Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1850-08-09
GA GOOD PLAIN COOK"

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WANTED, a good plain Cook is hungrilv
echoed from the columns Of the Times, by half
the husbands and bachelors of Great Britain
According to the true meaning of the words
A good plain C0ok'-to Judge from the un-
skful manner in which domestic cookery is
carried on throughout the length and breadth of
the land-is a very great rarity. But the COR
yentiuna aud the true meaning of the express
sion widely differ.
! 'Wha, is commonly self.called plain cook,
SAYS writer in the Examiner, is cook who
spos food for low wages. She is a cook, no,
because size knows ANYTHING about cookery
but because she prefers the kitchcn.tre TO
scrubbnr floors. POLISHING CRATES. or making
beds. A cook who can boil potato and dress
mutton chop i, one in "a thousand
| Such very nla!n cooks will always exist for
dvspeplic purposes, while those Who are in
authority over them remain ignorant of an art
which, however much it NAV be sighted, ex.
erciscs a crowning influence over healthand
happiness. Eat we must and it is literally
subject of vital importance whether what we
ca be properly adapted for healthfu digestion
or not.
| Medical statistics tell us that Of all diseases
with which the EuoHsh are afflicted, those
arising directly or indirectly from impaired d.
festive orrans are the most prevalent. We
are falsely accused in CONSEQUENCE of over-cat-
ing but the true cause Of cur ailments is bad
! c, okiur. A Frcnchman or a German devours
much more at one OF his own incXhaustible
t1bleS- ihvte than an Englishman consumes at
his dininp-tabc-and with mpunity; for tie
tureianer's food being properly prepared is easi-
! lv dGested. The true difference saws plea
,ant military writer in BIackwood's Magazine,
| between Eapish and foreign cookery is lust
this in preparng butchers meat for the table
the aim Of foreign cookery 10 to make it tender,
of Enplish to make i hard. And both systems
equally effect their object, in spite of difficult.
ties on each side. The butchers meat which
YOU buy abroad. is touph, coarsc-nrained. and
trngy; vet foreign cookery sends this mea to
The table tender. The butchers meat which YOU
buy in ENGLAND is tender enough when it comes
home but domestic cookery sends il up hard
Don't tell me the hardness is in the meat itself
Nothing of the kind it's altoretber an achieve.
ment Of the English cuisine. appeal to leg
of mutton, appeal to beef-stcak. as they usu-
ally come to table the beef half boiled, the
mutton half roasted Judge for YOURSELF The
underdone portion of each is tender the Dor.
ton that's dressed is hard. Arral, the hardness
is due to the dressing, not to the meat; il is a
triumph of domestic cookery. Engage good
{ plain cook'-tell her TO boil neck Of mutton,
that will show YOU what mean. An London
necks of mutton come TO the table crescents.
; regularly ourled.'
This is but too true the real art of stewine
is almost unknown in Great Britain, and even
in Ireland, despite the fame of an Irish stew.
- Everything that is not roasted or fried is
boiled, "a gallop,' till the quality of tenderness
is consolidated to the consistency ofcaoutchouc
Such thing MS a stewpan is almost unknown
III houses supported by less than from three
live hundred year.
These gastronomc grievances are solely due
to neglected education. Mr. Alexis Soyer
with touch of that quiet irony which impart
to satire Its slarpest sting, dedicSed his las
Cookery-booh 'to the daughters oil Albion
Having some acquaintance with Their deticlen