The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1868-12-12
The Secrets of the French Kitchen
Unveiled.

The Paris correspondent Of the London Ssdr
writes as follows: :.
Among the curiosities of Paris life decidedly
are the small carts, which, from FIVE to six every
morning. call at the back gates OF em6asGes,
palaces ministers, restaurants, hotels ana great
houses in general, to purchase tho remains q the
entertainments, desserts and dinner In general,
left not by the upper ten thousand only but thor
serysnts and sold every morning by their COOKS
10 the emissaries of a race of costermongers,
called "arleouins" whose stalls at the "Halles"
ara furnished forth by these "baked meats, /"
which made their debut at the table of those
vho rule our destinies. The carts are closed in,
and recognizable by the sort of chimneys in the
top 70 admit the free circulation Of the air; the
remains are thrown pell nell into the carts, and
paid for by the weight.
You may imagine the aspect presented by this
ollspodrida when it reaches the harlequin" stall.
The first process is the triags, or sorting-a work
of no small difficulty when portions OF lobster
la Julienne have to be extracted from the remains
of a fruit tart in which they are embedded. Tho
most presentable morsels are pared, cleaned u
and arranged on dish, this process taking place
in some remote corner far from human ken, as
naturally its mysteries would not attract Gus
temers Strange to say, 10y twelve o'clock these
scraps of rich mems plates are eagerly bought
mp BY certain class of poor who prefer the
savory flavor to more wholesome feed. What
cannot be sufficiently pared and arranged for
human appetite is sold for the food of pet dogs,
italian greyhounds, and such like aristocratic
ouadrupeds. The bones, however, found in this
detritus are carefully put aside and sold to the
manufacturers Of concentrated meat essence loz.
engss, and by them after they have boiled Thorn
down, sold to the makers OF animal black, much
in demand by house painters, &c.
But to return to our friends the "arlequins"
This trade of buying up the remains of our
friends side dishes and second courses is by NO
means a bad one-manv of those who pursue it
retire at the end OF a few years on four or five
hundred year
The next branch of this trade 10 the bankers
zen viex" which attracts many true lover OF
antiquities, "Moribond de Memblss en- yieux."
Ancient furniture, even though stained with age
and rust, we all appreciate; but ancient bread,
stained by ink and mould, we scarcely relish.
Yet 1t is remunerative trade to collect tho
crusts thrown away by college boys or dropped
by these careless youngsters in their play
grounds trampled on and linked oftentimes, but
gathered by chifoniers and sold to those second.
hand bakers and by them sorted.
The cleanest of these soiled and uninviting
crusts are dried in an oven, rasped, and then
sold fer the ''crouto pot" with which soup all
familiar with French cuisines are well .cquain.
ted. Furthermore, these choice bits of old bread
are cut up into the three cornered morsels which
fried in butter, adorn the dishes of the vegsta-
bles, &c. we enjoy at our favorte restaurants.
But there yet remains mass of mua-staiAed,
dust-soiled scraps which once were bread; this
is worked up in mortar, and pulverized, and
sold as "chapelure blanche, in which our outlets
are dressed, or, to use the technical term pane"
and as "chapelure brune," which is sifted over
the small hams called '.jamhsnnsaux" There
still remains dust which it has been impossible
to work up-this is blackened in the oven and
reduced to an impslpable black powder, mixed
up with honey to which is added few drops of
peppermint and sold as an infallible cure for the
toothache, for which ailment it is said to be
quite as eifcacious as anything recommended
by the faculty"