St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-12-26
SOME SOUTHERN DISHES.

| 0OWG 0OO / 0Cx\N OA04AXt0s
Why Efforts to Make Them In North
ern Cities Have Met with
| Failure.
| At irregular intervals the effort is
made to establish in permanence the
popularity of southern dishes in New
York restaurants, but usually it has
not succeeded. French, Italian, Hun
garian, German, Spanish, Polish, and
even Russian, Syrian, Greek and
Chinese dishes have, on the other
hand, had certain vogue.
There is large and constantly in
creasing southern colony in New York.
Yet restaurants making speciality of
southern dishes have, in almost every
case, been compelled to yield sooner or
later to the demand for cooking of an
other style, despite the acknowledged
excellence of fried chicken, pone cake,
corn mullins, Smithfield ham, pan fish,
waffles and like delicacies.
The explanation Of this apparent in
ability of southern dishes to retain q
foothcld in New York restaurants is
simple. The south is q region mostly
of small towns and villages, and the
opportunities of cooks in it are limited.
There is corn in plenty, but very little
flour. There are chickens. but little
beef, mutton or veal.
There are ham and bacon and game
sometimes, but the standard articles
of the American bill of fare, beefsteak,
roast beef, lamb and mutton chops, are
seldom seen. Frying, rather than
broiling, is the rule, and what can't
be fried but must be broiled, stewed
or roasted is not often seen on tables
in the south.
Under the circumstances the south
ern cooks have done we'll, but when
southerners come to New York, with
its greater varieties offered in cooking,
with its larger markets and different
methods, they eschew the southern
dishes and take to those which are
more popular here.
Corn cakes as substitute for bread
are popular in the south, where the
supply of corn is almost unlimited, but
southerners in New York incline rath-
er to bread than to corn combinations,
and it is the same with other dishes.
So long as people of French birth
or French extraction are favorable to
French cooking; SO long as Italians
favor Italian; Hungarians Hungarian;
Spaniards Spanish; Poles Polish; Ger
mans German; and Swedes Swedish
cooking-milk soup, blood pudding,
picked herring and cauliflower salad
the popularity of each of these styles
of cooking is likely to continue in
New York restaurants; but where, as
in the case of southern dishes, people
display no desire to uphold the cook
cry of their home, it is not to be ex-
pected that it will gain OF attain any
great vogue here.
It is under these circumstances that
the work of popularizing southern
dishes is carried on in New York
against many obstacles. The fact is
that Chinese restaurants even are pre-
ferred.
veritable Paradises.
As ships replenish their coal by stop
ping at ports when on long journeys, so
the Arabs, to obtain necessary rest and
water, make for the GASES of the desert.
These are veritable paradises in them
selves, sheltered from the scorching sun
by tall trees and having springs of re-
freshing water. Here the traveller also
obtains fruit, principally figs. In many
of the GASES there are taverns where the
traveller can sit down to meal prepared
by countryman, or attend one Of the
entertainments which are frequently
given in honor of these wayfarers. Some
Of the GASES are SO large that they con-
tain villages, whose inhabitants rely for
a livelihood chiefly on these caravans
which usually consist Of Is to 100 men
and as many camels.-From Across
Sahara's Sands" by II. H. Byrne, in
Four-Track News.
Mosquito Campaign.
The Suez Canal company reports that
in consequence of the campaign conduct
4 A~r NHni 49, - L. T