Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-10-12
THE FRENcHMAN,s FAvoR1rE.
A DisquisitiOn on the Frog-How Old ST.
mon Became WeaIthy-Points on Cook

=
mon Became WeaIthy-Points on Cook
ing.
Those ''pretty little things" the frogs
to borrow from the enthusiastic GrimOd
de la Reyniere, says the Pail Mall Ga
zette-still enjoy a robust medical reputa-
ton in many parts of France; and soup
made from them "a sort Of sublimated
chicken-broth) is an old woman's SOW
ereign cure for consumption. "Heayen,
who is iust,n SAYS PascaPs "Garasse,"
permits the frog to find pleasure in its
sOng;" and 1.-THE AutOcrat of the Break
fast-Table,'' with a clumsy wit, talks Of
the Emusic of these twilight minstrels.'
And old term of reprOach will have it that
they are the Dutch nightingales; but
their brekekex, their hoarse loud cr0aks,
and their whistling tell rather of power
full lungs than of musical ears; and so, by
old empiric doctrine of signatures, they
got to be a primitive specific tor weak
chests. Not wholly for that reason, either;
for they are highly nutritious and easy Of
digestion. De la Reyniere, IN his annual
for 1906, said they were only good in
spring; and the late Mr.. Dallas, in his
''BoOk Of the Table, copied this state
ment in 1871. 1t may have been true that,
as Lenten fare, they were formerly only
days; but they are decidedly at their best
later on, and are essentially light sum-
mer dish. Indeed, the French gourmetwe
have already quoted goes on to point out
how in AuYergne one Simon Of RiOm had
amassed a couple of hundred thousand
francs by serving them in fricassse all the
year round, at the price Of three penny.
1t is absolutely impossible, says this en-.
thusiastic gourmand, to bring on an indi-
+
ty you eat; and this fact is thought TO
have turned much to SimOn's advantage.
He had such an enormous custom that he
could not atfort to trust to markets, and so
he filled his cellars with tanks, his tanks
with water, and the water with the ''pret-
ty little things" and there fed and fatten-
ed them, and fricassed and sold them till
he distanced all competition. And al
though he went by the nickname OF ''Old
Simon the Frog" and although, too, his
surname-as we believe on the word of
Hebrew schOlaIs-meahs snub-nosed,
neither he nor any of his customers had
cause to turn up their noses at frogs, as
too many do even at the present day. In
his time people who drew the line at frogs
put oysters and snails, too, at the far side
of it; $50 voluntarily depriviDg them
selves Of three great pleasures" says De
la Reyniere. But the brave have shown
the way to oysters, and snails and frogs
are now eaten in all parts of France, where
vines flourish, or have fourished, and
reeds grow in ponds.
There are many ways in cooking frog,
or rather the only joints of him that are
eaten-namely, his hind legs, to which a
part of his back is left attached, chiefly to
hold those limbs together. Old Simon's
way is as good as any. The edible por-
items should first be thrown into plenty of
fresh water to blanch; next they should
be drained and dried; then put to soak
awhile in white of eggs well beaten up;
now powder them over with flour, and
finally fry them in plenty of fine olive-oil
until they are crisp as ''the whitehall of
the minister, that treasure of the sea-"
and the bones are changed into something
so rich and strange that they melt in the
mouth. Add a lemon, red pepper, brown
bread, and butter, to complete 1.-The
Ioayes and fishes' illusion, and say if
"fricasse de grenouilles' be not much
easier to eat than to pronounce, and
species of ''small deer" by no means to be
abandoned to poor Tom. You can devil
them like the ''bait,' too, if you like; and
they make tip-tOp curry. Or they Try
well in batter; or you stew them in butter
and white wine, with parsley and enough
garlic to swear by chopped up fine. But,
no matter how they be cooked, they are
very pretty eating, and make delicious
entree-tenderer than the youngest
chicken, and still with flavor and vel
vety texture all their own. There is a
painful French proverb-''il NY pas de
grenouille qui ne trOuve son crapaud"-
and it has a dreadful double-edged eXpla-
nation. 1t means that there is no girl so
well, so unbeautitul that she can not
find an ugller husband. We put some
thing like it long ago in a much prettier
way when, in ''Froggy would a wooing
go,' we sang, ga lily-white duck came
and gobbled him up.' But, ugly or not,
froggy seats" we'll; as we shall all proba-
bly, acknowledge some day when we have
sufficiently overcome our insular preju-
dioa q hOY1f him