COOKHOUSE DOOR —1934

Taranaki Daily News, 25 May 1934, Page 12

COOKHOUSE DOOR —1934

Army Dishes Appetising In These Enlightened Days

TOMMY ATKINS CAPABLE CHEF yyOMEN have been so busy invading masculine fields of activity lately that they have, perhaps, neglected their own specialities. It may, however, interest them to know that during the finals of the British Army Cookery Competitions at Aidershot, one of the (independent) judges remarked to me: “The cooking of these soldiers is far, far better than the average British housewife’s,” (says a special correspondent of an English paper). Seventy-four men, 45 in the team events, and 29 individual entrants, were giving an impressive display in the scrupulously clean rooms of the Cookery School. 1 watched Privates D. Barnard (Royal Tank Corps), W. Boughey (2nd Black Watch), G. Burns (Ist Oxford and Bucks), and C. Campbell (4th Batt. Royal Tank Corps) grappling deftly with fried fillets of plaice, veal olives, roast sirloin (with bone), and cutlets respectively. Alike in tactics and strategy they .were irreproachable.

One man, who shall be nameless, trembled violently as he tried to pour sherry over his trifle and spilt a good

deal. “Nerves,” 1 was told by the officer accompanying me—for these cooks take their art seriously. StafT-Sergeant-Instructor J, Brown, R.A.S.C., tqld me this about Army cooks: “It’s hands that count, sir, like in riding, Good hands—good cook. Heavy hands—the food’ll be all pulled to pieces.” “I love to cook,” said Sapper Cartlidge (R.E.) as he pored over his curry and rice. “The men are sometimes a little disappointed—they don’t, for instance, appreciate herbs, and all true connoisseurs appreciate nerbs. Seasoning is the soul of cooking, and a bouquet garni (as we call it, sir) of herbs—what could be finer? But the men ” The finished dishes were laid out, an appetising and savoury array, for tasting and appraisal by the judges,