Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1908-10-24
PLAIN COOKS DAY is HERE
NEW WORKERS NOW CALLING
FOR SIMPLE FARE.
French Chefs Out Of Favor WITH Those Who Cal
Mt@d IhOm---Faney Dishes Eaten chlsfh
BY the Hurled Women Cooks Preferred u
Nan...eonh Savs = nneAor

Inc manager OF the employment
agency which makes a speciality OF
supplying cooks to persons able to
pay high prices for them put the
letter down on his desk and began
to enter its requirements on blank
"I'd like to know what the French
chefs are doing for work nowadays"
he said. Here is the fourth appll.
cation for a cook that we have re-
ceived to-day. They all came from
big houses and this one was from
Newport.
But nobody wants a man and no.
body is more anxious for the kind Of
cooking that the Frenchmen have al.
ways been famous for. A good plain
cook is what they are all after.
I'm one way or another that has
been the special feature of all the Or
ders we are getting this year. 1t will
be a cook Who can make dishes good
but plain, or a cook, preferably a
woman, who can cook meats and fish
well but plainly. Another patron
writes: You know, we are tired of
mixed up sauces and such things and
want the best plain cooking
Il don't know what all this enc
thusiasm for plain cooking means"
the manager went on, unless 1t is
that New Workers. have got so much
into the habit of going to hotels that
they want at home the simplest
things that can be prepared. This
sort of cooking does not interest a
chef, and there is therefore very lit
tie demand for the men cooks.
People know that chef will give
them everything perfectly plain for a
short time and then in a sudden
burst of remorse at neglecting all the
principles of his art will treat them
to a succession of timbales, mousses,
purees and pates calculated to throw
them into chronic indigestion or
govt. For that reason French chefs
are not in demand.
my patrons have more confidence
In women. 1t is not a question of
salaries. don't think that consid-
Grafton enters into their plans at all.
1t is merely the desire to get good
pain COOhs
1t was, to find out how widespread
this desire for plain food was that a
Sun reporter went into the little Office
of a hotel steward who with the chef
makes up the daily menus for the
customers that go to the restaurant
for luncheon and dinner.
There is no use denying the great
er demand for plain cooking even
here" the steward said, although
we naturally feel 1t less. There is
always talk of this kind in the sum-
mer, and some Of 1t comes from the
fear of poisoning.
ut is hard to convinc. New York
ers that any lobster, for instance, is
as good as plain broiled lobster, or
that any kind of fish is as good as
when 1t is plainly boiled and served
with a maitre d'hotel sauce of pars-
ley and melted butter. 1t may indi-
cate very elementary. gastronomio
taste, but New Workers will believe
that broiled porterhouse steak is
better and more tasty than any other
way of cooking it, no matter how
many trufties, ,cepes, red peppers or
champignons you may mix together
In the casserole.
Nov, don't admit that liking
for our beef, our fish and above all
our lobster plain, indicates any lack
of cuisinary development. We are
one of the few nations in the world
that can afford to take our food SO
plainly, for the simple reason that in
no other country is the natural food
SO good.
The Frenchman never does any
thing with his langouste, which cor
responds to our lobster, but to eat it
with some mayonnaise sauce. He
does not allow cook to cover 1t over
with herbs, shrimps and other ex-
otto condiments, because the favor
of the langouste in its original condi-
ton is too fine to be tempered with.
"Frenchmen put white wine on
sole, and that is in reality rather
simple sauce. They simply fry it.
That is because sole is one of the
few fish that are really good in
France, and its taste should not be
destroyed by adding ingredients that
take away or change its own natural
flavor"
This authority mentioned trout as
another fish which French cooks left
In its natural state almost, or at all
events served with very simple sauces
The sauce meuniere is in reality not
rich or highly favored addition to
fish and consists chiefly of butter
The way of cooking trout most popu.
lar in France consists in putting the
trout into water and boiling 1t.
"As to the preference for plain
dishes over more fancy mixtures,
! the steward went on, II can give you
one rule which works with us and
with most of the restaurants l know
Of. The entrees that are ready fol
guests and are wanted in hurry, the
fancy dishes among them, are takeI
by our patrons. But no man ever
i thinks Of calling for them unless they
!. are ready.
IF he has the time to order a disI
and wait until 1t is we'll cooked hi
! will take tllet, roast duck, {
broiled squad, spring chicken Of
; some such plain meat"
other hotel stewards told the New
York Sun reporter Of the same stat,
Of affairs. New Workers are just nov
|. eating simple dishes. that is to SAY
the best of food, but we'll prepared
and simple, when they take the trou
BILE to order dinner. When they TAX,
I what Is ON the menu before them 4
is likely to be the fixed up dish pre-
pared by the hotels for their hurried
customers.
1.-THE hygienic side of the new rag,
g for simple food must not be over
}. looked" said doctor who was asked
s what the effect of this change on thu
o health Of New Workers might be
4 Lots of persons are learning that II