IN PRAISE OF ENGLISH COOKERY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 195, 12 May 1908, Page 5

IN PRAISE OF ENGLISH COOKERY.

1 'One /has heard much condemnation of the English" kitchen.. Our typical cook is spoken of.as'a gross unimaginative'creature, capablo only of roasting or seething. Our . tabid,is said ,to he such as would weary or revolt any but gobbet-bolting carnivores.yWe arc., told that our bread is the worst in Europe; an.'indigestible!paste;,that our vege- . tablea aro diet.rather for the hungry animal •than,for discriminative,man; that our warm r beverages, called coffee . and . tea,. are so . carelessly or ignorantly '.brewed that 'they preserve''no simple virtue of theCdrink as it is. known in other, lands.. '-.To be sure-there . is np"lack;!6f/eyidence to -explain. SUQh'' ! censure. < For all that, English victuals, "in"-quality, the 'best in the; world,Vand Englishcookery is the; wholosomest most .appetising known to" any temperate'clime. " The aim of English cooking is. so to'deal 'with ; tjie raw material of man's nourishment , as to hring out, for the healthy. palate all its natural .juices 'and savours. And intljid, when'the cook has any measure of natural . orj acquirkl. skill,: we most notably succeed.Our beef .is veritably , beef ;"at its best, such ' beef'as,can be eaten, in no other country under, the sun; our mutton is mutton in Jts :, purest- essence—think ;. a . shoulder 'of Southdown at the moment when ' the. first i jet of gravy starts under tho carving knife. Each of our: vegetables ■ yields: its separato and, characteristic sweetness: ,It never oc- ' curs.ito' us.to disguise the genuine flavour of food';' if such a process! bo. necessary, then something is wrong with ■ tho food itself. Some wiseacre. us as the peoplo with .flnly ono ; saiico. -,v Tho fact is', "we havo -as many sauces as we have kinds, of meat; i each; 'in tho process' of its nativo sap, -and this is the best of all sauces conceivable. / Only English people know fwhat is' meant by gravy; consequently the Engliih alons.are competent to spesk/cn the question of sauco. * \ To be sure, this culinary principle presupposes food of'' the finest quality. If your bpef:and; your. mutton have scarcely : distinguishable,', whilst.', both! this' and that might conceivably be veal, you will go to work in '.quite' a different ..way; your object. Vmusfc !.theh "be, to'disguise, to, counterfeit, to . add;|an alien relish—ini..sbort, J ',tp. dp ~:aiiy-. thing.!except" insist ■,upon"the natural-quality of the viand; ...-Happily "'.the'! English have never- been • driyen;.toV these-, expedients.'. Be it-flesh,"fish, or fowl, each .comes to table so distinctly and eminently! itself that by no possibility could; it "be confuscd : with any-thing-else.'Give your Average cook a'bit . of cod,, and 1 , tell .' her to dress 'it • in'her 'own . yvay,; 'The '• good; creaturo' will carefully boil if;, ! and-. tliero an-end- of the matter; and by no exerciso of art could she have so 1 , trate'd Hhe "fish as ;to make' more, manifest and enjoyable that special savour which heaven- has bestowed:upon cod. }.Think-'of- our array of jointshow royal, is each in its, own way, andf'how utterly uiiliko any of -the'others. Picture|/a.boiled.leg of mutton. - "It is mut- • ton,land mutton of. the, very, best': nature has ;hestewed .upon' man ,no, sweeter morsel: but the'same joint roasted is mutton too, and how divinely- different." : Your- artificial relish" is ', hero? not! only -, needless. but offensive. .. —George Gissing in "The Private Letters of Henry Ryecroft." \