Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-02-11
Can Women Cook!

II yes, how is 1t that so very few Of the many
women cooks prepare an acceptable meal, while
so very many of the few men cooks are artists?
1t may be said with strict truth that the man
who makes up his mind to turn cook is sure to
be a success, while the wo,han who chooses the
same professional is a professionals nearly
sure to be failure. The explanation is that
the man does regard it as profession, while
the woman does not. 1t is a sad fact that
whenever man enters into rivalry with women
in what the world has always regarded as her
peculiar fields, cooking and dressmaking. he
eXcels her. The best dressmakers of the world
are men, just as men are by far the best cooks.
women do make a profession OF dreSSmaklng:
do try their very best and york very hard, but
their own sex will not encourage them. They
Will go to them for ecOnomyS sake. but every
woman in the world lives in the hope that some
day Worth will create a costume for her. 1t is
by the treachery of women that men are their
superiors in this art. But it is not so with cook
ing. Woman has no preference for the man
cook. and that is because she has not edu-
cuted her tastes as man haS-s Women
generally enjoy beefsteak at home az heartily
as they do one at Finellis There would be no
Flneius if women alone had to support him.
They go there. it is true and often. but it is
more for the social pleasures OF the occasion
than for the caisis,e. chef, when interviewed
by reporter. told him that cook. of the first
tor; that he studied medicine. agriculture, and
chemistry; that by looking at man he could
say what he eat. and that if he knew what
man eat he could say whit sort of man he was
without ever placing eyes upon him. This cook
served long years of apprenticeship, for which
he was not only paid nothing. but actually paid
for instruction. just as one payA to be instructed
i'll anything else. The man cook is proud of his
business. He is hOnored and distinguished.
The Emperor of Germany has two chefs, who
at
who hold the rank of colonies of infantry
The woman cook is not proud of her profess
sion. She is ashamed of it. Woman does not
even give cooking the attention she once did.
and he never allowed it to occupy much of her
thoughts. In those parts of Germany where it
was the custom for all the girls to go to cook
ing schools. that excellent fashion is falling into
dsuse. The woman cook does not read up.
Out of the many thousands Ormlions of women
cooks 1T is doubtful if a hundred of them open
a receipt book once a month. They have no
originality. They would go on boiling potatoes
all the year if they could have their way, rather
than fry them. because it is less troublesome.
They invent nothing. They are less expensive
than men cooks. but they are also less eCOnomi
cal. What man would save for an ert'te they
will throw away The woman cook thinks after
awhile she may be something else. and she
passes her time waiting for the future. The
man cook expects to remalna cook until he dies.
and when he does die he wants to be remem-
bered as good cook. His son becomes cook
after him. and trumphantly takes up his mis-
sion. Montague rec0uuts conversation he had
with an Italian chef who had served in the
kitchen of Cardinal Craffa. who was famous for
his love OF artistic cooking.
Il made him. says the great assayist tell
me something about his post. He gave me a
lecture on the science OF eating with a gravity
and magesterial countenance as if he had been
determining some yeXed question in theology.
He decphered to me, as it were. the distinction
fnS no nj
awakening or exciting the appetite. the gene
raj police, so to speak. Of his sauces. and par
1icularized their ingredients and their effects.
The difference in salads according to the seasons
he next discoursed upon. He explained which
sort ought to be served warm and those which
should always be served cold, the way Of adorn-
ing and enbeliishing them in order to render
them seductive to tine eye. All this was pulled
up with rich and magnificent terms. such as are
employed by statesmen and dpOmatists when
they are discOurSlng over the government OF an
empire"
Can you imagine woman cook talking like
that: Can you imagine one well enough in
formed to do SO? Can you not count upon
your fingers. with several fingers to spare. the
women cooks you have encountered who cared
button for the appearance of the dishes they
sent to the table! Have you not seen them
rush turkey or a chicken into the dining room
with the legs Of the poor fowl pointing in all Iii
rectiOns. as if struck by lightning? Are not the
chops always circulating about the dish as if
thrown from dice box? Do they ever remove
the skewers which the butcher leaves in tie beet?
The good plain cooks whom we receive in
TO our homes are usually sufficiently plain in all
senses to satisfy every requirement. Their
goodness is often also, in many meanings unex-
ceptionabe but when it comes to demands
upon their skill in pOaching an egg. or pre-
pairing the breakfast coffee. the most OF them
Will make as sad a mess of it as they would in
constituting line in Virgil. We must make our
a the table ha ali of ncI,
pot. murmuring blessings the while in memory
OF the man who invented the cOntrivance, for
OF course 1t was man to whom we owe it, and
satisfy our longing for pOached eggs with the
boiled article, whose cooking we ourselves have
supervised. fyou imagine by these strategies
to escape the ingenuity OF their skill in having
matters go wrong, You are liable sometimes to
disappointment. There is the water for the
cook to heat. and there you are still at her
mercy. Failure can be accomplished even here
and she discovers the how of it. But
this is leading into the servant question
and this is not to the purpose
That problem is not to be disposed of
i'll a paragraph, when it has been discussed in
pages without avail. / may say one word Of it.
however, and that is that in one respect, at
least. we are singuarly fortunate in our ser
wants. Think with what small inquiry we en-
gage them and how little we know of the ante
cedents OF the men and women we admit into
our houses as "help," and the temptations for
rascality placed before them, and consider how
comparatively seldom it is that the servant
is guilty of any serious crime. Think
what they could do if they cared to- and
you must agree that. faulty as they are,
they are yet honest and as a class we-behayed.
The two or three noble ladies of the time. who
have been and are striving to elevate the cook
ing OF their sex. are not forgotten. They
deserve and have the highest respect, but it
does not appear that their labors are having the
reward they should. There are cooking schools
and cooking clubs. of which one hears occa-
sionally. but the attempt to interest women in
Cooking. II it progresses at all, does so slowly
It's good results are not yet very noticeable
But let US not despair.