Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-30


habits and characteristics than does a
French dinner from an English meal. This
distinction between the two terms, dinner
and a meal will be elucidated as we pro-
coed in this inquiry,
The two only resemble each other in one
particular; both have the same object in
view, namely, quoting Spenserian phrase
olcgy, to prevent waste becoming in excess
of supply. Here similarity begins and ends.
A French dinner is not prepared after Eng
fish fashion, its component parts come to
table in quite another manner, differently
affected diners take their places. Were, for
example, an inhabtant of the planet Jupi-
ter, to drop suddenly upon our coy little
globe he would inevitably arrive at one con-
clusion The Sunday SAVIOR of roast beef
prevailing from John o Greats to his
majesty's loyal town of Berwick on Tweed
would convince him that well-to-do English
citizens were drastically compelled by law
to eat siron on the seventh day, the con-
sumption of any other joint, roast, boiled
or baked being subject to a fine or even
Imprisonment. How in heavens name the
visitant must think, could such uniformity
be otherwise accounted for? And our near
neighbors and good friends over the water,
although they relish our national dish once
i'll a way, are equally puzzled. A French
housewife who should display no more i'm
agination concerning the family commits
sariat if she did not forfeit her husbands
affections, would certainly imperil his ami
ability. For a Frenchman whether rich.
moderately well off, in receipt of weekly
wages, does not merely finish the day with
a meal, he dimes. Cookery Is a fine art,
and by the most artistic people in the world
1t has been popularized and placed within
reach of all.
Here is an illustration. Some years ago
an old friend an officer in the French army.
obtained three days leave of absence in
order to do the honors of Bordeaux, through
which 1 was passing Bordeaux, 1 add,
is pre-eminently an epicurean place, in
fact it may be styled the metropolis of gas
tronomy. To quit the capital of south
western France without having partaken of
several of its famous dinners would be to
leave Rome not having entered st. Peters.
NOW" said my friend to me gaily, I'VE
will eat first gold, next silver lastly cop
per; in other words, you shall see how the
same high standard of cookery is kept up
alike In the least expensive as in the dear
est restaurants So we began with the
historic houses at which indeed you may be
said to eat money, and wound up with the
hardly less elaborate repast costing some
thing under shilling each. Bordeaux is
not only famous for its oysters, but for the
epicurean manner of serving them. Moth
ing whatever is added except a little of the
SAT- water lLlpTeSlldteO With tllelE UdFOI,
and as an oyster is cold gastronomc delec-
tatfon and digestion are alike aided by deli
cate little sausages served steaming hot
and eaten sandwich-like between the BIZ
valves.
A succession of dishes many of these
like the famous ceps Bordelais mush
room (boletus edulis), cooked in oil, being
local, and one and all fit for Lucullus him
self, placed before the guests wishing
to eat gold; fewer, but equally carefully
prepared courses are served to those con-
tent with swallowing silvers worth, whilst
the diner at a cost of fifteen pence has a
bewldering choice of savores and sweets,
his one or two little dishes making up in
quality for what they lack in bulk
y
Michelet wrote that the beauty Of his
countrywomen is made up of little moth
iugs. The same may often be said of a
Frenchmans dinner. A workingman, no
more than millionaire, would content
himself with the same fare every Sunday
throughout the year, still less would be
put up with a succession of cold dinners.
The cold dinner IN France is, indeed,
known, and the writer just quoted perhaps
herein discovers the source of French bon
hommie or amiablity "A workingman,"
writes the same historian, returns home,
tired, dusty, depressed, staightway his wife
sets before him a bowl of steamng soup,
and body and mind are alike comforted,
his spirits and good humor forthwith re-
stored.
We learn that the immortal Mrs Bagnet
could never turn her attention to anything
so long as she had greens on her mind.
Her husbands soup is ever grave pre-
occupation to the homely French housewife.
celebrated writer on gastrOnomy has
compared the potage to the portico of an
edifice, the overture of a comic opera sug
costing the banquet in state. The poor
mans potage being a chief feature of his
evening meal no pains are spared to make
it nutritive and appetizing. When a bit of
meat is not to be had, slice of bacon, or
failing that, morsel of lard or butter, is
added to the stock, lie, water in which
tasty vegetable has been boiled, thickened
with flour oatmeal, and finally with
bread, this steaming, savory menu an
swers the purpose of mansion house mock
turtle. But the little adjuncts making q
dinner of q meal are also forthcoming,
dish of tTipe and a sardne or two, a slice
of melon, GAZETTE or pancake, with fruit
and cheese, these are within reach of all
but the very poor in France whilst the
glass of wine diluted with water is never
absent. l dare aver that as much pains
are spent upon the daily dinner in many
French middle-class artisans homes as upon
our own one-year's Christmas feast. What
a good housewife seeks is the utmost
riety consistent with her means, and is
French cookery is the least monotonouS of
any in the world, it is at the same time
the least extravagant. In well-ordered
households opulent or modest, everything
is turned to account. waste not want
not" is the rule, and whilst the strictest
frugalty is exercised in regard to outlay
time is literally, even lavishly, expended.
The dinner is. in fact, the leading event
of the day, the all-absorbing care of the
mistress, and who can say how much
domestic peace and happiness are thereby
fostered. The English meal, the cold din
ners, for what moroseness, ill-temper and
indigestion are not these accountable?
X
In French middle-class houses little at
tention is paid to table appointments. The
glossy damask, the cut glass, the polished
knives, the flowers to which we are accus-
toned, housewives over the water sacrifice
to gastronomic delectation. 1t is the dinner
itself that is thought of, not its adjuncts.
l well remember some years ago dining
at the house of an impecunious English
squire. 1t chapter out of Thack-
erays Book of Snobs." Amid snowy sur
roundings we were RECALLED with fresh her
rings home-fed veal and for dessert a dish
of walnIts. With impoverished landlords in
France such a condition of things would
have been reversed-acce giving way
TO the bill of fare.
L,rapch dinpar diffare In, co,,opociiio,,