The Press. — London, England, 1858-10-30 00:00:00

1070 and comprehend nearly all varieties of food, from a Nesselrode pudding down to a boiled egg; but we are surprised to find that no directions are given for making coffee, which is not so common an accomplishment in this country that it ought to be taken for granted. We have met with one receipt, however, in Mrs. Smith's volume which is so peculiar that we extract it for the amuse ment of our readers : THE PRESS, OCTOBER 30, 1858. tiou of their organ of taste, which ought to be husbanded with the greatest care. This is obviously the result, be cause, if dishes are made in the careless way to which I have alluded, they must be tasted again and again, until they satisfy the palate of the cook, while, if they are pre pared from ingredients of accurately-known measure or weight, they will so seldom vary that it is hardly necessary to taste them at all, or. at all events, only once. From constant tasting the palled organ of taste becomes insen sible to all but very strong flavours, and the consequence iv that dishes are sent to table which call forth complaints from the heads of the house ; and these complaints being conveyed to a servant who has no certain guide in the shape of an accurate receipt, she is unable to rectify her mistake, and on the next attempt perhaps falls into the opposite error. Whenever, therefore, a cook works by any receipt not her own, she should follow it closely for her own sake, or if she can improve upon it, let her do so ; but then let her set down the exact variation from the original. In this way she will always have a certain guide; and, though she may lose a few minutes a day in mea suring and weighing, yet she may console herself that her hand will last much longer than her palate, and that, by the r egular adoption of the practice, she will be able to fulfil her duties for many years longer than she would do if sbe drew upon her delicate nerves of taste every ten minutes. It is curious that the theoretical and the practical cooks are at issue about certain rather important principles. Our readers may remember a rather warm discussion in the Times , on a late occasion when the question of the boiled beef in the army kitchens came before the public. One corre spondent proved on scientific principles that meat, to be properly boiled and retain its juices, ought to be plunged into boiling wat er , whereas if placed in cold and gradually heated it becomes macerated and loses them. 'Practical cooks we believe are against this dogma ; and Mr. Walsh observes that the plan recommended by Liebig, for the purpose of keeping in the juices by rapidly coagulating the albumen on the surface, answers well in point of economy, the saving being fully two or three per cent.: but I do not be lieve that the meat so treated is quite so tender. He is also in opposition to the same authority on the subject of roasting : According to Liebig, it is essential to the successful and economical management of roasting, to put the joint down first of all close to the fire, so as to coagulate the albumen on the surface, and thus to prevent the escape of it in a fluid state. This answers remarkably well in boiling, but not in routing. because the heat is nut applied to the whole surface at once, but only to one-half of it, the other half being cooled at that time, so that it is impossible to raise the surface, without scorching it, up to the coagu lating point of albumen, until the whole mass is also above 150 degrees. In a Dutch oven the plan is good, both in theory and practice; but with a revolving spit it is totally erroneous, and the old directions, to put down the joint first at a distance, and then gradually bring it nearer to the fire, are the correct ones. Both these sections, as well as the succeeding one, in which the French and English methods of frying are contrasted, are well worth attention and contain information not to be found else where. The other chapters are remarkably complete, and few will look for any constituent of either a modest or ambitious dinner without finding something to suit them. On certai n points Mr. Walsh 's judgment or taste is question able. Thus both he and Mrs. Smith constantly direct fish to be garnished with parsley, a common but absurd practice, which has no effect but that of making the fish cold and soddened— a correction we owe to Lord William Lennox. The same remark applies to the method of sending up rice, not in a separate, but, for ap pearance sake, in the same dish, with a curry, a solecism the mere sight of which would give any member of the Oriental Club an instanta neous attack of liver. Both our authors, too, seem to imply that oysters in sauce should be shaved, but otherwise retain their integrity. We cannot name an authority for asserting that they, as well as lobsters, should for that purpose be differently treated, but can only recommend a trial of each condiment its comminuted form. Neither Mr. Walsh nor Mrs. Smith's receipts can usually be objected to on the score of in sipidity • but we fancy that th e i r directions for beefsteak pudding would hardly satisfy the habitues of that classic hostelry the Cheshire Cheese. One omits the kidneys, the other the oysters.—ln each of the volumes we find bills of tare for parties of all sorts and sizes. These seem complete and suggestive, but we should scarely agree with Alf. Walsh that pickled salmon was quite the thing for the " stand-up " supper of from 60 to 100 arranged on two " counters with servants behind," which he describes at p. 359. We note a curious discre pancy between our culinary doctors on the subject of a no doubt excellent called " Eve's pudding." The two receipts are d p much alike, except that Mr. Walsh onitsretthY, apples, while Mrs. Smith, who, by the tradition s of her sex, ought certa i n l y to know best,ls inserts them. We ha ve not o ft en searched ar t: Walsh's in vain, b u t i n hi s chapter on invalid ct a cre s ry he unaccountably omits both common gruel and barley - water; and Jellies, and at e er ie ;and, strang et to say, gives no directi ons anyw h ere for the con fection of preserves, like,he jni a deficiency which, as they are about twice as dear to purchase as to make, the economical house keeper will feel severely. His ' cookery for the poor' is in many respects a valuable chapter, and we should be glad to see it printed separately in a cheap form, with a few of the hints about roasting, boiling, &c., for cottage distribution. But he seems to be almost too close a calculator, and many poor persons, especially in London, would find a difficulty in obtaining the materials for the otherwise excellent and simple dishes at the very low prices quoted. The "Economical Fare for a Very Small Family " (par. 12.56) seems hardly capable of being realized. Two people —say man and wife—are to make a leg of mutton last a whole week. After they have "cut some steaks off the large end " for broiling, have boiled the "small knuckle," cut some "cutlets off the side next the knuckle," and "roasted the fillet,"—which takesus to the fourth day,— there really cannot be much left. Yet, on Thursday they arc to " hash part of the re. moulder,' on Friday to " eat part cold with salad." and on Saturday " mince the remainder and cover with bread crumbs" I Though, if the allowances, mentioned in an early chapter, of three quarters of a pound for a man and half a pound for a woman, are strictly adhered to, this may possibly be found sufficient (7 x 5 qrs. = 35 4- 4 = 120 z.) ; yet it must prove rather a " tight fit" towards the end of the week. In the " week" " catering on an expenditure of 1501. a year." Mr. Walsh teaches us to lay in a joint of beef and one of mutton at the beginning of the week consume one in the first three days and the other during the next four. It would rather seem advisable to avoid mutton three days running 14 possible !—and alternate the joints, atoning for the preponderance of hashes and scraps towards the end of the week by the slightly increased variety In conclusion, allowing' for the errors or deli deuces we have specified. we are disposed strongly to recommend both these books, for each has something which is wanting in the other. Mrs. Smith belongs more to the old school. and Mr. Walsh is more scientific and precise: .he excels in luxurious and ornamental pastry. and would better assist in furnishing the store-room while he seems to shine more in such articles a , made dishes and in points of general economic management. For those who cannot afford to be eclectic in their culinary library, and must content themselves with a single authority. perhaps the " English Cookery Book " would tit found the most complete. It is nicely got up. well indexed, and the engravings of kitchen ranges and utensils will be found useful guide. " to those about to marry." Heraldry in History, Poetry, and Roman , .•• By Ellen Millington. London : l'hapanin and Hall. INT forms of symbolism which are worth pit.. serving are worth understanding ; and of sonic. perhaps, it may be said that they arc not pre served because they are not understood. That heraldry is worth retaining seems undeniable, iv long as any distinctions of rank are observed amongst us ; and any work, therefore, which serves to prevent it from becoming un i nte lli g ible to the mass of the community, is a good service to t he public. Such a work, we think, is the little volume now before us, which, notwithstanding one or two grave defects, succeeds in rendering 3 rather dry and worm-eaten subject popular and instructive. The defkt of which we complain is a want of method. The book is full of informa tion, but, to our unlearned eyes, it seems to have been thrown together at random. We should have liked to see the subject divided into head,' —such as, first, the different origins of coats-ot• arms, telling us which were won on the field battle, which were derived from peaceful vices, which were taken from professions. taruil occurrences, or the names of estates; secondl• BONED SHOULDER OF LAMB AS A DUCK. Take a shoulder of lamb, with the shank-bone unbroken, take out all the bones, and saw the shank-bone in a slanting direction, to resemble the bil! of a duck ; the knuckle-bone firms the head. Leave two inches of the shoulder-bone in s 3 IS to form the neck of the duck; be careful not to cat the skin. Make a rich forcemeat, and stuff the shoulder where the bones come out ; sew it up to prevent the [nutting coining out ; then turn it up, the seamed side downwards, with your hands form it in the shape of a duck, put a skewer through the neck and tie the bill down; roast it a tine brown. Serve it up with chopped spinach in the dish round it, scrape the bill white, and glaze the head; make it a pair of eyes with some white of egg boiled hard and cut round, with a clove in the centre : cut a piece of bread small at one end and broad at the other, notch the broad end, fry it a nice brown, and make that the tail of the duck. You must send up mint sauce in a boat to eat with it. This makes a pretty dish for supper or breakfast sent up cold, with a savoury jelly round it instead of spi nach, and garnished with parsley and barberries, orna mented with atlic skewers. This is really nothing short of conjuring cookery. After such a display of prestidigitation, we arc convinced that Mrs. Smith could produce a litter of pigs out of an old bonnet, or make a silk purse out of a sow's car, or rival the Wizard of the North at any sort of culinary legerdemain. Tennyson talks of dead animals " slowly quicken ing into lower forms," but what are the opera tions of decomposing nature to the alterative genius of a Smith ? Onania ,nutantur, nihil interit, must be inscribed over the entrance to her laboratory ; from which, probably, hints might be gathered for a new edition of the " Vestiges of Creation." "We have been fishes, and we may be crows," as Mr. Disraeli puts it ; but "We have been lambs, and we may be ducks," would conveniently bridge over an equally difficult chasm in natural history. Pope philosophically asks, The limb thy riot dooms to bled today, Had he thy reason, would he skip and play Had he our reason, and did he know that, after the shambles, he might become the material cause of one if not two ducks, would he not lick the hand upraised to shed his blood at the t of such a destiny ? The idea of hi s shoulders being made into birds would give him a sort of angelic feeling, as if wings were sprout ing from them already. The description of such changes makes Mrs. Smith quite the Ovid of the kitchen. C.,eyx and Alcyone were nothing to her metamorphoses :- Fecit avem, sparsaque semel Phlegethoutitle In rostrum et plumes et grandia lamina vertit. The conversion of an alderman's daughters into lambs would of course be a trifle to her, and. with the paternal till at hand, mint sauce could not be wanting. Her ideas on the transmutation of species would form a good hint for an imagi native cannibal. The " Big Eagle "or the " Little Fox," on falling into the clutches of the hostile tribe. might assume forms corresponding to their mans de guerre ; and the " cold mission ary," whose carcase Sydney Smith pictured as adorning the sideboard of a New Zealand chief might figure appropriately under the solemn aspect of a penguin. Mr. Walsh's book is a much more elaborate affair, being not only empirical, like the lady's, but scientific, not to say severely deductive. Thus, we set out with a chapter on "Food: its nature, use, and abuse," under which head is given a digest of portions of Liebig's Animal Chemistry. and the respective values of azotized, non-azotized, and mineral elements ; then follow remarks on the cook and her implements, and on the principles of keeping, roasting, boiling, and frying meat. After some judicious advice on punctuality as to time, we observe in the former section some remarks on another category, which is worth more attention than it usually receives : Quantity cornea next to time in importance; and it is au element still more frequently neglected by those who c milder themselves professed cooks. Few of these people weigh or measure the ingredients which they use, but clorpound their dishes by " rule of thumb." This is in slum oases of little consequence; but for young cooks, at it events, it is a very foolish plan, since it so often leads to a failure, whilst for old ones it insures au early destine.