The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-04
FOOD FOR EPICURES.
Mrs. Sherwood on American
Wines, Game, Fruit, Fish.
PROPULSION OF CITY MARKET.
Preparing Birds for the Table-snlen.
did Products OF the Vineyards
OF California.

COPYRIGHT, 1891, BY NJ T. W. SHERWOOD ;.
Inc amount of game and fish which our
great country and extent of sea coast gives
Us, the variety. of climate from Florida To
Maine, from San Francisco to Boston
which the remarkable network of our rail-
way communication allows us to employ.
all this makes the American market in
any great city almost fabulously profuse.
Then our steamships bring us fresh arti.
chokes from Algiers in mid winter. and
figs from the Mediterranean, while the re-
markable climate of California gives ia
four crops of delicate fruits a year. There
are those, however, who find the fruits OF
California less finely favored than those
of the Eastern states. The peaches of the
past are almost a lost flavor, even at the
North.
The peach of Europe is different and
TAR inferior fruit to our peach. 1t lacks
that essential flavor which to the Ameri-
can palate tells of the best of fruits.
1t is well for the purposes of gastronom-
lcai history to narrate the variety of the
larder, in the height of the season, of a
certain seaside club house a few years ago.
The season lasted $50 days, during which
time from $4,000 to $4,000 game birds and
io,OOO pounds of fish were consumed, ex-
elusive of domestic poultry, steaks and
cnops. On busy days twenty-four kinds
OF hsh, all fit for epicureans, embracing
turbot, Spanish mackerel, sea trout; the
various kinds of bass, including that
gamest OF fish, the black bass, bonito from
the Gulf of Mexico, the purple mullet, the
weak hsh, the chicken halibut, sole, place,
the frog, the soft crab from the Chesa-
peake, were served. Here, packed tier
upon tier in glistening ice, were some
thirty kinds of birds in the very ecstacy
OF prime condition. and all ready
prepared for the cook. Let
US enumerate '.this royal fellow
ship OF game" There were owls from the
North 1--WE might call them by some more
entlcing name), chicken grouse from ILL.,
lnols, chicken partrige, Lake Erie black
and summer ducks, and teal, woodcock,
upland piover, by many esteemed as the
choicest OF morsels, dough birds, brant,
New Jersey millet, godwit, jack curlew,
]acksnlpe, sandsnipe, rocksnipe, humming-
birds, daintily served in nut shells; golden
plover, beetle-headed plover, redbreast
piover, chicken plover, seckle-bill curlew,
summer and winter yellow-legs, reed
birds and rail from Delaware, the latter
most highly esteemed in Europe, where it
is known as the ortolan; ringneck snipe,
brown backs, grass bird and peeps.
Is not this list ito make the rash gazer
wipe his eyes?"
And to show our riches and their pov-
erty in the matter of game, let us give the
game statistics of France for one year.
There were $4,000 communes in France,
and in each commune there were killed on
the average on September /, ten hares, to-
tai, 300, 600; seventeen partridges, 612, 900
total; fourteen quails, total, $4,000; one
rail in each commune, 10000 total as to
rails.
That was all France could do as to the
furnishing of the larder; of course she i'm
ports game from Savoy, Germany, Nor
way and England. And, Oh! how she,
La Belle France, can cook them!
Woodcock, it is said, should be cooked
the day it is shot, or certainly when fresh.
Birds that feed on or near the water should
be eaten fresh. Snipe and some kind of
ducks, the canvas-back, alone bear keep
ing; the others get fishy.
Snipe should be picked by hand, on no
account drawn; that is practice worthy
of an Esquimau. Nor should any condi-
ment be cooked with woodcock, save but
to catch his fragrant gravy and the deli
cious trail, should alone be eaten with the
snipe.
But bottle of Chambertin may be drank
to wash him down.
The plover should be roasted quickly be-
fore a hot fire, nor should even a pork
jacket be applied if one wishes the delici-
Gus juices of the bird alone. This bird
should be served with water crosses.
Red wine should be drunk with game.
Chambertin, Clos de Vougeout, or sound
LATTE, or Latour claret; champagne is not
the wine in the least. That belongs to the
flet; with the beef braise glass of good
golden sherry is allowable, but not cham
payne.
The deep purple, full bodied, velvety
wines Of Cote dor, the generous vintages
of Burgundy, are the thing. Indeed they
have always been in high renown, these
wines. They are passed as presents from
one royal parsonage to another, like a
"Cordo, d'Hoaneur." Burgundy was the
wine of mobiles and churchmen, who have
always had enviable palates.
Chambertin is a lighter kind of volnay
and the 'vin velonte par excellence" of
the Cote dor. 1t was great favorite
with Napoleon [. To considerable body il
unites line favor and a 'saave bouquet
of great finesse. and does not become thin
with age like other Burgundies.
As for the Clos de Vougeout, the char
acteristics are rich ruby color, velvety
softness, a delicate bouquet, which has
slight suggestion of the raspberry. 1t is
strong wine less refined in favor than the
Chambertin, and with a suggestion of Bit
terpess 1t was so much admired by
certain military commander that while
marching his regiment to the Rhine he
commanded his men TO halt before the
vineyard and salute it. They presented
arms in it's honor.
Chateau Laftte, renowned for its mag
nifcent color, exquisite softness, delicate
favor and fragrant bouquet, recalling
almonds and violets, is one OF the wines OF
the Gironde, and is supposed of late TO
have deteriorated in quality, but 1t is quite
good enough to command high price and
the attention OF the connoisseur.
Chateau La Tour, a grand Medoc claret,
derives its name from on existing ancient
round tower, which the English asSaIled
and defended by turns during the wars IN
Guinne. 1t has q pronounced flavor and
q powerful bouquet, common To ali wines
of the Gironde. 1t reminds one of the
odor of almonds and OF Noyan cordIais.
These vineyards were in grand repute
five centuries ago, and il would be delight
full work TO pursue the history OF the yari-
Gus crts, did time permit. The Cos Is
toumet of the famous ct. Estephe erus is
still made by the peasants treading out
the grapes '.Joulc a pied" TO the accom-
paniment of pipes and fiddles. as in the
DAYS OF Louis XIV.
We will mention the two premiers
-, or,s Of .ba f.iropde the orowfh Of