The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1865-02-16

81 - MI mO1k&6 s4Vss e
sent day, who ehest oselmeys into lpsais-
isag the delicate favor -0f ! .bulI.head
serted up tothtm as tropE - ~; ~ s
!, The culinary philosapasss s Athens T
lessed days ih the studysof sthsit dtvine
4ff: carefully experimenting with saailss s
'end Havors, formiBg cosbiii1 lions OF diff. =
ferent incohgruous- substances to try
effects, patiently working out problems
an cookery, and rcaping tho reward for
successful exertions in invcnting new
dish by naming it after themselves or
their patrons. We do not know that
they took out patents for their inven- :
tions, but they took such good care, to
keep the secrets Of their art exclusively
that no torture could draw them OUT
When the glory Of Greece eliminated,
and Athens was on the wane, the riches
and luxuriant style Of tho Romano
brought the professional Greek cool<s 70
Rome, and Greek literature and Greek
cookery became as fashionable among
the Romans Of the Empire as French
literature and French cooks are in Lon
don and New Y York in the nineteenth CEN
tury. Having the benefit Of the expe-
rience, the traditions and the skill OF the
Greeks, with the increased material for
the exercise of that skill upon the pro-
duct of an empire embracing every
variety of climate, the Roman cooks soon
outstripped their Grccian predecessors. :
They searched the world to find delica-
cies for the table. They not only excelled
in cooking, but particular attention was
paid to finding animals destined to be-
eaten. Pigs, birds and fishes were fed
on certain kinds of food to give them p:-
culiar havors. The favorite dish of the
Romans in the later days of the Empire
was Hog la Trojan" This was
Greek importation, and was so named
because the hog was cooked whole, and,
being stuffed with ortolans, thrushes and
other birds, and even small animals, was
intended as an imitation of the soldiers
enclosed in the belly Of the Trojan
Horse.
Some Roman dishes were sought after
only for the expensive materials required
for their preparation. The brains of
pheasants and thrushes, the tongues of
nightingales. and the livers of certain
rare fish, were much esteemed. Vitellius
cooked plat Of this kind, which cost
him forty thousand dollars. Helioga-
balus was accustomed to have the brains
Of six hundred thrushcs served up for
his supper. In the dark ages the race
of professional cooks died out, and Gull
nary art was only cultivated in Europe
in the kitchens of wealthy monastic in
stitutions. 1t, however, flourished in
decayed condition in ConstantinOple and
the East. One of the favorite dishes,
however, of the middle ages, was an
imitation of "hog in Trojan STYLE" the
favorite Roman dish. At all great feasts,
an OK, or some other large animal. was
roasted whole, having been previously
stuffed with rabbits, hares, pheasants,
etc The meat Of the OK was given to
the meancr guests the stuffing was
called "the Kings meat" and was re-
served for the more noble feasters. The
smaller animals cooked in this way re-
tanned all their own juices, and were
cooked in the steaming blood of the OK,
and are said to have been delicious
One of the famous dishes of modern
times is cooked in the same way, and it's
inventor, De la Rcyniere, gives US the
; recipe for preparing it, as follows:
, "Stutf fine large olive with cspers and
jolets Tanchots; then place the olive
inside the body Of a tig-picker, from
, which you cut the head and feet; then
: inclose the fig picker in the body of
plump ortolan, neatly dressed; then in
, sert the ortolan in the body of fat lark
! from which you dissect the principa
, bones then cover the lark with thin
slice of lard, and put it into the body o.
, a thrush, which, having in like manner
dissccted. you stuff inside fat and juicy
( quail "a wild one preferred); which yol
| should cover with vine kaf and inser
t in the body ola lapwing; which is bonet
!, and trussed and inserted in the body o
1 golden plovcr; which in it's turn i
Y covered with lard and incloscd in q younl
= woodcock; having rolled this in CRATE
bread crumbs, place it in the body of
n neatly-prcpared teal, which put into tn
n body ofa guinea-hen; which sccretei tn
r body of a young wild duck; which incag
in the body of chicken; which con
: ceal in the body Of young and care
n fully-selected pheasant; which entom
: in the body of a young and fat COOS
e wild, of course); which insert in tn
n body of very fine hen turkey; which
y finally, inclose in the body of'an oatara
n "a species Of wild turkey, or . youn
swan, and fill the intersticeS with Luce
chestnuts, forced meat, and . SAVIOR
= stuffing. Having thus prepared tn
roast, put it into pot sufficiently lArg'
with onions, cloves, carrots, choPpe
4 ham, celery, bouquet Of parsley an