You will find that in " The Thorough
Good Cook " I have made provision for " smart " — to use the
cant term of to-day — or elegant and luxurious repasts as well
A*
X THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
as for modest ones. I have done so because, for anglit I
know, you may be a lady of the highest rank. If not,
in this commercial country it is quite within the domain of
possibility that you may be a lady of rank one of these days.
In any case, there are occasions when you Avill feel disposed
to ask your friends to entertainments of a more festive and
more elaborate nature than those in which you ordinarily
indulge ; and it is for that reason that I have given a
good many recipes for dishes of which I have partaken
in many lands at the tables of very superlative grandees
indeed. At the same time I know perfectly well that, as a
rule, cookery comparatively simple in its nature and moderate
in its cost will be most acceptable to the majority of the
ladies whom I have the honour to address.
I have specially borne this in mind in respect to the names
of the dishes which I prescribe. If you Avish to be and have
the means of being " smart," you will usually find that I
have given the dish its French name ; but I have been
careful to supply also the English one, except in cases where
no English equivalent can be found. I have endeavoured,
too, to exclude as far as ever I possibly could the French
names of culinary processes. Many cookery books over-
flow with such technical terms as onarquer, masquer, /aire
revenir, degraisser, Her, passer, mou'dler, faire reduire,
dgoutter, and so forth ; and English adapters of French
recipes either give some absurdly bhmdering translation of
the French technical term, or pitchfork it, untranslated, into
their English text ; thus puzzling and irritating the cook.
That which I have tried to do has been to toll the culinary
artist, in the plainest English at my command, how the dish
is to bo made; and I have been able to make the English
all the plainer, either because I can cook the dish myself,
or have seen it cooked over and over again by experts in
the art.
Although, as I have said, you will find among my recipes
TO THE LADY OF THE HOUSE. xi
a large number of which I have made the acqiiamtance
at the tables of ambassadors and other grand folk, I hope
that I have avoided the absurdity of drawing up cuHnary
formulas of which the following may perhaps be taken as
a typical reduction to absurdity : " Take twelve poimds of
fillet of beef, four large capons, and eight pounds of ribs of
mutton ; moisten with two bottles of Chablis, one of Sauteme,
and one of red Hermitage; to which add a glass of
Curasao and one of very old Cognac ; mask the bottom of
a silver stew-pan with slices of Bayonne ham, on which place a
layer of truffles, asparagus tips, mushrooms, tomatoes, and
pineapples ; on this place your meat ; simmer for seven hours;
pour in two quarts of ' double ' cream, a bottle of champagne,
and the juice of twelve Seville oranges, and serve in a silver
dish, with a spirit lamp beneath." Upon my word, I have
read recipes quite as Lucullian, quite as Apician, and quite as
preposterous as the above, in a cookery book which could
be bought for half-a-crown.
Page 3
Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
You will find that in " The Thorough Good Cook " I have made provision for " smart " — to use the cant term of to-day — or elegant and luxurious repasts as well
A*
as for modest ones. I have done so because, for anglit I know, you may be a lady of the highest rank. If not, in this commercial country it is quite within the domain of possibility that you may be a lady of rank one of these days. In any case, there are occasions when you Avill feel disposed to ask your friends to entertainments of a more festive and more elaborate nature than those in which you ordinarily indulge ; and it is for that reason that I have given a good many recipes for dishes of which I have partaken in many lands at the tables of very superlative grandees indeed. At the same time I know perfectly well that, as a rule, cookery comparatively simple in its nature and moderate in its cost will be most acceptable to the majority of the ladies whom I have the honour to address.
I have specially borne this in mind in respect to the names of the dishes which I prescribe. If you Avish to be and have the means of being " smart," you will usually find that I have given the dish its French name ; but I have been careful to supply also the English one, except in cases where no English equivalent can be found. I have endeavoured, too, to exclude as far as ever I possibly could the French names of culinary processes. Many cookery books overflow with such technical terms as onarquer, masquer, /aire revenir, degraisser, Her, passer, mou'dler, faire reduire, dgoutter, and so forth ; and English adapters of French recipes either give some absurdly bhmdering translation of the French technical term, or pitchfork it, untranslated, into their English text ; thus puzzling and irritating the cook. That which I have tried to do has been to toll the culinary artist, in the plainest English at my command, how the dish is to be made; and I have been able to make the English all the plainer, either because I can cook the dish myself, or have seen it cooked over and over again by experts in the art.
Although, as I have said, you will find among my recipes
TO THE LADY OF THE HOUSE. xi
a large number of which I have made the acquaintance at the tables of ambassadors and other grand folk, I hope that I have avoided the absurdity of drawing up cuHnary formulas of which the following may perhaps be taken as a typical reduction to absurdity : " Take twelve poimds of fillet of beef, four large capons, and eight pounds of ribs of mutton ; moisten with two bottles of Chablis, one of Sauteme, and one of red Hermitage; to which add a glass of Curasao and one of very old Cognac ; mask the bottom of a silver stew-pan with slices of Bayonne ham, on which place a layer of truffles, asparagus tips, mushrooms, tomatoes, and pineapples ; on this place your meat ; simmer for seven hours; pour in two quarts of ' double ' cream, a bottle of champagne, and the juice of twelve Seville oranges, and serve in a silver dish, with a spirit lamp beneath." Upon my word, I have read recipes quite as Lucullian, quite as Apician, and quite as preposterous as the above, in a cookery book which could be bought for half-a-crown.