The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1912-07-04
THE ART OF COOKING.

From ~Constant1nople comes the re-
nort that a committee of experts recent
Iy valued the cutlery and kitchen uten-
sj,s ~ the shah of Persia at $500 900.
No other court in the world, not even
cno;n cavs the C~onstantinople CORE
snondent. has such an elaborate collec-
tion of valuable pots and pans as the
Persian monarch. They are all COW
cred with a heavy coating or gilt on The
inside. Even the plainest OF the uten-
sils in the shah's kitchen is OF silver.
The salt and sugar canisters that are
used in the kitchen are massive silver
devices. while the spoons, forks, plates
and dishes used in the dining rooms are
of solid gold and the majority Of the
knives have handles incrusted with
many precious stones. Were the menus
prepared in the shah's expensive pots
and pans and served with his costly ia
bIeWare delectable and nourfshing in
proportion to the value Of the kitchen
| and lining room equipment OF his pal
ace? Who will believe 1t?
Contemporaneously with this story
from Constantinople comes the report
from New York of the arrival In that
| city of Nicholas Soyer, grandson Of
Alexis Soyer who wen great renown
| as a cook in England at the time Of the
first worlds fair in London, n who
was brought over to this country by the
| founder of the house of Vanderbilt in
| the expectation that he would witch the
world with noble cookery, but who SUBJ
! s%equently returned to Europe, conclud-
ing that the Americans did not under
stand his art. Nicholas Soyer was chef
in the Kitchen of the late King Edward,
Of England, and, like his predecessors
of the house of Soyer, has a high repu-
his daintiest recipes in gold lined dishes.
In fact, he is the inventor of the system
of cooking in paper bags. M. Soyer has
no doubt of his own Importance. Here
is what he said in ar interview with a
reporter for the New York Sun:
Cooking, I say without qualifications,
has gone backward to a great degree.
Modern cooking as it is practiced is the
curse of the world. The average kitchen
is the tomb of the digestion Inc the Gre
matory Of peoples health. I worked for
nine years on a plan to get away from
these conditions. Most Of the time T
put into i%nventing and developing the
stove adopted by the British war office
the British soldier now gets his roast
beef, potatoes and gravy and pudding
handed to him hot from the oven in a
paner bag and there is no more COM
plant about unfair distribution Of
rationS.
II was travelling chef to King Ed
ward VII for seven years. Most of this
time was while he was Prince of Wales,
n my headquarters We're at Marl-
borough house, though l used always to
go to the south Of France with him and
upon his yacht. His majesty never
cared for fancy dishes. He preferred
plain bourgeois cookery. For instance,
the two meats he liked most were filet
Of beef and saddle of mutton, and al
most invariably I gave him one of these
for his dinner. Turtle soup was the
Nrlr Sn,,r he would nc rfaly IL 10 orI ~
dinner every day as regularly as clock
work he would take a small cup of this.
The meats he liked not UNDERGONE, but
juicy n well cooked and I always
cooked two filets for him, to be sure
that one would be exactly right.
II left the royal service because there
was no chance for further advancement,
the head chef being a master of his art.
Afterward l was chef for the Countess
Of Suffolk, who was Miss Letter. OF
Chicago. There was a woman who un-
derstood cooking. been all v the
with my dishes but could not. One day
she said to me: I want a poulet q
TAmericane.
There are a good many ways OF
cooking poulet a PAmericaine, mad
anne. I said, but I know of only one
good way. So I cooked it in a casse-
role, with rice, the chicken so we'll done
SAilL W. SoN u Va
a knife. Never again did h countess
seek to make unusual tests Of my skill
The probability is that M. Soyer with
his paper bags cooks as good or better
dishes than ever were prepared in the
gold lined kitchen utensils of the Per-
sian shah; but it is quite likely that M
Soyer has numerous rivals. Doubtless
when the Soyers left Paris for LonGor
some good cooks remained behind
Doubtless there still survive in the
southern United States old negro mann,
mics who IA make chicken as enticins
to the palate as he can. The probabil.
ity is that there are German cooks II
Milwaukee who could give him a W1irl
producing culinary triumphs OF Swhicf
he never has heard. but which, would
command the enthusiastic applause @.
lovers Of good eating.
~disparage M. Soyer.f No doubt he is 6
good cook, or he could not have salts.
fed King Edward for seven years, 70,
k1ng Edward was Ia conno1sseur in al
that pertains to gagtrononlics. It is per.
fectly safe, however, to express disbelie,
In the plenary efficacy of costly kitchen
utensils to ensure culinary excellence
There v been triumphs in cookins
where culinary utensils were entirely
lacking. Think of what is achieved al
New England clam bakes, where eyery-
thing that is.gto BIZ cooked is covered
with seaweef and sometimes buried UNI
der a heap Of sand. Think of what has
peen done IN American kitchens with
old fashioned cook stoves, or even with
still older fashioned freplaces. Good
cookery does lot depend upon elaborate
apparatus. 1t depends chiefly upon the
capacity and the genius of the cook.
HIGH Pressure W,+.,