New Britain herald., 1915-09-14
WHAT OTHERS SAY Views on all sides of timely questions as discussed in ex-
 changes that come to the Herald Office.
Cooking in Washington.
A Wager Settled by Boiling Hams in
 Ink and Champagne.

(From Washington Letter to the Troy
 Times)
 The Army and Navy club, the Met ropolis club, the Cosmos club, the University club and in fact every club in Washington have in the mer- bership men who think that they are the finest cooks in the world Each and everyone of these has a speciality. One can make Geviled crab, another knows how to prepare an Irish stew, still another is confident that his me- thod of concocting a Welsh rabbit produces a more palatable dish than that of any other person. Others can put sweetbreads on the table to shame his colleagues. And so it goes down the list
 James K. Jones, a lawyer of this town, and F. B. Conger, former postmaster of the city of Washington and now contra ctor's agent are joint owners of a boat which is propelled by gasoline. These gentlmen ire quently organize little parties for trips down the Potomac. They go without a chef, and usually their guests demonstrate their ability to produce toothsome viands on the gas oline stoves with which the boat is provided About four years ago ono of those guests, Irony" Richardson, bragged about his ability to cook a ham in champagne. Whereupon MT. Conger sneeringly remarked that he could cook a ham in ink which any unbiased person would decide was just as tasty as a ham cooked in champagne" Tn other words" as serted MT. Conger, "it makes no difference what the ham is cooked in, for it will not absorb the flavor of the material"
 During the last four years MT. Conger and MT. Richardson have. to use coloquial expression, "chewed the rag" over their respective ideas But finally a wager resulted, and last Wednesday the test was made. MT. Conger bought eight stone bottles filled with ink, and MT. Richardson paid for four quarts of champagne, and small stove was secured and set up in the establishment of the Shoemaker company, which is one of the gathering places for newspaper correspondents, army officers, sena- tors, members of the House and other Jovial people, The ink was brought to boil; and so was the champagne
 
 Of champagne as the best material in which to cook ham, placed his pork in the "wine of France" and MT. Conger inserted his in the bubbling black writing fluid. Three or four hours afterward the two cooks an nounced that the feast was ready for all those who had any desire to test the products of the culinary art Of the two men, and during the next hour all visitors to the esta ablishmcnt ana there were more than 100, were requested to state which was the bet ter.
 And there was not man who could conscientiously say he could tell the difference between the ham cooked in ink and the ham cooked in cham pagne.
 Unfortunately for the advocate of ink he had agreed that the other fel- low should be the judge, and very naturally the other fellow decided in his own favor. Whereupon MT. Con- ger paid the bet and settled for the cost of the hams and the champagne and the ink.
 This simply indicates, if it shows anything, that 9 ham may be cooked in either ink or champagne or cider or water without absorbing any of the favors of the ingredients in which it is boiled. Conger's ham was a black, nasty looking product when it was withdrawn from the kettle. but after the outer skin and the fat had been removed it was just as palatable in every respect as the Richardson ham.