Demoine courier., 1855-07-12

fourteen boarders, and would ray me
sI75 per month, and ! in reilrn
rather startled him with the
ment that | had on se veraloccasions been
pronounced The mos, scientific and econ
omical cook in America, and that, | would
undertake 10 introduce into his kitchen
improvements making a saving Of Fifty
per cen, on the raw material.
went a, it. For the the frs, three
days nv success was astonishing to my
aelf and encouraging 10 the landlord. ]
manufactured dishes Of a hundred va
rielie,ies, although my bread was no,
always the ligh,est, or The soup the best
favored, ye. had the reputation, and
for one week, without a word of mur.
muring, the boarders managed to choke
down some Of the most. eamnable com
pounds ever placed upon a table. Wha,
| lacked in knowledge Of the business J
undertook to make up with ingenuity
| e. experimental on the lof,iest scale. ]
slowed pork and dried peaches together
and Sc, the delecta5le MIXTURE well pep
pered aEt bu,tered, before The boarders,
giving the dish q foreign name which |
could not pronounce twice alike. /
| fried onions in swee, oil, and potatoes
in vinegar; put loaf sugar UPON The beef.
STEAK, and favored the coffee with alter
nate doses Of peppersauce, mustard and
~currant jelly. Blu. for one week the
boarders stood i, all. for each disliked to
be the FIRE, to show his ignorance Of ar
tis,ic cooking by denouncing my dishes
a la FrancaiS:.
Up to this time ! had no, experiment
ed any in pastry cooking. Bu,as Sun
day approached. a day the landlord in
formed me upon which the boarders
would expec, either pies or buildings, !
resolved to make the attempts, So, the
Saturday night previous, while all were
al supper. | asked the boarders what they
would prefer, as l could prepare them
anything they desired. As t%wo-.hirGs
| o: them had been ~sailors, The answer
was duG.
Here was a dilemma for me VIVA,
in the name Of kind heaven was duff ?
| didn't know, and of course it would
never do 10 inquire. nigh. make them
eat strange dishes with strange names,
but ! well knew that | could not mislead
them with all my pretended science.
when it came to duff. | saw that if ]
made a failure on this dish, the nature
OF which l had no. the mos, distant idea
my reputation would vanish and my
| science would be scorned. laid awake
all night, revolving the matter over in
my mind, bu, the e morning | was
none the wiser for il. l analysed the
word "duf,' and exhausted in vain nay
entire foreign language in attempting TO
ferret on. a meaning for il. But deter.
mined after all else had failed 10 throw
myself back upon my ingenuity and take
| the oh lnces. The boarders asked for
duff, and / resolved that the shesld have
what they desired.
As felt assured that upon the success
Of this little pastry enterprise huog my
fate as cook of that establishment, set
tied with my employer for my weeks
wages, aud as soon as breakfast wal over
commenced preparing the duff. in order
that by twelve o'clock il might possess
al least one redeeming qualisy-'ha. Of
being we'll done. During the morning,
by accidentally hearing dropped at the
table the word duff Bag l became cor
vino ed that duff was cooked in a bag -
Working upon this discovery, l took one
quar-. Of molasses, aSou, FIVE pounds of
-four, a half pound Of butter, a round
Of dried apples, a half pound Of sugar, a
lea -cupfull of salt and about an equal
quantity of pepper and alspice, and mix
ing them together | tied the compound
up in a towel, and put it into The oven
of the stove 10 bake.
Noon came, The bell was rung, and
the boarders rushed TO the table. The
first courses were waded through, and
the duff was called for. ! packed up
my blankets and placed them beside The
back door. | then opened the stove
door. and taking from the oven the lump
Of duff. stripped the towel from around
it and placed i, upon q plate before the
boarders. In a moment a half dozen
knives were plunged into the mass, and
the next as many mouths were testing
its quality-aud he next, as many hon
est miners were ejec.ingi it. and swearing
in fearful earnestness-.and the next,
Blunderbuss might have been seen max.
ing his way up the hill, with his blank