The Sun.
London, England, 1821-07-16 00:00:00

FOREIGN LITERATURE.

[No. XX11..1

The ECONOMICAL WOK; or, Miw Elements of Cookery,
Pastry-work, . And Buttery, by M. ARCHAMBA[JLT,
formerly Restaurateur. Bvo. Paris, 1821.
The publication of this work is really a signal.
benefit conferred on the world, and the name of
its author will henceforth be ranked among the
most honourable. Good cheer and economy !
the discovery is 'above all value, and comes Ia
most excellent season. Heaven must assuredly
have taken Us under his especial protection, to
send us such a present iu these times of retrench,
men t. At no period, ho wever,would the Economical
Cook have been despised ; but its utility cannot
fail to be duly appreciated after a war which has
imposed. on us so many and. such painful sacri-
fices. There are alas! too many houßttrable men
whose. fortunes are no longer in proportion with
their appetites, and whom principle compels to
live frugally. For the same reasons this work
must be very acceptable in France, where the
practice of economy is as strongly inforced in the
Chamber of Deputes as in our House of Com-
mons. I have no wish to discourage those na-
tions who, copying the example of France, are
now working their Political Regeneration; but,
I beg leave to inform them thatafter having com-
pleted their regeneration, they will be in want
of our Economical Cook.
That a contractor should dine well is no won-
der. This honest man spends on his' dinner
twice the sum it cost the Roman Senate to por-
tion off the daughter of Scipio: but to make
good cheer with little money is a marvellous
secret, which neither our own Ministers nor those
of France, notwithstanding all their economical
efforts, have been able to find out. 'I make this
remark, however, only to enhance the merit of
M. Archambault, and to make you set a just
value on the important services he has rendered
to his own country and also to ours. An econo-
mical cook, and general instruction! are you now
content ? Little as we have reflected on this im-
pot taut branch of human knowledge, we know
that a good treatise of cookery could not be
written by a tyro. If therefore I was now dis-
cussing the work of a young cook, yet, a novice
in his art, I should be on my guard against his
promises. The more magnificent they were,
the more I should distrust them. These-young
artists are so presumptuous ! they have such a
high opinion
_of themselves. But M. Archam---'
bault is not a beginner. "More than forty yearsp
he tells you, ." dedicated to his profession, haVe
" taught him a new art." His receipts are then
the fruits of his experience; he owes them all to
long study, to laborious meditation. Forty years
active service, a complexion blackened by the
flame and smoke of his perpetually burning fires,
and lastly, an historical name in cookery,—these
are the titles on which he rests his claims to
public confidence, and truly they are imposing.
To attract a still greater portion of interest
towards the Economical Cook, I ought to tell you
with what generous. views it was composed.
M. Archambault was..a short time since one of
the most eminent restaurateurs in the French
capital. The Quintilian of cookery, M. Grimod
de la Reyniere, mentions him in twenty places
in,his works, and always in terms of cominenda
tion. His meats were exquisite, his bill of fare
contained an agreeable variety. In like Manner
did " those persons who frequented his house"
sing his praises ; but. several of them, and they
were not those who least esteemed his houSe,
while they admitted that they dined there very
well, found that, considering their finances were
much diminished by the present unfortunate
state,-of affltirs, their dinner cost them rather too
much money. Another person would have said
to them, I am very sorry for it, go and dine else-
where ; but M: Archambault was a more humane
restaurateur, commiserated their situation, and
formed the noble resolution of " treating them,
" in an excellent style, without :imposing on
" them a heavy expellee ;" a pcoblena which all
the masters of the art had before considered as
incapable of solution.
Let us listen to M. Archambault :—" Neces-
" sity,", says he, " compelled, me to resort to
" expedients, and to create resources, in order to
" unite economy with good cheer was, there-
" fore, necessary to find substitutes for those ex-
" pensive ingredients which were hitherto used

in profusion► in the preparation of sauces and

ragouts." But before he could find those ex-
pedients, create those. resources, and instead of
those .nitp.-:ns;Ve ing,Wilients use others less costly,
what. -a number of eitOriments, often unsuccess-
ful, was be not obliged to make-? and what a va-
riety of sauces .must have been spoiled! This
artist speaks Of -his labours with great. modesty ;
but we can imagine,- without. -his.telling it, what
infinite trouble and care the- Economical (look
must have given him.
"-In -order to treat his visitors in excellent
style, without putting them to great expense;"
we have no doubt, M.. Archambault, despairing
of success, frequently gave Way before the nu.-
tnerons obstacles hich were inseparable. from
such an undertaking • although discouraged
but,
,by these failures, he retreated from his stoves,:
his heart soon brought him back again. A noble
idea, the desire of being useful, supported his
courage. I think I hear him say : " I am' deter-
" mined to repair one of the most unjust acts 'of
" fortune ; I am resolved that these interesang.
" victims of the misfortunes of the times shall,
" find in the Economical Coo?: an indemnity for
" their losses, the only one probably they will
cc . .
ever receive." At length M.Archarnbault
tabled the reward of his perseverance-; he dis-
covered," the means of supplying the larder,and
" which the larder could not furnish;" here was-

the solution of the problem ; and M. Archam-
bault may exclaim with Archimedes : cc I have
found
Even if success had not crowned his efforts, I
should consider them equally entitled to my ap-
plause. Where are 'the restaurateurs who re-
semble him, and who, forgetting their own inte-
rests,.are solely occupied in promoting ours ? If
you know them, I shall be obliged to you for
their address ; but-M. Archambault was not only
a very good cook, but also an excellent man. It
is pleasant to be able at the same time to speak
in commendation of fine talents and a good heart.
There exists in cookery, I know, very serious
obstacles against economy, and I confess also,
that up to the present moment they have had ,
some foundation ; but I have no doubt that M.
Archambault will yet accomplish their destruc-
tion ; for, with him, -economy dyes not prevent
excellence ; and notwithstanding he has banished
all expensive ingredients from his kitchen, we
can scarcely perceive their absence ; iiis ragouts,
his gravies, and his sauces not being less palatable
or piquant.
Ile was well aware that he could not other-

wise have succeeded, and thatin an enlightened
age, so capable of appreciating the value of ma-
terial enjoyments, it was necessary for him, as he
himself says, while he was studying economy to

study alsii our palates. Truly, we are riot likely,
in the present day, to be satisfied with the or-
dinary of the Fabricii, the Curii, and other Ro-
mans of the same appetite, very respectable no
doubt, but whose cooks were rather too econo-
mical. We should reject with disgust the dish
of lentils on which they feasted with so much
g-usta. A. change of times requires. a change in
our kitchens. Restaurateurs know it well, and
for this reason M. Archambault was desirous of
resolving both conditions of the problem. Be-
sides, had he not to support the honour of his
house ? Do you think that, after having reached
Rich eminence, he could have demeaned himself
so low as to rank among those obscure restaura-
teurs whose treacherous economy I have too often
experienced. This would indeed shew a thorough

ignorance of artists, and particularly of cooks
who are worthy of this name : glory is their idol.
- Moreover, the merit of the Economical Cook
can nownb longer be a subject of discussion. It
.possessesi on this point the most respectable
authority, that of the thing judged, and I have
mentioned the persons who sat in judgment on it.
.No doubt they. had a great esteem for M. Arch-
ambault, but they liked a good dinner better,
and since the Economical Cook has come to us

furnished-with -their approbation,. and honoured
by their suffrages, what more can it want ? May
not M. Archambault say with Horace :
Priazci-
pibus placuissc viris . . .?
You will perhaps be now more anxious to
know the expedients he made use of, and the re-
sources he created, to supply the' place of the ek=
pensive ingredients which are in common use ;
but HI were to gratify your curiosity I should
be obliged to enter into certain details which
ought •not to appear in this article. I must
therefore confine myself to general remarks ; my
Economical Cook . will tell you the rest, for 'there
are many: things which he alone can explain.
I haVe no wish to depreciate modern cookery;
the art'has made amazing progress during the last
twenty five years, and to entertain any doubt on
thiS head is to confess that you have not read the
Art of the Cook, by M. Beauvilliers, one of the
finest Ivorks of that time, with which M. Arch-
ambault " has no intention of pUtting his own
" into competition ;" but the French are too apt
to despise the _doctrines of their ancestors ; and
as respects their cookery, certainly it was
not, so excellent as that of the present
day, but it is by no means deserving, of
our contempt.. This remark has been before
made by. very clever men on•other subjects, be-
side's. cOOkery; flowmany dishes have been
lightly abandoned and without any advantage to
our palatal sensuality ! What real.coMplaints had
we against thern.?'. It is true they were very
plain, and simplivity in the present day is but a
'feeble recorr4fetidation. Besides they were
.antient, and on, this account the spirit of party in
F ranee, which leis nothing escape, hai proscribed
them without examination, as if there could be
any feudalism in, sauces and ragouts
M. Archambault has therefore had the good
sense and.the courage to return to the old sys-
tem, after. having established its advantages by
frequetet:ex.periments. A cook without any pre-
_ _

j - .
udiees, he-has availed himself of all the truly
impokant acquisitions of modern cookery, but
he dic~not think himself bound to reject that
which was goad aid agreeable in the antient ?
.Why .have not the rest of his countrymen been
•equally prudent! Ah ! if their .first legislators
had, done for their institutions. what -M. Arch-
ailliffult has done.. fOr his ragouts, they would
now•have -been in a much better:condition; for,
in politics, as in cookery,.itlis somewhat ad-
vantageous not to .sever entirefy. the past from the
present. The Economical Cook gives this lesson
to the French, but unfortunately it is too late:
w hope, however, that it will not be lost on our
Reformers.

A note of the' Editor informs us that M. Ar-
chambault cannot enjoy his success. " This esti-
" triable man, animated by a love of his art, and
" by the wish of doing honour to his times, de-
" No teChis 1-cfsure to writing down the numerous
" results of his experiments, when a premature
44 death' snatched him from his family and
" friends." Here then is another loss to be add-
ed to all those which cookery has suffered during
several years past. "the masters of the art dit-
appear, and who will supply their places? We
are informed that the rising generation is ad-

dicted to study, and that it is thoughtfalan4 re-
,fteative, but we cannot judge of their sauces be'-
fore we have tasted them, and I am rather afraid
they will prove too piquant.
The ra.mory of M. Archambault will long be
dear to epicures. The service he has ciriferred
on them is not one of those which are easily for-
gotten. What then -remains for us to desire 1—
The Opposition, .who are not mily satisfied,
will now be left without a wish ? To be Weir
governed and to dine well at the cheapest pos-
sible rate, .These are,' believe, the objects •so
earnestly demar ded. by the lights of the
We possess already the benefits of one, and-the
Economiced Cook will give .us the other. Tile
Editor is right In-saying teat this work's will
prove a glorious monument to its author ;71iitit
our gratitude ought to raiiie another to M. Ar-
qiiambault,, on which thesektords should be en-
graved :—Goon CUEER AND Ecououv.