The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1881-05-26
Pioneer Cooks.

/ during the winter months IN the North
! Atlantic. London Telegraph.
--
Pioneer Cooks.
| STRUGGLES OF MEN IN THE EARLY DAYS or CALI
foRNlA TO MASTER THE MYSTERIES OF PASTRY.
From 10 till 'J2, or until men commenced to i'm
port their wives, the male population of California
was one composed largely of amateur cooks
| Every mans hand was necessarily more or less in
| the dough, and his finger in the pie. Ont of ali
| these few fine cooks were developed more toler-
able ones, and a vast residum of miserable bakers
| and brolers. This was noticeable in bread when
loaves and hot biscuits took the place of dapacks
| food bread makers, male and female, are born,
| not made. Genius of any description cannot be
| educated into human soul That indeti ite, i'm
| paIpabie, intangible and lndeScnbabe something
which enables one person to get his loaves or
crust light and spOngy. while others secure only
the consistency of plaster Paris gutta percha,
| belongs TO the same order of mysterious causes
which sway the poets pen, the painters brush,
and the sculptors chisel The mind must go into
the bread or it comes forth from the oven dead
lumpy mass, fit only to hasten mans passage to
the tomb, Bad bread is no staff Of life at al. It
| is an ally of death A skeleton is baked n every
loaf was never good bread maker. baked
skeletons IN all my lOaVeS some were heavy, some
heavier, some within were greenish yellow in hue
from excess of saleratus. These killed not so
| quickly. hut cnita surely is The rattesnakc
The outer crusts Of some of nv loayes were of an
adanantne hardness while the interiors. to which
the necessary caloric had not had due access from
overmuch rapldlty IN baking, were a hot, soft Wis
cid and gutlEOuS mass when taken from the oven
as some geo!oglsts who know nothing about it,
say Is the earthS core. Doubtless nv bread has
cut short many good mans career 1t was the
crime OF ignorance. however. In the complicated
relations OF life as it involves our dealings with
each other, are thus ever lnvoluutary mur-
dering our species. The greatest wonder is that |
should. after having 50 lopg partakcn of my own
poison, still live
In the earliest pioneer period meaning that be
tween 1910 and S'3-thele were few amateur
cooks who ventured on pies. principally apple and
mlnce Some OF these pioneer mlnCe pies were
made Of chopped salt beet soaked to freshness, and
dried apples, sweetened with molasscs, the crust
being rolled out thin with Junk bottle lot which
every miners cabin contained several dozen J
The ornamentation about the outer edge was scoI-
loped by pressure of the thumb, large male thumb
including the nail The men who essavcd such
pies were generally OF finer mould than the mass
about them. There is a certain correspondence
between complicated cookery ard refinement \
mince PIE is, or should be, a scientific mixture Of
different ngredients: meat to give force bread to
give strength fruit to purify the blood, and spice
to develop fertility of Imagination
Coarse people, like animals generally affect
foods unmixed, and have little variety III their
diet | noticed that our amateur pie makers were
men particular as to their surroundings Their
dishes We're neat They washed their dishes after
every meal Their floors were always cleanly
swept. 1hey subscribed regularly for magazines
and newspapers. The principal pie maker of IIaw
klns Bar IN ~ was the man chiefly Instrumental
III establishing circulating library on that Bar,
OF several hundred volumes ard this was when
DOCKS cost money. lie used to sleep III sheets,
and washed them himself too Pies an index
to higher civilization They are one OF the ema
nations and developments OF more awakened and
lllumlneu minds. superior food and artistic and
sclentlhc comblnauoIs OF food make superior peo
pie France ever IN the van OF refinement and
polish, IS most associated with soups graves and
ragoUts-all alshes "hlch combine the greatest
variety OF elements that 90 to nourSh the body
ana nlnu vi course. cheap bakers Frofane pies,
especially mlnce pies. by unholy additions OF bad
meat, rancid lard ana stale FRUIT But IN the pro
cess OF human development yon will observe that
the lower nature always endeayors to palm of on
ltself anu others cheap coNAterelts OF the pro
duets OF the higher The penny awful SERIAL ln
literature is but such another product degraded to
suit the lower taste as compared with the mental
dishes prepared by Scott or Tennvson-
Floueer puddlnSs were attempted by few in
the mlnes as early as so, principally sailor
du1fS, with the addition OF few plums and de
graded sauce composed OF coarse brown sugar and
strong butter In many cases the vulgar taste was
content with plain moIasses Yet there were
earnest strlylngs by few noble but inexperienced
culinary souls after puddlngS. | remember one
gentleman with undevelopcd genius for cooking,
who used at odd hours after work to pore over an
old coveress cook book which had somehow drift
ed to California in the rush of l9, and eventually
meandered to our cabin at Swetts Bar, On Sun
days he would endeayor to carry out practically
the result OF his studies dulluE the week, III the
production of plum puddings These results We're
always disastrous and after the whole culinary
economy Of the cabin had been during the morn
ing disturbed, and dabs OF flour batter distributed
from one end of the house to the other the pro
duct was brought to the table, heavy, sOdden
mass of flour, with detected convention of raslns
III the lowest level. Still we atelt, and more won
dertul still. managed to digest it, though this eff
fort taxed to the utmost the entire power and ma
ehinery OF our respective organizations To hoi
pudding is really very delicate performances