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 at 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