flavour than when cooked after peeling. French (string) beans should be carefully cleaned ; no strings left adhering. Excellent cold, dressed with oil, vinegar (very little), salt, and pepper. Cauliflower should be served with HoUandaise sauce (see page 69). Steived Cucumber, Chicory, Lettuce, and Celery are improved by a meat-stock sauce. VEGETABLES. 65 Green Peas, when really fresh, need only be simply boiled and served with a pat of fresh butter. Another way, and an excellent one, is d la Franqaisey stewed in butter with a little onion or shallot. Tomatoes i stewed, or cut in two and grilled. Mushrooms are generally overcooked, and they then loose their delicate flavour. Never have any except perfectly fresh ones with pink gills. Sir Henry Thompson tells us how to cook giant Asparagus. They should be cut of equal lengths and boiled, standing upwards with nearly two inches of the heads out of water, the steam sujffi- cing to cook the heads ; boiling 30 or 40 minutes the stalks will be soft and succulent, and the heads will not drop off — only too often the case in the usual way of cooking them. I have found Sir Henry's advice to be most excellent. Canned green corn requires 15 minutes gentle simmering with a little butter and cream. Can be procured at Jackson's, in Piccadilly. 5 66 REAL COOKEBT. Broad Beans when very small, no bigger than a marrowfat pea, are a most delicious dish, cooked with cream or milk parsley and a little butter. When full size they are coarse, harsh, and they have to be peeled, losing the best part, the skin, which has all the flavour. nice with Tomatoes. — Blanch 2 teacupsful of Italian rice, wash in cold water, then 2 tablespoons- ful of tomato sauce, a piece of butter, and cover with stock and a little salt. Boil ^ hour. Rice ivith grated cheese. — Wash the rice as above, add a piece of glaze, 3 spoonsful of grated cheese, cover with stock, a little salt, and a piece of butter. Boil J- hour. While I condemn as a rule things out of season, whether fruit or vegetables (and I must say im- mature fruit gives very little pleasure or profit to anybody except the greengrocer), while I urge you to have vegetables only when in season, I must confess to a weakness for asparagus in mid-winter. Those sent over from France are very excellent. Well cooked and served on a napkin with a good GABNISHE8. 67 Hollandaise sauce, served separately, they make a capital dish after the joint, if you do not mind the expense, though it may not exceed that of some very absurd and highly ornamented entree. Since vegetables are used largely as garnishes, may I be permitted to enter a protest against the over-elaboration of these into fancy shapes ? The latter remind me almost unpleasantly of the necessity of many fingers handling our victuals, and I would rather be without the reminder. After all, not mentioning the wastefulness, it is only a pitiful attempt to charm the eye by the cook's attempts at sculpturesque ornamentation. I hope you are too sensible and too straight- forward to allow any such shams and any "dum- mies " whatever to appear at your table. Sauces. Of Sauces I will endeavour to say as little as possible, since we do not attempt the grande cuisine or cuisine classique, the sauces of which, as Mr. Theodore Child very justly observes, are beyond you. unless yon pc-ss^Ess a very execlleiit e^Tok and a ^o»>d Icn^ purs*?. Bat we must diacnaH a lev besides tbe tqej sanple odgb ftlreadj men- tionBd ; tiiOBe of oil vilii kmon, siJft, and pepper, and tiieir defdi^ment, into the wuugntte, the JMKC mfe; or tiie tmnfoie, and ve most also say a voand aboot ihidennig and g^aw. Glaae Ib the most inqportant