The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-05-13
HOW TO EAT WELL AND
TOLNE WELL 4
BY DIR. EDWARD De POMAINH
Entrees and ROasts

A definition of the classic entrees
Is quite difficult to give. Entrees
comprise all the rather complex pre-
parations, whether of meatlor of fish.
which precede the roast, According
to its name, the entree is a sort of
a curtain raiser; it is a debut which
should lead up to the piece de resist
ance, the roast. Such conception
as this is very open to discussion.
The roast is a quasisavage prepara-
ton; 1t requires neither art nor
science, only turn of the hand. This
roast cannot in any way represent the
eliminating point of a scale of gas
tronomic efforts.
Let us call entrees" everything
that precedes the capital dish of our
meal, this dish itself being very well
an entree In the classic sense of the
word.
The classic entrees are not to be
disdained. 1t is in them that are
found the national craracter of the
cookery, the personal coefficient of
the host who is receiving us and the
talent of the cook who has executed
them. The Italian raviol, the Rus
sian blini, the French ragout, the
Alsatian garnished sauerkraut, are
not only entrees but national dishes.
So be careful about your entrees.
If you like, erect one of them into
monument in your dinner, and if some
day the classic roast filet does NOT
appear on your table don't worry;
your dinner will, in spite of that,
have left an indefible place in the
memory of your guests.
A roast is a piece of meat cooked in
the oven. or better still, before fire
of wood or vegetable CHARCOAL For
this latter, it is spitted upon a metal
lie rod, throughout the time OF
cooking. the spit is kept turning by !,
a ma n a n Sr1 i, " IA
all the parts of the joint are made
successfully to face the fire. When
one judges the roast to be DONE" it
is served, The description alone OF
this culinary preparation shows its
lack of study.
But it should not from this be con-
Guided that the roast is a dish to be
despised. Very much to the contrary.
for in this preparation more than in
any other. the flavor of the meat, its
natural flavor. it's wild flavor, will be
tasted. The roast is not, except re-
motely, gastronomic preparation; it
has wrongly been given a preponder-
ating place in the average menu.
The method or cooking described
above is not the only one for arriving
at a good roast. The Argentines will
tell you that the way to have good
slice of roast beef is quite different.
You have to roast the OK whole, "con
cuers; that is to say, with the hide
on. Kill the OK, clean it, bury it In a
ditch filled with dry wood and aro-
matte plants. Set fire to the fuel, fill
up the hole with damp branches ar,2
earth, leaving n chimney hole. Wait
the end of this slow combustion until
the morrow. The OK is taken out of
the ditch; the burned hide is detached
in strips from the back and thus the
steaks are reached. These are cut in
long slices and eaten in the open air.
Such is the most primitive of roasts,
the best, according to Argentines. the
only one which enables one to taste
the meat with all it's aroma. Unfor-
tunately this procedure is not within
the reach of all. Practicable in the
pampas. it has not been employed in
our land except rarely by rich Argen-
tines desiring to treat their guests
royalty.
The most primitive roast Is that
which is called rare" and Is pre-
ferred by the English and French.
The Russians, Germans and Poles, on
the contrary, eat their roasts very
well done; the sight of blood in their
preparation is exceedingly disagree
able to them.
Summing up, the roast is relic OF
primitive cookery; its lack of pre-
paration gives it special flavor
which explains it's survival after.
thousands of years of gastronomic
perfectioning.