Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1895-07-30
BOUILLABAISSE.
George Augustus saia Says 1t IL . Mess
Not Fit to lie Eaten.

George Augustus saia Says 1t IL . Mess
Not Fit to he Eaten.
Some twenty years ago I crossed
from Oran in Algeria to Carthagena in
Spain. 1t was a cattle steamer, and
the only passengers were the owner OF
the cattle and myself. He was a
big, burly, rough-loolsing. but good.
natured, Marseillais, who Dragged in
cessantly about his oxen and his
heifers, and, / am afraid, romanced a
little. He had been, he said, the "con.
ducteur" of a diligence, who had made
his way. At all events, he was a capi-
tai cook, and gave us every day fresh
! sample OF his prov enc al kitchen. can
see him now chopping up the materials
for bouilla baisse. One of the ships
boys brought him large earthen pot,
| and into this he threw onions, garlic,
oil, and-tell it not in Gath
! sliced potatoes. Then he added
indiscriminately a quantity of fish.
with salt, pepper and mustard.
Now" said he, when he had finished,
take this 10 the galley and tell the
cook to put it on feu denfer." There
was no glass of water per head there;
no slices of ham, no Madeira. 1t was
the real old savage bouilla baisse, such
as pirates and smugglers might pre-
pare ON a rock and eat with horn
spoons. And, again, observe the curl.
Gus affinity that exists between the
bouillabaisse of the Mediterranean and
.he clam chowder of New England.
into the American fish stew are intro
duced slices of salt pork and crack
ers," or biscuits; but the principle of
the two messes is the same.
And 1 have not the slightest doubt
that the chowder of New England was
originally pirates dish, which may
have been devoured with great gusto
by Capt. Kidd and his rascally COM
panions. 1t was at Marseilles last
Cbsistmastide that l resolved to make
d clean breast of it, and to liberate
my soul in the matter of bouilla.
baisse. The matter came about in this
wise: l was on my way to Nice and
Rome, very i'll. and for four days l was
showed up in the Phocean city. The
railway service was stopped, the cabs,
omnibusses and tramcars had ceased
to ply, and the street pavements were
so uniformly covered with the verglas,
Or frozen rain, that you began to con-
template the expediency of crawling
up and down the Cannebiere on all
fours. At the expiration of the four
days it thawed; / was remote, un.
friended melancholy and slow, and
thought it might be a distraction to
take a carriage to the reserve and
hilosophize little on bouillabaisse.
Not single sou was to be seen at the
big restaurant, but waiter informed
me that several ladies and gentlemen
had breakfasted there that morning,
and that four cabinets particulars
had been engaged for the day
after tomorrow He also was
a Marseillais. and was possibly
drawing the long bow. at all events,
l had the principal saloon to myself,
and the waiter was good enough to
light fire, which, after half an hour,
warmed, should say, about a twenti-
eth part of the room.
Bouillabaisse, of course. l had no
appetite, and toyed with the dish; but
there was some very good chablis, and
the cheese was excellent. The waiter
was a very intelligent fellow, and told
me a great deal about provencal cook
cry. There was ailloli, which is a
kind of paste or pomatum made
of pounded garlic, oil, butter and
crumbs of bread. This horrible COM
post is eaten as condiment with any
kind of dish you choose to name. Then
there is bourride, which is fish soup
thickened with yolks of eggs; and
brandade is fresh cod boiled with
onions, garlic, oil, white pepper, laurel
leaves and sage. 1t was brandade, by the
way. that, under the first empire, laid
the foundations of the fortune of the
Trois Freres Provenceax. The three
brothers, who were all good cooks,
brought with them to Paris their
recipe for brandade and other pro-
vencal dishes; but do not know that
bouillabsisse was patronized by Talley'
rand, or Cambaceres, or Fouchte, tho
great arbiters of eating in the days OF
the Arst Napoleon. sat long in the
big saloon of The Reserve, wrapped in
an astrachan pelisse, moodily smoking
and meditating on bouillabaisse. ! am
convinced that it is an imposture. am
sure that any intelligent medical man
would tell us that all this oil and all
this garlic can not be conducive to
health. In short, bouillabaisse is a de-
lusion and snare that should be es'
posed and held up to odium.
Telegraph.