, 1874-08-24

lad from hts Imperial sumbors rlon Parkinson
salIicd out Of his restaurant In Philadelphia and
appeared in the rsnoply Of print, living Anori-
can cook, determined TO oopvinco ALEXIS Of Ills
existonco and tho o1datonco OF othore
like him. Alexis haa now vory good
roason to bollovo that thoro aro
American cooks,-at least that thero IN Quo, Mr.
Jamoa ". Parkinson. Of philadelphia. Tho
Duke had said that 1o frequently requested tho
propr1etors Of American hotcle 10 sot hefore him
somo peculiarly American dish. Bnt the pecu-
larly American dish waa mover produced. His
hosta aaaured him that tho American cuisine was
like that Of Franco, and that tho cooks IN all tho
principal hotels wero Tronchnncn. Mr. parAtn-
son tolls bis Imperial Highness that he went to
tho wrong source for tho information he noedod.
What do hotol-koepors know about cooking7
Tho prop1ietors or keepora Of American
hotols aro not cooks, but capitalists.
| They arc not men who, like tho
keoposs of restaurants In Franco xnd
Gorn,any, ha,e graduated In their profession.
wllo have risen through all tho degrees Of cook.
up to the dfgniaod position Of hotol~kceper.
Tho qualities TINT distinguish thcm aGe not q
knowledge Of tho virtues Of dishes, but a knoTl-
odgo Of business and remarkable organizing md
executive ability. OF Tho art OF cooking thoy
know just al much and just Us litslo AZ bankers,
manufacturers, and otlor capitalists. Parkinson
grantB that In most Of our great hotels tho cook-
Ing department Ia undor tho Charge Of Freuch
cooks,-of such, for the moss part, however, ~
were not able to got along in the business In
their own country. This he says accounts for tho
fact TINT hotot tables frequently present such
wrotohed faro, while tho tables OF wealthy pri-
vato gent1oaon afford such excellent sating
As far as French cooking goes. tho Frehch got
the credit Of great doaf that docs not belong to
them at ALL They Aayo = wonderful capacity
for adapting and approprissing to themselves
the aishes Of other nations. It is too frequently
| 8 woakness of which foreigners aro guilty to
givo Trench names to their dishos, and thus 4
great many diBheB not Froncl at all come to bo
regarded as such. Only by comparison Of tho
dishes Of tho various nations can tl,oir rclativa
morita DO aucortainod aud Mr.. Parkinson pro-
place in Philadelphia, such a comparison should
bo instituted. The result, ho predicts, would ba
tlat many of our Own haat diAhas would bo
rapidly introduced to tho favor Of ether natious
To CONVINCE tho Russian Grand Duko that he
was not rightly informed as to tho morits Of tho
American cuiaine, Slr. Parkinson displays bill
Of fare made up Of American diahcs which
onght to mako blu noblo mouth to water when
ho thinks what thero Ia In atore for him should
ho bo 80 fortunate "a evor to visit thea, shores
again. In tho first place there is tho American
oyster, largo, swees, delicious, g1osioua, uniko
iss pigmy caricature called by tho aame uamo in
France. And then A{r. Parkinson presents
thom prepared IL tho various ways,--all OF which
aro peculiarly American, fried, roaated, slowed,
scolloped, panned, boiled, gnddled, and spioed.
Next como our American soft-shell crabs, our
turt1ea and terrapins Of which Europe lives
fn bIi6sful ignorance. Gauyas-back ducks, the
finest game In tho world, and our turkoyH, no far
| superior to thoso Of Europe, follow after.
Among cur fish there Ia the ahad, the shoep'a
heaa, rock-ash, coddah, h&lihut, brook aud lako
trout Wild dnck, squsb. grouse, quail, rced-
bird, ployer, praire-chioker, the buffalo, antc-
lopc, boar, opossum. mountain sheep, tho rabbit
| aud woodchuck arc mentioned as BamElos Of our
game. In tho vegetable kingdom. among our
speeialtieH are the tomato and the cranberry. In
tho region Of ice-cream, awootmeats, and doaaorta
| generally no beat tho world. Nor will tho cham
pion Of tue Amorlcan cookh aud cooking allow
| that We ato wanting in originality In our
( dishos rs is proved By the New England chowdes,
] onr pumpkin pics, buckwheat cakos, corn mush,
corn-starch pudding, White Mountain cake,
Warrington cake, etc, etc.
| It would seem that the cook has made out
| good caae against the aapersions Of our Imperial
visitor on American cooking. When tue uaxt
| noolo Russian visits our country hs will do veil
to mako Mr. Parkinaons reply to tho Grand
| Duke radc 'necum, or gude-book among the
! fntsicAces OF American cookery.
REECRER AND TIE NEW YORK PRESS.
! Tho attitude of the Nav York press In tho
matter of the Deechcr-Elton scandal has from,
the very beginning boeu almost unaccountable.
1ts disregard for facts, however, roacncd tho ci-
max after Moulton's statement WAS published,
The New York Tribune, tho Now York World,
and the Nov York Sun are agreed that 1Ioulton's
story is harmless to Deecher. Tho Tribune and
Sun hint that Moulton ia q liar. The position Of
tho Times is to ali intonts aud putpoaca tbs
same az that Of tho other abore.named journals,
| Tho coarae OF tho press iu Mar York Ia all the