The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-07-11
NOvELISTS AS COOKS.
Dickens Sets Down the Best In
Fiction.

COOhSIy UOOhS. luc Alul6uaCu QeS
soup which is gratefully associated
with the name Of Meg Merrilies. AS
readers of Guy Mannering" will re-
member this was originally a stew
composed Of fowls, hares, cartridges
and moor game, boiled in large mess
with potatoes, onions and leeks. But
doubtless Meg would have considered
1t waste to refine this down to SOUP
Some Of our nOvelists are excellent
caterers and spread delightful meals
for us In their pages. No doubt our
enjoyment is in part due to the COM
pany they summon to meet us, but, re-
garded simply as food, some of these
paper meals undoubtedly beget in us
keen desire to eat. We wonder if
anybody has ever ventured to order
one of them at an inn? What could
be better for winter night than that
sayory supper which was served at the
Jolly sandboys to Codin and Short?
Its a stew of tripe," said the landlord
smacking his lips, land cowheel,"
smacking them again, land bacon"
smacking them again, land steak"
smacking them for the fourth time,
and peas, cauliflower, new potatoes,
and sparrow grass, all working to-
gether in one delicious gravy" Does
it surprise you that one of Shorts first
remark was, What a delicious meal!"
Such a supper, of course calls for a..
country kitchen. with sanded floor
and blazing hearth.
Later writer's are less hospitable to
their readers than their predecessors.
Dickens is undoubtedly our best cook.
He has whole paragraphs which a
housewife might copy verbatim into
her kitchen book. The astonishing
thing is that in such paragraphs Dick
ems Is never less than at his best. A
good example of this is Ruth Pinch's
steak pudding. A whole chapter is
given to it, and there is no more de-
lightful episode in the book. One
fingers over the preliminary buttering
of the basin, and the picture of Ruth
"kneading away at the crust, rolling it
out, cutting it into strips, lining the
basin with it, shaving it off into small
pieces. raining down pepper andsalt
upon them and packing them into a
BASIN"
Doubtless one would watch these
operations with less GREATNESS inter-
est were the cook the stout Mrs.
Crupp. But If sentiment is not to lie
got out of Mrs. Crupp's cooking, there
is plenty of fun, as those who have
sat at David Copperfield's table know.
And what an eye Dickens has for
comfort. Come into the Green Drag
on with Martin and Mark Tapley as
dusk falls on winter day. "The kit
chen fire burned clear and red; the
table was spread out; the kettle boiled
the slippers were there, the bootjack,
too ;sheets of ham were cooking on
the gridiron, half dozen eggs were
poaching in the frying pan; rare pro-
visions were dangling from the raf-
tiers, as if-you had only to open your
mouth and something exquisitely rich
and ripe and good would be but too
glad of the excuse to fall into it."
We of this generation are said to
eat too much. But here is supper,
which If are to believe Mr.. Blackmore
was not thought out of the way on
Exmoor in "girt Jand Ridd's" days:
tom Fague stopped to sup last night
with us and took little of everything
a few oysters first and then dried sal
mon and then ham and eggs done in
small curled rashers, and then few
collops of venison, and next to that
little cold roast pig and woodcock
on toast to finish with before the
Schiedam and hot water" Jim's only
comment on this huge meal was that
tom seemed in fair Appetite
While we are at Plover's Barrows
Farm it might be worth while to make
a note of the mfnce pies which had
great vogue on Exmoor. JAMS ac-
count of how the mincemeat was made
is, however, a little hazy: Golden
pippins, finely shred, with the under
cut of the sirloin, and spice and fruit
accordingly and far beyond my know
LEDGE"
Scott sits you down to many groan-
ing board, and in the best of company
too. But you need to bring robust
appetite to breakfast table loaded
with the 'priestly ham, the noble bar
on of beef, the princely venison pasty,"
which you are to wash down with fla
CONS of ale or need. But Scott can
also be modern. One cherishes pleas
ant memory of brace of wild ducks,
with sauce of claret, lemon and cay
enne, served for supper at Woodburne
on the evening of the day that DOM
inie Sampson lunched with Meg Merrill
les. But with Plydell and his fair
friends at the table, one would be con-
tent with bread and cheese"
Mr.. Meredith's' cook is generally a
Gordon bleu," and, like his excellent
DR.. Middleton, one enjoys the leisurely
promenade down the lawn at Rayn-
ham Abbey or Patterne Hall, in anti
cipation of the dinner bell. DR. Mid
dleton "misdoubted the future as we'll
as the past of the man as who did not.
in becoming gravity, exult to dine"
At Sir Willoughby's table one must
agree with him. None of our nove-
lists writes with a more intimate
knowledge of wine than Mr.. Meredith.
The cellars at Batterie Hall he con-
structs with loving care, in particular
an inner cellar where he lays down
port of "aged 60" Over this great
wine one thinks of Dick Swiveller's
purl, or the wine which the Marchion-
ess made by dropping pieces of orange
peel into cold water, and which was
quite nice" If you made believe very
much. Contrast can hardly be pushed
to wider limits. Dr. Middleton, setting
down his glass, points to the moral:
Here is the misfortune of thing sup
er-excellent, not more than one in
twenty will do it Justice"
sTHIS DATE IN HISTORY.
July IL.
1767-John Quincy Adams, sixth