New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-11-07
Mlidlaie-Age Cookery.

New ORR, we All say. Is ScltliS W VIC NeiH
cosmopolitan. Her houses, and her theatres,
her tastes and her habits, are taking on the
air fold World capitalism fact, so to speak,
of an agglomerate of capitals, since here we
have numbers of people from nearly all the
great cities abroad, who bring the ways OF
their former homes across the sea with them.
From this novel state of things, in which
vast metropolis is made up, not of Americans
only, but Germans and Irish and British and
French, Italians and Spanish, Swedes, Danes,
Poles, Africans, with sprinkling of Chinese,
Japanese, and Turkish, arise some incon-
venience and some valuable advantages.
Among the latter, it might be supposed that
eclectric modes Of cookery would spring up,
wherein all the best customs OF the various
nations might be combined into one harlno-
NOUS whole, and q system thus produced
which in its entirety should be superior to any
of its parts.
Not only do the diverse nationalitics, but
the markets of New York, favor such an eX-
pcctation. Here we get everything, or next
to everything, to be had in all the markets
of the world. The turtle that the French
man will not cat, and the frogs and snails
that he will /; the finest tcrTaplns, Holsters,
oysters, crabs, and CLANS to be found in the
sea; shad, bluetish, smells, and other pis-
catory luXurics, finer than elsewhere; game
and meats, to produce which millions of
square miles are laid under contribution
green stuls, for salads, of endless luXuriance
and variety; vegetables which are absolutely
indispensable; fruits which, whether from
the soil of New Jersey or California, are be-
coming almost fabulous, alike in bulk and
quality strange yet delicious food not known,
or little known, out of America-such as the
hump of the buffalo, the delicate flesh of the
antelope. and other choice morsels, which,
o,,l 10
liked by Europeans at first, but afterward are
cherished with lasting affection these and
many more articles of food are all at hand to
furnish unequaled material for what we may
style the Cuisine of the Future; but our
trouble is, it is not the Cuisine o. The Present.
We have restaurants and hotels perhaps
equal to any in the world. There are private
houses wherein the table, whether for delicate
taste or prOfuse variety, is probably unsur-
passed. But we speak in behalf, not of the
more opulent classes or their resorts, but of
the middle orders as regards purse, the cul
tivated people of moderate incomes. For
these our civilization is certainly not what it
should be. We may be ever so cosmopol-
tan, progressive, and modern in other things,
but in this we are still far behndhand, and
our cookery, as adapted to the persons
named, is little better than that of the Mid
die Ages.
In cities like Paris, Vienna, and Berlin,
cities with not half our facilities, good din
ner can be got, well-prepared, clearly served,
in places thoroughly unobjectionable, for one
fourth the sum such q meal costs in New York.
The illustration applies to pretty much all our
eating and drinking, and is a type of what, in
a republic, is a very anomalous fact. This is
the fact that, broadly speaking, our eating
houses are either only for the very rich or the
very poor. The wholesome and reasonable
mean between the two is comparatively UNI
known. Unless you can pay for the best of
everything, you will, for the most part, have
to put up with the worst. OF course,
there are exceptions. There are house
wives and housewives, and by luck
stranger may fall on his feet. But let him
pass through our streets and take the chances
for his meals, as he may have done in Paris,
and he will find our statement amply verified
The trouble is analogous to what we have
witnessed in the matter of houses and rents.
1t is easy to find splendid mansions in New
York, with every conceivable luxury and con-
venience, and it is easy to find cheap board
ing-places and tenement houses. But the
clearly, convenient, and not inelegant apart
ments, i'll decent situations, and adapted to
moderate purscs-the accommodations that
French and other 'flats" are meant to supply
have hitherto been more rare, and even
now are only beginning to meet the demand.
BY and by the evil will be rcmedied, and peo-
pie can get exactly what they want in the
shape of lodgings at the price they are able to
pay.
The same kind of provision is requisite in
the matter of dinners and cookery. Rcstau-
rants where the linen is clean and the but
ter sweet, where a really well-cooked chop
or iillet can be had for reasonable price,
where good tea and coffee are regular GER
taintes, and sound wine is furnished for
small profit, are fully as much needed here
as French ''fats," and like apartments, and
for much the same sort Of people. We are
aware, of course, that establishments in fash |
iOnablc quarters cannot pay rent on any such |
system as this-and Delmonico's is one of the |
cheapest houses in the world, considering
how good everything is, and the high cost of |
labor, rent, &C., but it is easy to find plenty |
of room in less expensive and snowy locali- |
ties, and, i'll such, good profits can be made |
from the custom of people who care most for !
the solid part of the business, and who, in |
fact. cannot afford to pay for anything else
Ne,r York Times.