The Holt County sentinel., 1879-07-18
French Meat.Markets and Restaurants.

French Neat Markets and Restaurants.
The restaurants, hotels, and pastry
cooks shops are visited by q special set
of inspectors, whose business It is to as
certain whether the kitchens are clean
and the cooking utensils free from YER
digris. The Grand Hotel and Cafe An
glais are amendable 10 this inspection
equally with the neanest eating-honseS
OF the suburbs; and if the inspectors
discover any ground of complaint they
visit the house day after day fill the
owner mends his manners. Butchers,
fishmongers, poulterers and pork-butch-
ers have also a set of inspectors special
lv appointed to watch over them, and
many excellent laws exist in France for
keeping the premises of these tradesmen
in healthy condition. Thus, the butch
cr's shops must have nothing wooden in
their fixtures except the chopping-block.
The floor must be of stone, the shelves
Of marble, the walls must be covered
with enamel tiles, and in place of shut
tiers there must be iron bars, that fresh
air may pour into the shop at all hours
of the night. No slaughtering is allow
cd on the premises of butchers of pork-
butchers, the giant slaughter-houses at
La Villette being sufficient TO meet the
requirements of all Paris. Here the
cattle and pigs are brought along the
outer boulevards between 10 at night
and 9 in the morning, so that there may
be no passing of fiocks and herds
through the city in broad day; and all
the delivery of meat must be effected
before 10 A. NJ. , in carts having white
cloths TO cover the quarters of beef and
mutton. had almost forgotten that
Paris is possessed of 196 hOrse-fiesh shops
Which are subjected to the same rules as
the butchers; but here, as in the pork
butchers the inspectors have difficult
task in trying 10 prevent oifal and putrid
meat from being manufactured into sau-
sagcs, Gelatine, pies and other indigest-
ible dalnties which Frenchmen love. l
am afraid that the inspectors are not
very successful, and that the proletarian
French sausage will not stand impartial
investigation. The bad meat in it may
be SO chopped up with pepper, spices
and garlic that all tell-tale flavor will be
disguised; but the meat must he bad, for
the pork-butchers so undersell the butch
ers, that they would apparently have us
believe that half pound of veal and
a similar quantity of ham can be mixed
up with spices and sold as pie, for about
three pence cheaper than a pound of
plain veal! Let us pass lightly over this
ilelusion. The inspectors can only do
their best, and if they discover Offal or
tainted meat on n pork-butcher's premi-
ses they Immediately report the man to
the Tribunal dc Simple Police, where he
is scolded and fined; at the same time
his shop will be watched for weeks, till
:. scl. LII rr.sn
be discovered stealing in with sackful
of dead cats, dogs, and rats, all ready
for consignment 10 those terrible steam
ped dog look like hashed beef for You in
trice. should observe, ,by-the-by, that
since the siege of Paris Taught French
men such practical lesson as to the ed
ible qualities of animals formerly BAN
ished from the dinner table, an inspec-
for would not quarrel with tradesman
whom he suspected of putting rats into
his pies. He would stipulate that the
rats be fresh, but that be all; for if he
were TO object to the label describing
the pie as "fine game" the vender
might answer that game is a word ap.
piled in French to al varieties of wild
animals, insomuch that the rat and
mouse-catchers attached 10 the palaces
of the late emperor all bore the grand
title of "Chasseur de Menu Gibier."
Coming now TO the pastry cooks, gro
GERS, and bakers, the honest folks have
TO put up with great deal of inspection,
the grocers and bakers in connection
with their weights, the pastry cooks be-
cause Of the deleretious coloring matter
which they sometimes rut into their
sweetmeats. Before the "iberty Of bak-
ing" had been decreed, which was only
about q dozen years ago, absurd raids
used to be made upon bakers TO see if
Eey sold pastry, and pastry cooks were
heavily fined if they sold bread. 10
this day the bakers form a corporation
governed by rather peculiar laws, which
eosrel them to sell common bread in
fwo-pound or four-pound loaves accord
ing to the tariff, which never varies in
best or worst wheat seasons. A "Caisse
de La Bohlangerie" indemnifies the bak-
ers foi .ne losses they may sustain in
times of war or famine; and they repay
the fund ont of the profits they clear in
years of plenty. Thus the gains of
tine trade lie wholly in the sale of fancy
bread, which is not fairfield, and it was
because the profits in this direction were
so small that the state ended by reluct-
antly conceding the principle that no
harm would be done if bakers took TO
baking cakes snd tarts in their ovens.
French pastry cooks enjoy the privilege
of selling liquors, wines and beer with
ont special license, provided they re-
tail it to customers who are eating on
their premises; but the only ones who
seem TO make an extensive use of this
faculty are the proprietors of two or
three big Parisian houses patronized by
the English. These sell a great deal of
port and sherry. To conclude with the
the inspection Of food, an admirable fea-
ture in connection with it is the perfect |
incorruptibility of the agents employed |
I'm this work. They are armed with very |
wide powers; they are poorly paid, anG
consequently exposed to many tempta-
tons; yet the cases in which they have
been known 10 abuse their trust are so
rare that they must be regarded as inev-
liable exceptions TO a rule of entire
In the halls where
quantities of edibles-and notably fish
are condemned every day, the market
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