SIBERIAN EPICURES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 167, 18 July 1898, Page 8

SIBERIAN EPICURES.

The opening of the Siberian Railway' will have the effect of overturning' entirely the preconceived idea that Siberia" is a land in which gastronomical refinements are entirely unknown. From RyKrosßya a recent visitor reports that meals were served to him that could not be excelled anywhere in Europe, from the point of-view of perfection in cookery. The sterlet, a fish that Sir Edwin Arnold says combines the delicacy of the trout, the* crispine'ss of the turbot, and the digestibility of the sole, was flavoured with sauce of . Liebig' Company's Extract. It was surprising that in almost every leading hotel of those distant Asiatic towns, Liebig Company's Extract was in evidence as much, if not more so, than at fashionable Marguery's, in Paris. But while this is true of public houses, the trials of housekeeping were never more primitive, even in darkest Africa. Filth in every- form appears to be a necessary accompaniment of ""the Siberian cuisine. The kitchen sink is on the floor, with an outlet through the wall. There is no underground drainage, and the sewage •is as apt to flow about the well as anywhere else. • The cook,! in toasting bread, holds it between his toes be-fore/-a. charcoal fire. Chinamen are more cleanly, but they frequently use the soup tureen to wash their feet in. In one particular Siberians secure freater cleanliness through the use of ure wood ashes' for washing utensils' instead ,of soap. The former have pungent cleansing properties without a disagreeable reminder, as in the case of the latter. One of' the chief specialties served at Siberian restaurants is Stchy and Borsh. There is nothing in the culinary science of any other land compared with these two kinds-of soup. The Stchy has for its essential element cabbage, and the Borsh is based upon beets. What other materials go in with these passeth human understanding-, except that beef plays a great role in the drama of the Stchy; and, as Borsh is white when it is served, I suspect that there may be milk in it. But without pausing to debate these recondite subjects, let us not forget one article that is always to be found at every railway restaurant in Russia, as in every palace and in every liut, always in. transcendent perfection. I mean tea. An express train sends its' hundred passengers into a commonplace railway-station, and steaming on a vast counter before them stand a hundred .glasses of tea. Some have thin slices of lemon for those who like that condiment, and others are served simply with as much sugar as you like; of, if you want a drop of cream, you can get that, too; but the tea itself is something ecstatic, and you may voyage all around the earth, from London to Formosa, and then back to Dover, and never find any tea of such beautiful, inexplicable, delightful, living exquisiteness — enough to enchant an ascetic and rejuvenate an antediluvian.