Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-17


when they were at last outshone by rival,
were so chagrined and disguised thev "cut"
New York, and went off to live in Europe
He also relates that he himself lost a charm
| ing friend by giving better soup than she
did.
Ambition In Soup Making.
This is getting things down fine. The idea
of woman throwing up her hands in des-
pair over soup, and 'falling out" with .
| friend because his was better than her own
shows certainly vaulting ambition. All
people cannot reach the topmost notch as to
soup, SO why do not the lesser lights
acknowledge the dizzy height to which
Brother McAllister has reached in this
matter, as minor poets bow to the towering
genius of Shakespeare in his art.
A very sensible thing Mr.. McAllister says
that should be taken to heart, is that "dis-
cordant elements invited to pay
off debts-are fatal to the success of q din
ner. Ladies do that, but ladies' dinners
oh, my! He moreover observes that young
people are generally stupid. The women
of the world who are conversant with the
history of past, present and future are re-
ouired-though we might ask who knows
the future? These are to be critical, scan
dalous (graciousD, with keen, ready wit.
who appreciate the dinner and wine ut their
worth, and who by beautiful toilets are
necessary to the elegance of. dinner. A
dinner made up of black coats only, with
stale Jokes and prepared speeches, McAllis-
ter despises-
Lore rs to Soups and Fish.
At these exquisite entertainments there
should be only one soup. Under an in
spiratiou of genius mousse aux jambou was
suggested by a chef. This, as McAllister
Il - -, @oh1 1spho
the reputation of the artist and allays all
fears of the guests as to their dinners.
''Salmon should never be served save in the
spring and early summer, and even then it
is not delicate enough. A man who gives
salmon in the winter, with no matter what
sauce, does an injury to himself and his
guests also"
As Brother McAllister is an expert in
this business this opinion must be accepted.
Terrapin, at the choicest dinners and as
feast tor the gods, may come in instead of
fish at this stage of the game. cat a dinner
where there are ladies no French chef will
be willing to serve anything coarser than q
filet de beuf. He will do it if he has to,
but it will be with disgust, and with the
opinion that anyone ordering4n such fashion
is barbarian.
The filet is usually served with mush-
rooms, but McAllister prefers trufdes. I'm
the fall of the year turkey poults la Bor-
delaise, or la Toulouse, or a saddle of
Southdown mutton or lamb are q good SUBJ
stitute, so he says In dinner for twelve
or fourteen one or two hot entrees and one
cold is sufficient. If the truffle is used with
the flet, which makes a black sauce, it
must be followed with a white sauce" 1t
would seem to be one of the seven deadly
sins in dinner giving to give two sauces of
H. IL ,A~ IN rrw do
veau a la Toulouse, or a supreme de vol
allie; then a chaud-froid, say of pate de
foie gras en- Rellvue, which is pate de foie
gras encased in jelly"
This is interesting information which
housekeepers will encase in their minds for
future use.
More Of McAllister's Ideas.
Then, as Brother McAllister goes on,
there must be hot vegetable, such as srti-
chokes, sauce Barigoule or Italienne, or
asparagus sauce Hollandaise. Then q sorbet,
followed up by the grandest dish of the
dinner in the shape of canvasbacks wood
cock, snipe or trufied capons, with salad.
The sorbet should never be favored with
rum, as is usual in this country. because it
impedes digestion, and NAV be dangerous
but should be gotten up in Partisan style
with maraschino, which is a real digestive"
This is what McAllister says. and he has
made dinners the study of his life, like his
cousin, Sam Ward, before him. But the
dinner is still to be finished: A Russian
salad falls in we'll after the grandest dish,
then Camembert cheese with biscuit, with
which is served Burgundy, old Port or
Johannisberg, the only place in the dinner
where this latter wine can be introduced
with propriety. The French, he SAYS, at
this stage always give hot pudding, but he
omits this, and prefers "a pouding Nessel-
rode. the best of all ices. is good cream is
used" As to wines, champagne is to be
used from the fish to the roast, win ordinaire
through the dinner, Burgundy, Johannis-
berg, or fine old Tokay with the cheese;
claret with the roast-then fine old Madeira
that imparts vitality that no other wine can
give, and makes you feel, he says, ten years
younger and stronger the next day.
Daniel Webster Struck 1t Rich
He goes into raptures over fine Madeiras,
which it is desecration to serve in anything
but delicate pipe-stem glasses, and should
always be stored in garret. He wakes ell
oquent over how the rich old Southerners
before the war had their cellars and garrets
stored and retilled with rich wines twice a
year, and how proud they were of their
dinners, and how set they were in the con-
viction that no Northern mudsill knew how
to give dinner. He relates how friend
presented the proprietor Of the Astor
House with dozen bottles of famous
"Butler 16" Madeira. Years after he in
quired about it, and was told that when
Daniel Webster came the host opened
bottle for him, and he stayed in the house
until he had drank every drop of the whole
dozen.
But more enthusiastic man as to wines
has scarcely been heard of than the blue
blooded McAllister. To him they seem
more precious than rubies or all that this
world contains. The revelation he gives on
the subject of wines used in New York
society will send cold chills down the backs
of Frances Willard, Lady Somerset and the
w. c. 7. q. A dinner without wines he
holds to be fit only for barbarians Such
dinner as he sets forth as a feast for the
gods, they would set down as a device of the
devil to lure men to destruction.
Doesn't Help the Housekeeper.
To be well, to be happy, to live long and
see good DAYS people must have good
dinners. That is the main point. As
between McAllister's Lucullus dinners,
and corn-beef and cabbage, most men would
prefer the latter, if well cooked, with good
cup of hot coffee. But McAllister's bill of
fare is hardly more full of despair to the
average housekeeper than are the cook
books full of the impossible. Most of them
are "truly awful in their errors and in
accuracies. Like quack advertisements,
they are gotten up in the interest of the |
s'almighty dollar" rather than for real in |
struction. Followed closely, almost to the |
shadow of grain, the recipes oftentimes |
result in dead failures. The only remedy |
seems to be in the experience of the mothers,
and the practical demonstrations OF the |
cooking schools. Let us hope that we shall |
in the near future have schools in this |