The thorough good cook

I was turning over the other day that very interesting manual of cookery called "Kettner's Book of the Table," the recipes in which are due to the late M. Kettner, who was once, I believe, chef to Leopold, King of the Belgians, and who established that very well-known restaurant, the Hotel du Pavilion, in Church Street, Soho. The literary portion of Kettner's book was contributed by my deceased friend E. M. Dallas, of the Times, who was himself a technical expert in culinary matters. For the benefit of those who are fond of chestnuts, I will give, roughly, the recipe for a Nesselrode pudding, according to Kettner-Dallas. So many chestnuts peeled, blanched in boiling water for five minutes, deprived of their thickened skin; placed in stew-pan with syrup and a stick of vanilla: simmered till the chestnuts are done, when they are drained, and pressed through a fine hair sieve; add yolks of eggs, boiled cream, pounded sugar, a gill of maraschino, stoned raisins ; put all in a freezing-pot on the ice, add currants and raisins, put the pudding in an ice-mould, imbed the mould in ice, and let it remain for two hours.* What has all this to do with old-fashioned puddings? my readers may ask. Everything, I answer. Mr. Dallas tells us that Nesselrode pudding was invented many years ago by Mony, chef to the renowned Russian diplomatist Count Nesselrode, the statesman who had the impudence to call Italy a "geographical expression." When Careme heard of this, which is perhaps the most perfect [illustration: * For further details, see p. 428.] of iced-puddings, he almost burst with envy. He could not but praise the pudding; but he declared that Mony had taken the idea of it from the chestnut pudding invented by himself. As a matter of fact, neither Mony nor Careme invented the chestnut pudding, any more than they invented the sempstress's thimble or the mariner's compass. I find a capital recipe for a chestnut pudding in the "Art of Cookery," by dear old Mistress Hannah Glasse ; and the first edition of her immortal work was published in the year 1747, at least a hundred years before Nesselrode pudding came into fashion. The only material difference between Hannah's recipe and Kettner's is that the lady prescribes orange-flower or rose-water in lieu of vanilla, and sack (or sherry) instead of maraschino; and finally, her pudding is served hot. On the other hand, were it iced, it would be, to all intents and purposes, a Nesselrode pudding. I don't say that even Hannah invented the chestnut pudding. Most of the very nicest dishes in the world's cuisine are of such immense antiquity as utterly to baffle the researches of the culinary antiquarian. Nobody knows the origin of Sauce Robert; or can tell after what Queen Potage a la Reine was first called. The original Robert may have been Robert Ic Diablo, and the original Queen, Cleopatra.