23 chapters
8 hour read
Selected Chapters
23 chapters
PREFACE
PREFACE
A long time ago, an estimable lady fell at the feet of an habitual publisher, and prayed unto him:— “Give, oh! give me the subject of a book for which the world has a need, and I will write it for you.” “Are you an author, madam?” asked the publisher, motioning his visitor to a seat. “No, sir,” was the proud reply, “I am a poet.” “Ah!” said the great man. “I am afraid there is no immediate worldly need of a poet. If you could only write a good cookery book, now!” The story goes on to relate how
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
Formal or informal?—An eccentric old gentleman—The ancient Britons—Breakfast in the days of Good Queen Bess—A few tea statistics—“Garraway’s”—Something about coffee—Brandy for breakfast—The evolution of the staff of life—Free Trade—The cheap loaf, and no cash to buy it. This is a very serious subject. The first meal of the day has exercised more influence over history than many people may be aware of. It is not easy to preserve an equal mind or keep a stiff upper lip upon an empty stomach; and i
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
Country-house life—An Englishwoman at her best—Guests’ comforts—What to eat at the first meal—A few choice recipes—A noble grill-sauce—The poor outcast—Appetising dishes—Hotel “worries”—The old regime and the new—“No cheques”; no soles, and “whitings is hoff”—A halibut steak—Skilly and oakum—Breakfast out of the rates. By far the pleasantest meal of the day at a large country-house is breakfast. You will be staying there, most likely, an you be a man, for hunting or shooting—it being one of the
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
Bonnie Scotland—Parritch an’ cream—Fin’an haddies—A knife on the ocean wave— À la Français —In the gorgeous East— Chota hazri —English as she is spoke—Dâk bungalow fare—Some quaint dishes—Breakfast with “my tutor”—A Don’s absence of mind. For a “warm welcome” commend me to Bonnie Scotland. Though hard of head and “sae fu’ o’ learning” that they are “owre deeficult to conveence, ye ken,” these rugged Caledonians be tender of heart, and philanthropic to a degree. Hech, sirs! but ’tis the braw time
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
Why lunch?—Sir Henry Thompson on overdoing it—The children’s dinner—City lunches—Ye Olde Cheshyre Cheese—Doctor Johnson—Ye pudding—A great fall in food—A snipe pudding—Skirt, not rump steak—Lancashire hot pot—A Cape “brady.” “‘More honoured in the breach,’ do you say, Mr. Author?” I fancy I hear some reader inquire. “Are these your sentiments? Do you really mean them?” Well, perhaps, they ought to be qualified. Unless a man breakfast very early, and dine very late, he cannot do himself much good
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
Shooting luncheons—Cold tea and a crust—Clear turtle—Such larks!—Jugged duck and oysters—Woodcock pie—Hunting luncheons—Pie crusts—The true Yorkshire pie—Race-course luncheons—Suggestions to caterers—The “Jolly Sand boys” stew—Various recipes—A race-course sandwich—Angels’ pie—“Suffolk pride”—Devilled larks—A light lunch in the Himalayas. There is no meal which has become more “expanded” than a shooting luncheon. A crust of bread with cheese, or a few biscuits, and a flask of sherry sufficed for
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
Origin—Early dinners—The noble Romans—“Vitellius the Glutton”—Origin of haggis—The Saxons—Highland hospitality—The French invasion—Waterloo avenged—The bad fairy “ Ala ”—Comparisons—The English cook or the foreign food torturer?—Plain or flowery—Fresh fish and the flavour wrapped up—George Augustus Sala—Doctor Johnson again. It is somewhat humiliating to reflect that we Britons owe the art of dining to our first conquerors the Romans—a smooth-faced race of voluptuaries whose idea of a bonne bouc
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
Imitation—Dear Lady Thistlebrain—Try it on the dog—Criminality of the English Caterer—The stove, the stink, the steamer—Roasting v. Baking—False Economy—Dirty ovens—Frills and fingers—Time over Dinner—A long-winded Bishop—Corned beef. Now for the cause, alluded to at the end of the last chapter. Imprimis , the French invasion is due to the universal craze for imitation, which may be the sincerest form of flattery, but which frequently leads to bad results. For years past the fair sex of Great Br
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
A merry Christmas—Bin F—A Noel banquet—Water-cress—How Royalty fares—The Tsar— Bouillabaisse — Tournedos — Bisque — Vol-au-vent — Prè salé —Chinese banquets—A fixed bayonet— Bernardin salmi —The duck-squeezer—American cookery—“Borston” beans—He couldn’t eat beef. A Christmas dinner in the early Victorian era! Quelle fête magnifique! The man who did not keep Christmas in a fitting manner in those days was not thought much of. “Dines by himself at the club on Christmas day!” was the way the late M
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
French soup—A regimental dinner—A city banquet— Baksheesh —Aboard ship—An ideal dinner—Cod’s liver—Sleeping in the kitchen—A fricandeau —Regimental messes—Peter the Great—Napoleon the Great—Victoria—The Iron Duke—Mushrooms—A medical opinion—A North Pole banquet—Dogs as food—Plain unvarnished fare—The Kent Road cookery—More beans than bacon. “What’s in a name?” inquired the love-sick Juliet. “What?” echoes the bad fairy “ Ala .” After all the fuss made by the French over their soups, we might exp
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
Use and abuse of the potato—Its eccentricities—Its origin—Hawkins, not Raleigh, introduced it into England—With or without the “jacket”?—Don’t let it be à-la -ed—Benevolence and large-heartedness of the cabbage family—Peas on earth—Pythagoras on the bean—“Giving him beans”—“Haricot” a misnomer—“Borston” beans—Frijoles—The carrot—Crécy soup—The Prince of Wales—The Black Prince and the King of Bohemia. Item, the Potato , earth-apple, murphy, or spud; the most useful, as well as the most exasperati
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
The brief lives of the best—A vegetable with a pedigree—Argenteuil—The Elysian Fields—The tomato the emblem of love—“Neeps”—Spinach—“Stomach-brush”—The savoury tear-provoker—Invaluable for wasp-stings—Celery merely cultivated “smallage”—The “ Apium ”—The parsnip—O Jerusalem!—The golden sunflower—How to get pheasants—A vegetarian banquet—“Swelling wisibly.” It is one of the most exasperating laws and ordinations of Nature that the nicest things shall last the shortest time. “Whom the gods love di
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
Different modes of manufacture—The “native” fraud—“That man’s family”—The French kari —A Parsee curry—“The oyster in the sauce”—Ingredients—Malay curry—Locusts—When to serve—What to curry—Prawn curry—Dry curry, a champion recipe—Rice—The Bombay duck. The poor Indian grinds his coriander seeds, green ginger, and other ingredients between two large flat stones; taking a whiff at the family “hubble-bubble” pipe at intervals. The frugal British housewife purchases (alleged) curry powder in the wareh
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
Nebuchadnezzar v. Sydney Smith—Salt?—No salad-bowl—French origin—Apocryphal story of Francatelli—Salads and salads—Water-cress and dirty water—Salad-maker born not made—Lobster salad—Lettuce, Wipe or wash?—Mayonnaise—Potato salad—Tomato ditto—Celery ditto—A memorable ditto. If Sydney Smith had only possessed the experience of old King Nebuchadnezzar, after he had been “turned out to grass,” the witty prebend might not have waxed quite so enthusiastic on the subject of “herbaceous meat.” Still th
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
Roman salad—Italian ditto—Various other salads—Sauce for cold mutton—Chutnine—Raw chutnee—Horse-radish sauce—Christopher North’s sauce—How to serve a mackerel— Sauce Tartare —Ditto for sucking pig—Delights of making Sambal —A new language. It has, I hope, been made sufficiently clear that neither water-cress nor radishes should figure in a dressed salad; from the which I would also exclude such “small deer” as mustard and cress. There is, however, no black mark against the narrow-leaved Corn Sal
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
Cleopatra’s supper—Oysters—Danger in the Aden bivalve—Oyster stew—Ball suppers—Pretty dishes—The Taj Mahal —Aspic—Bloater paste and whipped cream—Ladies’ recipes—Cookery colleges—Tripe—Smothered in onions—North Riding fashion—An hotel supper—Lord Tomnoddy at the “Magpie and Stump.” That cruel and catlike courtesan, Cleopatra, is alleged to have given the most expensive supper on record, and to have disposed of the bonne bouche herself, in the shape of a pearl, valued at the equivalent of £250,00
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
Old supper-houses—The Early Closing Act—Evans’s—Cremorne Gardens—The “Albion”—Parlour cookery—Kidneys fried in the fire-shovel—The true way to grill a bone—“Cannie Carle”—My lady’s bower—Kidney dumplings—A Middleham supper—Steaks cut from a colt by brother to “Strafford” out of sister to “Bird on the Wing.” The Early Closing Act of 1872 had a disastrous effect upon the old London supper-houses. What Mr. John Hollingshead never tired of calling the “slap-me-and-put-me-to-bed law” rang the knell o
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
The ups and downs of life—Stirring adventures—Marching on to glory—Shooting in the tropics—Pepper-pot—With the Rajah Sahib —Goat-sacrifices at breakfast time—Simla to Cashmere—Manners and customs of Thibet—Burmah—No place to get fat in—Insects—Voracity of the natives—Snakes—Sport in the Jungle—Loaded for snipe, sure to meet tiger—With the gippos—No baked hedgehog—Cheap milk. The intelligent reader may have gathered from some of the foregoing pages that the experiences of the writer have been of
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
Derivation of punch—“Five”—The “milk” brand—The best materials—Various other punches—Bischoff or Bishop—“Halo” punch—Toddy—The toddy tree of India—Flip—A “peg”—John Collins—Out of the guard-room. The subject of Punch is such an important one that it may be placed first on the list of dainty beverages which can be made by the art or application of man or woman. First, let us take the origin of the word. Doctor Kitchener , an acknowledged authority, during his lifetime, on all matters connected wi
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
———— Five recipes for claret cup—Balaclava cup—Orgeat—Ascot cup—Stout and champagne—Shandy-gaff for millionaires—Ale cup—Cobblers which will stick to the last—Home Ruler—Cherry brandy—Sloe gin—Home-made, if possible—A new industry—Apricot brandy—Highland cordial—Bitters—Jumping-powder—Orange brandy—“Mandragora”—“Sleep rock thy brain!” I suppose there are almost as many recipes for claret cup as for a cold in the head. And of the many it is probable that the greater proportion will produce a cup
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
———— Evil effects of dram-drinking—The “Gin-crawl”—Abstinence in H.M. service—City manners and customs—Useless to argue with the soaker—Cocktails—Pet names for drams—The free lunch system—Fancy mixtures—Why no Cassis?—Good advice like water on a duck’s back. Whilst holding the same opinion as the epicure who declared that good eating required good drinking, there is no question but that there should be a limit to both. There is, as Shakespeare told us, a tide in the affairs of man, so why should
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXI
———— Thomas Carlyle—Thackeray—Harrison Ainsworth—Sir Walter Scott—Miss Braddon—Marie Corelli—F. C. Philips—Blackmore—Charles Dickens— Pickwick reeking with alcohol—Brandy and oysters— Little Dorrit — Great Expectations —Micawber as a punch-maker— David Copperfield —“Practicable” food on the stage—“Johnny” Toole’s story of Tiny Tim and the goose. Considering the number of books which have been published during the nineteenth century, it is astonishing how few of them deal with eating and drinking
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXII
William of Normandy—A “head” wind at sea—Beware the druggist—Pick-me-ups of all sorts and conditions—Anchovy toast for the invalid—A small bottle—Straight talks to fanatics—Total abstinence as bad as the other thing—Moderation in all things—Wisely and slow— Carpe diem —But have a thought for the morrow. “I care not,” observed William of Normandy to his quartermaster-general, on the morning after the revelry which followed the Battle of Hastings, “who makes these barbarians’ wines; send me the ma
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter