Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-03-25
THE GAZETTE.
FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH %. 1859
TuE0UESTlON OF DINNER.


in the London papers as to the proper way %
getting up family dinner. Ii seems to be
conceded that English dinners are heavy ana
indigcstible, because they are badly cooked,
while French dinners are light and agreeable
because thew are we'll cooked. The London
Times does not disdain to mingle an editorial
on this subject occasionally, with ITS heavier
broadsides ON Italian wars and Indian IN
surreetiops. and what the Times discusses
evervbody else takes up. A writer in Bent
ley's Miscellany, for February, gives his opin-
ions thus:
A GREAT DEsIDERAruM.-lt is to Paris
that we must look for any reform among our
selves. and we are certain that the agitation
will not be successful unless examples are
drawn from that highly-favored capital. 1t
is very easy for our milliOnaires to secure
themselves against any failure; their chiefs
have all the appliances to make pnree OF
game, of which the stock is some half-dczen
pheasants, or an Apcian fish soup i'll which
the meanest cOmpOnents are a turbOt and
bottle of rim de grure. Such men stand
above all reform. They can tickle their
palate in any way they like, and dine
better than all the rest Of the civilized
world, for they can combine English soli-
dity with French taste. But class to
be sincerely pitiei is that composed of men
cursed with moderate competency, and who
have married under the delusion that they
are going to be comfortable, and enjoy at
home their club messes. Poor fellows! how
soon and how bitterly are they disappointed.
They must have grOaned inwardly on perus-
ing &. H. MS bill of fare. See what that
great Amphitry considers sufficient to salts
fy the appetite of the man OF taste-''One
soup, one fish, three or four entrees, never
more) one relieve, one roti, one game (gen-
orally enough unless you have ortolans or
beccsfoos for q second, two legumes, and
two entremets-in all twelve or thirteen
plates" Fancy the tortured reader mildly
suggesting to the pldcenS urOr that he should
like something Of that sort, as u relief after
the Joints Oh which he has been dining for
the last three months. We can readily ina
CINE her reply.
And yet, after all, if our lady menageres
would deign to accept hint from the French,
and not regard it as lowering their digni-
ty to take look at what is going on in their
kitchen, our brightest visions might be re-
allied with very slightly-increased expense.
Take, for instance, the French pot-au-feu,
the general receptacle of whatever our cooks
throw away as useless, and which allows of
soups Of infinite variety being served up eve
~ day. The old prejudice about soup
drinking frog-eating Frenchmen, has died
out, never to return. Throughout the Cri-
mean campaign the French soldiers en- oyed
their soup, and we have yet to learn that
they were any weaker in consequence. The
active ZOuayes, who swarmed up the heights
of Alma, had many time been condemned TO
soupe n,diIre as sole resource, and still they
did their duty like men. AS for the oblec-
ton that our climate requires the comsump-
ton of nearly raw meat to keep up stamina, 1t
is simply bOsh, and the French mechanic far
worse paid than the English artisaa-has
always comforting or Strengthening plate
of 6oulli, when his English brother, through
his wife's ignorance of the first principles of
cookery, seeks refuge in the gin palace, and
deadens his appetite at the same time that he
is DESTROYING his constitution.
French ladies do not consider domestic duties
beneath attention, and although, perhaps, it
would be asking too much of wives five ex-
pected them to make our pastry, land, III
deed, we should be very sorry to have our
gallantry put to the test by having to eat it, J
still they might exercise wise supervision
and put check on that frightful waste
which so prominently distinguishes too many
ofour middle-class kitchens.
CULINARY REFoRNs.--One great reform.
then, which might be safely introduced, much
to our comfort is the pot-au-feu, the most
economical and pleasantest domestic article
the French possess. The next point, and
one of vital importance, is the introduction
among US of the. French stove, with its tat
terie de cuisine Not only under our present
defective system do We waste little fortune
in Goals, which go roaring up the chimney
solely for the advantage of the sweeper, but
we ruin the virtues of our meat by the reck-
less way in which we cook it. 1t is kept at a
furious state of ebulltion, by which it becomes
hardened, and the nourishing portion is dis
solved in the water Now, by the French
system of using charcoal, the exact amount
Of heat required is kept up, and the food
when cooked, is easy of digestion, and far
more grateful to the palate. The expense OF
such a stove would not be very great; an intel
ligent bricklayer would put it up, and the
first outlay would be very soon repaid by the
saving in fuel. But without such an appara-
tus it is almost impossible to introduce French
cookery among us or prepare those peculiar
dishes which are gradually to wean the hus-
hand from the club. Ponder on this dear
lady readers, and be warned in time.
It is inconceivable how much can be done
with this apparatus. A ships galley is
generally regarded as the hest distribution of
Culinary space, but that is nothing when COM
pared with the French battery. When kept
thoroughly clean, which is the first desidera-
tum in every kitchen, it is really very pleas
ing sight, and lady need not fear spelling
her dress ifshe will condescend to visit the
penetralia of her kitchen, and try her hand
at some dainty dish for her husband; And
if she do so. she may console herself with
the reflection that she is but following the
example of many illustrious ladies'.
VEGErABLEs.-Then again look at the
scandalous way in which our vegetables are
treated-the very finest in the world-but
their aroma and flavor is destroyed by an
ignorant cook. Culinary sages, from DIR.
Kitchener downwards, have urged thel
lance of having a potato dressed properly,
and the difficulty of finding an artistic caPa-
BILE of sending up that esculent in satisfae-
tory condition. Then why should we run the
risk of failure? In NJ. Gogue's book We find
more than forty ways of cooking potato
tknso might hp introduced