The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-03-02
INTERNAL REMEDIES.
CHEAP PARIS RESTAURANTS.
The ''HarIrIuIn" purvsy0r soups That
are Novel, ~ not Nice.
Chambers Magazlne.l


In no towns In the world perhaps, except
those of China, is the value of little things
better understood than In Paris, and particu-
larly In that essentially Partisan branch of
industry which caters for the hungry man
Even In the lowest quarters Of Paris people
must dine, just us they must In the Boue-
wards and the Paris Royal but the modes Of
dining are so different that they might belong
To two different worlds The expensive din
ner has often been described, and, In these
days OF quick travelling, when Paris is only
eight hours from London, dining there Is as
familiar as dining In London; but few people
have ever penetrated into these hooks and
corners where tho customers measure their
appetites by confines, and very frequently
can only crafty them in an unpleasantly in-
termittent manner. In these Barmecide
establishments plate Of meat can be had for
two sous Ia penny, and one OF vegetables for
half penny, while some Of the meals com
bine with the chance OF getting something
good to eat the thrilling possibility OF getting
nothing This Is playfully called rhaaard de
Ia JOurchette (the chance Of the fOrk) and con
sists In the player taking one shot for his
money with broad two-pronged fork into
seethlng caldron, and bringing up whatever
he Is able to stick the fork into An old hand
often succeeds in landing Succulent irag-
ment OF something unknown, but the novice
finds the coveted Inorsel evade the prong
and leaves him respondent and dinneiless
"HARLEQUINs."
Another branch Of the purveying business,
and one, too, In which fortunes have been
made, is that OF selling 'harlequins," which
consist OF an oita podrida OF scraps of every
kind, and sold Tor u half penny a plate The
idea of calling this collection of eatable
patches by the name of harlequin s from the
dress OF divers pieces and cOlUrs which deco
rates that stage professional. Is Partisan to
the backbone, and suggests the cynical grin
from which the mess is regarded by it's pur-
Chasers The harlequin purveyor ia on terms
OF business with all the cooks at the restalI-
rants of the neighborhood, from whom be or
she buys the broken scraps collected by the
end OF the day, at the rate OF three to three
aud q half francs the basketful Indeed. this
Is the most lucrative portion OF the cooks |
trade; Tor, though he earns probably pound
or thirty Shlliug8 month for his salary he
will make twice or three times as much by
the perquisites which he sells to the HARLEQUIN
merchant. A fine baSketful IL is from bread |
crumbs to beefsteak and truffied turkey
bones, fat. pickings, paringe- all Is fish that |
come into this net. But valuable as the as |
sortnent Is for nutritious purposes, some
portions OF it fetch a still higher price. such |
as the fat which is carefully sorted and sold |
to merchants 10 be converted into lamp oil |
The bones, too, ut least those which are bare |
of meat or skin, are picked out and sold back |
again under the name OF Tej0uissdacg to the |
Restaurants, tn make their comrnoner soups
and, having done duty in this department. |
they pass To the very lowest cook-shops or |
gdfgOt,ers, who again use them In a mess Of |
broth favored with carrots or burnt onions. |
One would surely think that a bone had now
done its duty sufficiently, and that it might be
allowed to rest in peace. But no. There Is |
still money to be made out of IL; for IL big |
enough, 1t is sold to the bone-button makers
and, ii it has been too much reduced by re-
peatAd cracking and maceration for this small |
purpose, 1t Is, at all events, fit to be made into
animal charcoal, and probably does duty In a
box Of charcoal tooth powder lying In a place
OF honor in the window Of fashionable per-
fumer.
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Thus 1t will be seen that nothing Ia too
small for Partisan SPECTATOR, aud that there
are depths IN each station OF society which
even our philosophy dreams not Of just as
the eating material descends q step at time
to fulllll Its various uses, there Is a cores
pOndiDg grade of professional industry con-
nected with it; for the harlequin purveyor,
like the flea which has smaller fi4as to bite it, |
employs a number OF hands, chiefly women,
to sort out the sayory messes and apportion
the elements SO rs to suit the cooking depart
ment, the lanD-oil maker, the button maker |
and the preparer Of animal charcoal 1t Is n |
noteworthy tact, however, that even In little
restaurants and cOok-shops which carry their
and class of customers on their
face, there Is often most appetizing display
OF meats, vegetables and poultry hanging up
at the window or near the door, giving the
visitor the idea that there is good fare within,
the humble exterior But |
these succulent joints, plump fowls and tasty
vegetables are d fusion and a snare They
are real, 1t is true, but they do not belong to
the establishment and IRE In poiut of fact let
out for show from day to day for small sum;
just as beggar-woIDan hires a baby for her
stock i'll trade to appeal to theisympathies of
the charitable. SO, then, there Is regular
industry of provision renters, the eatablps
being returned as wanted after having done
their duty In practically advertising the ex-
cellent resources OF the cook-shopl
TOUCHING THIS CHEAP SOUP,
there Is one fact connected with it which Is
worth mentioning, as 1t shows another branch
Of industrial cooking as ingenious as it is
nasty. 1t must be admitted by even the
most unprejudiced, that soup made of three
or four times used bones, and favored with a
burnt onion, cannot be very strong, neither
can 1t look strong, which is perhaps more to
the purpose; so with view of rectifying the
latter defect, an appearance OF fat at all
events must be given. But as all the fat in
the harlequins celler has been sold more
profitably to the Oil merchant, he makes good
The defect in another way. The soup-con-
coct0r takes into his mouth as much fish oil
IS ne can nold, ana at the critical moment,
blows it out again in sort Of we'll regulated
Og into the pot, where it settles on the TOP of
The soup, and gives it the appearance Of ac-
,ually boiling over with richness, like the
waterso graphically emphasized by
Mr.. Squeers. This ingenious process Is called
putting the eye into the soup" No wonder
hat money is made in trade of 50 many re
sources; or that d lew years ago celebrated |
purveyor, a Madame Willard, re-
ired with a large fortune, having already
settled her four daughters in establishments
il their own.