The Press. — London, England, 1857-09-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 19,1857. the " tarts and choice pastry" with which the infant Emperor and King first greased his fingers and gratified this palate. In this way does Soyer discourse pleasantly at every spot of interest at Smyrna, on the Acro polis, where he cooks a cutlet upon a broken pedestal, and in Constantinople ; and when he has the good fortune to meet with an eater who excites his approbation, or a dish which stimulates his palate, he never fails to note the fact and publish the recipe. In the Crimea he gives us a vivid representation of °imp interspetsed with the most laughable culinary observations. He sheds a tear over the dead and dying one minute, and philosophises upon the cruel necessities of war, when, presto, he jots down a valuable mem. upon a dinner the day before or for one the day after. With equal enthusiasm he describes the capture of the Malakoff and the indifferent success of Col. Wood's cook at the dinner the same evening, when M Soyer had the honour of dining with Gen. Windham ; and the next day, filled with culinary ardour, enters the town, and, rushing to the kitchens and ovens. tastes some Russian black bread, which g yes him the " grippe," and sends him back to o imp, with a pain in his stomach and a trophy in the shape of a gridiron and a gravy a - mon. Then he improvises a dinner i,i the Malakoff, in which the great dish is to be the " poulets sautés it la Malakoff," cooked in the open air, or he superintends and partakes of all the great banquets given on the occasion of peace. At critical moments he has solemn inspirations. and either invents a Crimean cup "ir. la Marmora," or produces some more startling and substantial novelty, which capti vates the guests. All this, detailed with the liveliness of a Frenchman, and sprinkled \rich gossip and good stories, is highly entertain mei gives a reality to his descriptions of camp life which brings the scene vividly before us, and not the least of his amusing eharac t-ristics is his military tendency, which peeps ()it here and there. He becomes infected with to prevailing mania. He talks of his " men " and their " mano3uvren " to make a g trod soup as seriously as if he were a g !nerd discussing his preparations for a great b (We. He " orgtiniaes " his " forces," draws up his "plan of operations," and, weighing wll the meals instead of the manoeuvres of those lie designs to attack, with consummate skill "plants " his " batteries de cuisine " in a ounmanding position, and carries the day in tie most masterly manner. Then he writes " despatches" of the great event to the press, announcing the success of his " mission," :id his speedy return " to the shores of Albion " ; and, finally, he concludes his labours by pub lishing this descriptive account of the events of his campaign, coupled with a copious addenda of detail in explanation of the manoeuvres which justly won fur him such a triumph and so much fame. All this is very entertaining; but the real point of the book, its piece de resistance, as M. Sayer would designate it, is to be found in the centre of this " garniture " of gossip. It is the improved system of cooking, and the elonomy in food awl fuel introduced by Soyer the hospitals and in the camp. When he arrived at Scutari the sight of the huge hr,s pital buildings appalled him for a moment : My mind was quite overpowered when I learnt that the monster building before us was the Scutari Hospital—a town in itself—and I reflected that it was full of sick and wounded; that each patient would require from three to four articles of diet daily, making a total of several thou sand per diem to be provided in some shape or othe,; and that I had undertaken to reform and introduce a better organisation in the cooking department, where all was con• fusion in so strange a country. I must confess that, for an hour or so, I was quite at a loss to think how I should o immence operations. I did not know one official there. I had not the least idea how I should be received, and after all I might probably catch the, fever or some other a )mplaint at the time raging within its walls. But he soon recovered his courage and resolu • tion, and 4 • attacked the position" with vigour. The state of the hospital kitchens and the system of cooking were lamentably bad. Some of the establishments had neitherkitchens nor cooking utensils; others possessed kitchens, but the stoves smoked to that extent that the soldier-cooks preferred the trenches before Sebastopol to enduring such a nuisance ; and so the men, M. So3er tells us, were changed every week, or even oftener. "The result of " this was bad cookery and the consumption " of about 170 per cent. more wood than was " necessary. The men actually piled small " trees, cut into lengths of five or six feet, " upon the fires ; and when the soup boiled " too fast they threw pailfuls of water upon " the burning wood, thus filling the place " with dust and steam." The provisions were of an inferior quality, the charcoal fuel was abomi nable, and the coppers used for making tea and soup for the patients were untinned. Upon this point M. Soyer observes,—" I con " sides it most advisable that all large estab " lishments should have their cooking appara " tus made of malleable iron, which is extremely " clean, much cheaper, and does not require " tinning." Then the cookery was as wasteful as bad ; the soup was insipid, the meat tough, tasteless, and raw, and the tea and coffee watery and weak, while many valuable por tions and products of the meat awl vegetables were thrown aside as refuse. Then, again, the means the men adopted to distinguish their different lots of meat when put into the boilers would be laughable if they were not really injurious. Conceive a huge cop per filled with four hundred pieces of beef, and making soup for invalids under such cir cumstances as the following:— Upon inspection I found that they had a most curious method of marking their different lots. Some used a piece of red cloth cut from an cliff jacket; others half a dozen old buttons tied together ; old knives, forks, scissors, &c., but one in particular had hit upon an idea which could not fail to meet with our entire approval. The dis covery of this brilliant idea was greeted with shouts of laughter from Miss Nightingale, the doctors, and myself. ft consisted in tying a pair of old snuffers to the lot. All this rubbish was daily boiled with the meat, but probably required more cooking. On telling the man with the snutfers that it was a very dirty trick to put such things in the some, the reply was How can it be dirty, sir? sure they have been boiling this last month." M. Suer soon put affairs upon a different footing. Like a practical man, he applied the ry umentum ad hominent. Taking the usual rations, he made the soup himself, and placing that and the hospital stuff first before the doctors and then before the patients, asked them which they preferred. So readily did the authorities recognise his abilities, that every assistance was tendered him ; cooks were instructed, coppers were tinned, stoves were built, contractors looked after sharply, and in a few weeks, by a judicious organisa tion and good management, order, good cookery, economy, and system reigned trium phant throughout Scutati. Having met with acknowledged success in the hospitals at Scutari, M. Soyer proceeded at once to visit those in the Crimea, which he ransacked much in the same manner as at Scutari, and found much in the same state. With his talent for ort;anisation, and the full powers he 'possessed, and allowing something for the fascination which a master of his divine art possesses over the minds of emulous but inferior cooks, M. Soyer soon brought about radical improvements in the camp hos pitals. He then turned his attention to the camp cooking. Here he found the same igno rance, the same waste of good material, and the same enormous consumption of fuel. An interview with Lord Raglan took place : The courtyard at head quarters that morning presented a very lively scene. I found it, to my great disappoint ment, fillet with officers' chargers, which were being slowly led about by the orderlies. There were some belonging to Sardinians, French, and Turks, besides English ones. This sight made me despair of seeing the General that morning, and I feared that I should lose another day. Time was then precious to me. U uon inquiry, I was informed that the Sardinian Gene ral, Della Marmora, was returning a visit to Lori Raglan and to General Canrobrrt, and that they would all be off directly, as a grand review of their troops was to take place the following day. This afforded me an opportunity of paying my second visit to Dr. 1141, the chief super intendent. He was out, but I was told that he would be home by one or two o'clock. On retracing my steps to head quarters, I found, as I had been at first informed, every one on the point of departure. The different uniforms formed an exquisite contrast in the military ca valcade. The courtyard was soon cleared, and I went in and had the pleasure of seeing General Airey, Colonel Steele, Sec. Colonel Steele said, I was just in time to see Lord Raglan, and I was a t once ushered in. " What have you to show me, Monsieur Soyer?" said Lord Raglan, after a kind greeting. " I wish to submit to your lordship's inspection the model of my field-stove, and if you approve of it, the pro gress of my undertaking will be greatly accelerated." "Very well; explain it at once." " In the first place, here is & simple plan of the kitehen in course of erection at the Sanatorium Hospital." I pointed out the details, which his lordship seemed to un• derstand at first sight. " If that is all you require, surely you can have it done without much delay." "That is all; but I require men as well." " You shall have theta—orders will he given to that effect." " This one will serve as a model for all the others ; they will be upon a similar scale. For example, the General Hospital before Sebastopol does not require one on so extensive a scale, though the most important." " Well, what you require must be done." • • • • • " What is that you have under your arm? Is it a cooking apparatus ?" " Yes, this is the model of the field•atove I have invented, and which I wish to submit for your lordship's opinion and approval, by command of Lord Panmure, who approved of it very highly. Mr. Brunel, :he great enuineer, did the same. They are now in use in various hospitals, particu larly at Smyrna, and at Scutari, where they answer admirably. They can also be used in the field, as they will cook either in or out of doors. Those for out-of door purposes only require to be made smaller and lighter than the hospital ones." Having carefully explained the principle upon which it was constructed, Lord Raglan thought it would answer perfectly, and asked, " Do you wish to have them adopted immediately ?" " Not before you have seen them at work, my Lord." " Ah, that will do better." " I am expecting some of them shortly ; in fact, they should have been here before." " Well, you had better make inquiries about them, or they may be delayed somewhere, as this happens almost every day." Several gentlemen were present when I explained the principle of the stove, in which Lord Raglan seemed much interested, showing the model and taking the trouble to explain its principle to them himself. Colonel Symonds said, " Monsieur Soyer, I will go and fetch his Excellency Omer Pacha; he is much interested in this kind of thing." " Do, Colonel," raid Lord Raglan. Then turning to me : " I am much pleased with what I have seen, and have no doubt those stoves will prove a great boon to th• army; but mind, they must nut be made too heavy, and they must be adapted tor companies. Neither must you forget the smaller ones which I mentioned to you, for picket and outpost duty." Omer Pacha entered. " Now," said Lord Raglan, " form your own opinion of Soyer's field•stnve, and let me know what you think of it." " Monsieur Soyer," said Outer Pacha, " what have you good to eat there ?" " Nothing at present, your Excellency; but byand•by, when my plans are adopted, we shall be able to cook for and feed the army wi►h ease." "Ali, this is a matter of great importance. Pray explain your plans to me." When I had done this, Omer Pacha said, " It will first be necessary to have something to cook." The truth of the observation I respectfully admitted, with a low bow, adding, " Your Excellency is right; but as the probability is that something to bo cooked never yet entirely failed, and in expectation of better times coming, we confidently hope that the provisions for the army will shortly be on the increase instead of the decrease. This hope has induced me to invent this apparatus, of which, when its principle has been fully explained, I have nu doubt you will, with Lord Raglan, approve." " Monsieur Soyer, I have no doubt that, as regards cooking, you are a very clever man; but if yon could manage to cook a dinner out of nothing, you would be more clever still." _ " Not having tried the experiment, I really cannot say whether I could do so or not ; but I will try, and then report progress to your Excellency." A hearty langli from all present terminated this peal* plaisanlerie. This brought to my mind the story of a very promising schoolboy, who, when asked by a learned man whether he could speak Latin,replied, " I cannot tell, sir." " Why can't you tell, my boy ?" " Because I never tried, sir," was the answer. "At all events." I continued, addressing Omer Paella, "you will perceive that if I cannot make something out of nothing, I am able to do a gre.it deal with a little, which in war time is a very important matter." "Very true; but pray show me the interior of this little model." Having shown and explained the apparatus, Omer Paella admitted its practicability, and after giving me a few hints on the Turkish system of camp cookery, retired, followed by his staff, wishing me every success. Lord Riglan met Omer Pacha in the passage, and they exchanged a few words, which I could hear bore reference to the subject we had discussed. The great difficulty to contend against in the introduction of this system of cooking in the camp was the danger of spoiling the soldier in making the cook. What the troops required was, some improvement in their daily food, a knowledge of the means to make the best use of their rations, not the introduction of savory luxuries. As General Eyre remarked, there must be a " judicious discipline" in all that was done. That Mr. Soyer succeeded admir ably well the numerous certificates from officers of distinguished rank sufficiently testify. We all know how wretchedly the men fared on their rations in the earlier part of the I 1