The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-19
JOHN BULLS PALATE.
Don't Like American Cooking, and the
Compliment is Returned.
Even Ruins Good Old English Roast.
The English Cooks Never Season the

From the washington Star.

From the Washington Star.
London, May 16.-Not one Englishman
of letters visited America during fair
time who did not send across the Atlantic
to the various London journals rather
uncomplimentary opinions of American
methods of cooking, mingled with ex-
pressions of regret for the flesh POTS of
Egypt in the shape of good old roast
beef, prime joints, " and Yorkshire pud-
ding. Our food was condemned as being
too highly seasoned with pepper and salt,
we had too much for breakfast, not
enough for dinner, and, above all, per-
sisted in eating al our vegetables out of
what he described as little soap dishes, "
In fact have never met an Englishman
who had been in America and neglected
to refer to those little soap dishes.
meaning the oval or round sauce plates
from which Americans usually eat their
corn and tomatoes. When recently inter-
viewing Sir Edwin Arnold / asked him
what he thought of America, and he
answered me by asking questions con-
corning these soap dishes.
Walter Besant made similar observa-
tions when called on him the day after
his return. George Il. Sims, of Mrs.
James Brown Potter fame, who has never
visited the land of liberty, says he is
sure he will object to that style of eating
when he does go, and w. T. Stead, when,
as he stood-on the good ship New York at
Southampton, called up to him 70 tell
me his impressions of America, answered
me back through the tube of a rolled-up
newspaper, Say, what makes the
yankees eat out of soap dishes - Now Mr..
Stead is, without doubt, the most enter
1a-st, T1Ysn 60 4 i L..
usually has something original to say
about everything. was particularly dis
appointed that he should return with
this miserably hackneyed question on his
lips. Mr.. Stead also asserts that Ameri-
can cooking is one of the worst things he
found in America. Americans living in
London can all return the compliment,
and say that English cooking is diabolical
to American tastes.
HORRORS OF ENGLISH COOKING.
Take roast beef, for instance, the ma
tional English dish. Prepared by an Eng
lish cook it is not nearly so tasty as
when roasted by Bridget in New York or
Dinah in Baltimore or Washington. In
| England it is more frequently overdone
| than underdone. but even when properly
roasted on taking it from the oven or the
old fashioned roasting spit" which is in
general use here, about a quart of hot
water is poured over it. and then, swim
ming about in the colored water, it is
brought to the table, and woe be to the
person who has to carve it, for the So
called gravy" is bound to slop over
somewhere. This takes away the very
best part of it, according to our Ameri-
can ideas. Now, when tho beef and the
gravy" are put on the plate, the pota-
toes, never well cooked, are put into the
MIDST of it. If the potatoes are boiled,
they are only. half done; if they are
mashed, they are not well mashed.
The English cook is invariably lazy, and
she always does things the easiest way.
To mash potatoes properly requires con-
siderable. time, else they will be lumpy, so
lumpy they always are, with neither but
| ter, pepper, salt nor milk to give them
that creamy appearance ana delicious fla
vor that American mashed potatoes
| always have. Other vegetables are also
put on the plate, unless they are each
! served in separate courses. In short, the
| plate contains "mess" that could not be
found in the cheapest restaurants or Door
est homes in America. The English
woman, be. she.of the higher or lower
classes, is not naturally gifted in the way
of cookery. The ordinary English servant
knows absolutely nothing about cooking,
and the greatest curse / man can have in
his house is the self-styled "plain cook. p"
cook usually employed in the majority of
| London houses 'Irefer of course, to the
middle classes of English people, and
when | speak of English cooking | mean
that of the middle classes. The wages of
| the ''professed cook" are so high that
| only the-wealthy can afford to hire them.
| They spend several years in cooking
schools, learning to cook, usually from
French teachers, or at least, teachers
/ h. 1aor cd fho Of
cooking. The professed cook is somewhat
of an improvement on the plain one, but
even she will insist on pouring the water
over the beef. Steaks are treated in
the same way and are brought to the
/ table almost immersed in water, All
| English cooking, whether "professed" or
! plain lacks seasoning.
FAILURE IN VEGETABLES.
Plum pudding, which has its origin in
England, is another of the dishes on
| which John Bull prides himself. And,
! indeed, it is not thing to be despised,
but we ATneri ans have improved on it,
although ours is too rich for English
tastes.
No vegetables are properly cooked
Peas, beans. tomatoes, carrots, turnips
are always hard when brought on the
table. Stewed tomatoes. which the
American cook so prides herself upon,
are always hard ana lnSlpld In taste. In
England there are but five ways of cook
ing pctatoes-boiled, mashed, fried in
strips, baked sand Saratoga chips. In
America we have tweuty-three that every
housewife knows. However. must ad-
nit that the professed English cook
knows how to broil or grill" chop
we'll and taking into consideration the
fact that English mutton is the best NUT
ton in the world, it is easy to understand
just how delicious that chop can be- To
be sure it needs to be sailed when it is
eaten, for the cook will not season
her food under any consideration
The roast mutton ''ioints'' legs of NUT
tom would be quite tasty, except for the
[ watery gravy that must needs also be
served with them.
If the English people have a particular
vice it is that of tea drinking. The mil
lions of gallons of tea that are daily taken
into the English sS stem would form an
ocean large enough for the whole British
feet to sail upon. Tea before breakfast,
tea at breakfast. tea for
luncheon. ; O'Clock tea, and tea
before going to bed, is a matter of course
John Bull and his wife and his daughters
cannot dispense with tea, any more than
Jonathan can live without ice water, and
it is question among doctors of both
countries as 10 which of the two is the
more injurious. The Indian brand is
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