The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-08-29
Cooking In Paper
Bags Latest Fad
For The Epicures
Famous Chef Discovers Methods
of Preparing Delicious
Dishes

I1dNc YOU ever tTleU Cooking IN pa
per bags instead of the usual utensils?
Do you know anything about it? If
not. you should, for it is the newest
old thing out in culinary art.
A New York firm Of publishers have
just published book called Paper
bag Cooking" which tells all about it.
The author is Nicholas Soyer late
chef at the famous Brooks Club, Lon
don. It was first published in Lon
don and has attracted immense at
tention in England, where they are
still talking of the newest thing in
cooking
1t might be said at the outset that
not everything can be cooked in a
paper bag, but judging from the num-
Der of receipts in the book, nearly ev-
erything can be. And then, also it
should be said that not any paper
bag will answer, because you might
get the taste of paper in the roast, or
whatever you may have cooked, and
that's not pleasant. SO a special pa
per has been prepared for this pur-
pose. When the bags are once used
you burn them up, you don't wash
them. And that ought to help some.
NO NOVELTY.
Soyer himself says in his book that
he claims no novelty for the princl-
pie, Il am neither the discoverer of a
new invention nor of a patent method
for this order of cookery. The prin-
clple was known to our forefathers,
and daresay that if 1 had time to
make researches 1 would find evidence
that the people Of the Far East cook
ed their game and fruits in leaves
and parchment. There is really moth
ing new under the sun. What
principle of paper-bag cookery in a
more extensive manner than was inn
agined to be possible by epicures and
experts in general cookery
How he came to work up the idea
he thus explains: Some years ago
I was chef to the Dowager Duchess Of
Newcastle. 1 had long been accus-
toned to treat small articles en- papil-
lottes, a system with which most con-
noisseurs are familiar. I would take,
for example, a piece of cooked fish
and, enveloping it in a sheet of fools
cap carefully trimmed to the required
size, thrust it into a very hot oven.
This impaired to the fish the flavor
of the paper-a taste which, for OBJ
vious reasons, is dangerous.
"One day, having covered a piece Of
fish with foolscap, 1 instructed the
kitchen maid to add the sauce She
put in too much. By-and-by the pa
per vessel began to bubble up and be-
fore I could interfere it exploded with
a Ddng. Wnen / came to examine the
fish I found that it was beautifully
tender. This gave me an idea. 4
wonder whether I could cook by
steam?' l said to myself Without a
moments hesitation 1 put some meat,
vegetables and a little water into an
envelope, and laid it on the iron shelf
in the oven. The inevitable happen
ed. The paper got burnt and soon af-
forwards it exploded.
II was not easily daunted, ! gave a
good deal of thought to the problem.
Eventually I came to the conclusion
that the explosion was due to my plac-
ing the paper vessel on the solid iron
shelf, which made it impossible for
the air, to circulate freely around it..
Accordingly I decided to use the broil-
er in my next experiment. So far
as the cooking was concerned the re-
suit was splendid. The food was de-
liciously tender;> but. unfortunately it
tasted most Enthusiastically of the pa
per, and to serve it was entirely out
Of the question.
THAT was Is years ago, and for the
time, l had to confess myself de-
feated Three years after my mi
tial experiments the matter having
meanwhile simmered in my brain,
decided to make another attempt, l
was then employed as chef to Sir
House. I selected chicken with
some rice,) and covered 1T with FOOLS
cap. 1t came out of the oven bearing
a lovely golden tint and as I quickly
found, with the flesh as tender as
could be desired. But, alas! it tast-
ed of the paper in a most marked de-
gree.