The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1874-10-30
Our (inisine.

The Archduke Alexis, son of the En-
peror of all the Russias, and James
W. Parkinson, son of nobody but his
plebeian father and mothers are at issue.
The Archduke Alexis had, in the de-
scription of his travels in America, so
far forgotten the dignity of his high
position as to touch on American cooks
and kitchens, and not in way fatter-
ing to either. James w. Parkinson, of
Philadelphia, for forty years an Ameri-
can cook, restaurateur and caterer to
the astronomical tastes of the inhabit-
ants of the City OF Brotherly Love, has
come forward as the champion of his
country, his country's cooks and
kitchens, and demonstrated how little
an Archduke may know about cooking.
| Snatching few moments leisure from
| the arduous labors of his profession,
he has entered the lists against his i'm
periaI antagonist and come out the
victor. Indeed, after reading Mr..
Parkinson's defense of American dishes,
we feel just pride in our national
cookery. The Duke is no match fo+
the cook when the scene of the contes
is the kitchen and he fares about as
well there as Parkinson would before
Russian needles gun. The Grand Duke
had the rashness to say that in America
| there are no American cooks and no
| American dishes. What 8 terrible
awakening he must have had from his
imperial slumbers when Parkinson
sailed out of his restaurant in Phila-
delphia and appeared in the panoply of
print, living American cook, deter
mined to convince Alexis of his exist
ence and the existence of others like
him. Alexis has now very good reason
to believe that there are American
/ OF OF hot 10
James W. Parkinson, of Philadelphia.
The Duke had said that he frequently
requested the proprietors of American
| hotels to set before him some peculiar
| " American dish. But the peculiarly
American dish was never produced.
His hosts assured him that the Ameri-
can cuisine was like that of France, and
that the cooks in all the principal ho-
tells were Frenchmen. Mr.. Parkinson
tells his Imperial Highness that he
went to the wrong source for the lnfor-
nation he needed. What do hotel
keepers know about cooking? The
proprietors or keepers of American ho-
tells are not cooks, but capitalists.
They are not men who, like the keepers
of restaurants in France and Germany,
have graduated in their profession,
who have risen through all the degrees
of cook, up to the dignified position OF
hotel-keeper. The qualities that dis.
tinguish them are not a knowledge OF
the virtues of dishes, but knowledge
of business and remarkable organizing
and executive ability. OF the art o1
cooking they know just as much anC
} Just as little as bankers, manufacturers
and other capitalists. Parkinson
i grants that in most of our hotels the
cooking department is under the charge
of French cooks,-of such, for the mos
part, however, as were not able to ge
along in the business in their owl
t country. This he says accounts for thu
t fact that hotel tables frequently pre-
7 sent such wretched fare, while the table
t of wealthy private gentlemen afforC
: such excellent eating. AS far as Frencl
l cookery goes, the French get the credi
! of great deal that does not belong t.
4 them at all. They have a wonderful ca
q pacity for adapting and appropriatin
D to themselves the dishes of other IA
= tions. It is too frequently a weakness
: of which foreigners are guilty to Civ
e French names to their dishes, and thus
y great many dishes not French, at a
3 come to be regarded as such. Only b
: a comparison of the dishes of the var
r Gus nations can their relative merits b
ascertained, and MIR. Parkinson pro
q poses that, at the Centennial Expos
IS ton to take place in Philadelphia, sue
le a comparison should be instituted
r. The result, he predicts, would be tn,
q many of our own best dishes would /
II rapidly introduced to the favor of otht
IS nations.
To convince the Russian Grand Duh
that he was not rightly informed as
the merits of the American cuisine, NJ
Parkinson displays q bill of fare mao
ie up of American dishes which ought
q make his noble mouth to water wht
9 he thinks what there is in store for hi
= should he be so fortunate as ever
~ ~ visit these shores again. In the fir
= place there is the American oyste
q large, sweet, delicious, glorious, unlil
- 40 its pigmy caricature called by the san
% name in France. And then Mr.. Par
= inson presents them prepared in the v
%, %; rious ways,-all of which are peculiar
IL American, fried, roasted, stewed. sec
loped, panned, boiled, griddled, al
~ spiced. Next come our American SO!
o1 shell crabs, our turtles and terrapir
u of which Europe lives in blissful ignc
Gu ance. Canvas back ducks, the fin
IN game in the world, and our turkeys,
II II far superior to those of Europe, folle
aS =. after. Among our fish there is the sha
a. a. the sheep's-head, rock-fish, Goldfish, h;
oo ibut, brook and lake trout. Wild due
% SQuaDs grouse, QudlI, Teeu-D1EO, plOFe
20 prairie chicken, the buffalo, anteloI
11y bear opossum, mountain sheep, t
~ rabbit, and woodchuck are mention
L h' as samples of our game. In the veg
~ ~ table kingdom, among our specialti
- are the tomato and cranberry. In t
region of ice-cream, sweetmeats a
= =. desserts generally we beat the worl
=, Nor will the champion of the Anne
~ 1oo can cooks and cookery allow that we 6
ne ne wanting in originality in our dishes,
% % is proved by the New England che
W. 49,, F,a11a5, - e ,te,.,,l, -, ~,
t,1 s1 White Mountain cake, Washington cal
etc., Chicago Tribune.
'se CiVilities in Japan.
ok It is most amusing to see two Jal
ht- nese acquaintance meet. The amol
ng of scraping and bowling gone throu