THE COOK WHO TASTES IS THE BEST COOK

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6809, 12 January 1929, Page 15

THE COOK WHO TASTES IS THE BEST COOK

OTHER QUALITIES THAT MAKE A GOOD COOK ARE REVEALED BY M. MARCEL BOULRSTIN IN AN INTERVIEW., ll Touch, temperament! ” Those are the qualities that make a good cook, according to Mr. Marcel Boulestin, tho famous chef and writer of cookery books and restaurant keeper, in an in* terview with tho London ‘'Dai'y Chronicle.” “But,” he added, “tho cook who does not taste is never a good cook, and the cook who has not a palate can never' ‘taste’ properly.” That, he said, was why the best chefs seldom drink and seldom smoke. “Smoking is absolutely forbidden in my kitchen,” he added. “The woman who wishes to be a good cock should really make 'a round - of the best restaurants and learn how a dish tastes when it is perfect, and what a difference somo little thing will make. Take, ' for instance ,what we call Kabbuk. It is small pieces of mutton or veal, and small pieces ’of; ham, cut thick; on a skewer —but be*,' tween each piece of meat you must put a bay leaf! . Otherwise tho taste will be ordinary, uninteresting!

The Perfect Meal. “I am afraid that a recipe book and a pair of scales is not really enough to ensure a perfect meal,” he went on. “When making pastry and cakes you should always weigh your quantities, unless you arc an absolute expert who can tell, whore pastry is concerned, exactly whether the proportions. are right by the feel. And for cakes it is not possible. You must weigh. Bat for the things that make the perfoct meal—tho gravies, tho sauces, tho bouquet—for those you must always taste. Take, for instance, the Question of apple sauce. It could be easy to say, •Take half a pound of apples, cored and peeled, and two ounces of sugar..’ But consider. Apples differ. Some are juicy and sweet, others are juicy and sour, others are sweot or sour but not juicy. For bread sauce you must taste. For wine sauco' you must taste—rfor everything, except joints and pies and birds, you must taste. According to Circumstances, ’

“And you must allow some little difference in time for your meat ac| cording to circumstances. You must not say ‘so much for mutton,’ ‘so much for beef,’ ‘so .much . for veal,’ without looking at what you are going to cook, and considering whence it has come, tl may have been in a refriger: ator all night and feel cold; it will need extra heat at first, and a little longer time. It mav have eomo through the street on a hot day, and bo almost warm to the touch, or have been standing in tho kitchen, or—woll, you see what I mean! “That is why quickness of percep-

tion, a delicate touch, and good palate must go to the making of a good cook!" -'*• "And that is why stupid people seldom are good cooks and why bluestockings, women who think they should be doing better things than cooking, never rnako good cooks. They scorn their work and therefore they do not use every ounce of their intelligence to get tho best out of what they are doing. . As. for tho stupid ones—they, poor things, can only be taught to bo careful, to weigh everything, measure everything, use oven thermometers and- watch tho. clock—and then they are often too stupid to do any of those things properly. Practice Makes. Perfect. “Cooking really does need concentiation: people who lovo cooking are nearly always good cooks. And practice makes perfect. A difficult dish ought never to be the only dish the first or second or third time it is attempeted. Better be prepared to wasto it than allow a really delightful disk to go • to tho table unless it is perfect. "I know that is a counsel of perfection! But any woman can cook, within limits, if sho cares about it—in other words, if she has a proper pride and hates to fail!”