called " Small Books on Great Subjects ;" they were,
if we re- member rightly, both interesting and successful, but they are brought to our recollection just now by the contrast they form to the fashion of the present day, which seems to be to produce very large books indeed upon subjects which we must be excused for considering (at least, in contradistinction to many others,) decidedly small. Lately, we reviewed a huge quarto entirely occupied with poultry - rearing, and now we are presented with 450 pages on pastry and confectionery, illustrated with 10 chromo-lithographs and 137 woodcuts, oddly described as "drawn from nature." M. Gouffe's book may well be called the Royal
Pastry Book, for it is a most elaborate and exhaustive production, -written with that appreciation-of his métier, and that pride in his successful practice of it, which belong to the true artist alone.
Tracing the origin of pastry-making to the infancy of the world, when man, seeing before him flour, butter, and eggs, was in- spired to make a brioche, and slightly alluding to the ancient Parisian guild of the Masters of the Art of Pastry, the author of the recondite work before us proceeds to show in his preface the opportunities he has had of acquiring a thorough knowledge of that which he desires to impart, by enumerating the eminent cooks under whom he had the good-fortune to study, one of the chief of whom was Careme, chef to the Prince of Wales when Regent, and afterwards employed in the same capacity by the Princess de Bagration and Baron de Rothschild. Careme 'baying noticed in the shop-window of Gouffe pere two small baskets in gum paste, and an almond centrepiece, the productions of the youthful Jules, saw in him a hopeful pupil, and took him under his tuition. With what fervour Gouffe 'alludes to his "first introduction to real work," the preparation for the great ball given by the City of Paris to the Due d'Angouleme, on his return from the Spanish expedition in 1823 !—
"On that memorable occasion," ho says, ‘i we had to prepare a sitting-down supper for 7,000 guests. Careme presided over the cold dishes, consisting of 100 large ones, 18 of which were on stands, and of -300 entrees, 20 of which were also on stands ; for this part of the supper alone we were seventeen cooks, and worked uninterruptedly for four days. Curiosity led me to take a peep at the hot dishes; they com- prised 200 large removes and roast joints, 400 entrees, and 200 dishes of dressed vegetables. Michel Hollande was the chef for the creams and jellies, numbering 300; Penolle was answerable for the sweets, numbering also 300. Such a beginning to a young fellow fond of his business could not but be beneficial, as revealing an hitherto undreamt- -of field of action in which ho might aspire to figure."
Since then M. Gouffe has worked at all the different branches of cookery, and he now claims for his books a merit to which few writers upon the art can aspire, for he says that every recorded recipe is the result of personal experience. In the advice to beginners with which the author commences his course of instruction, he tells the incipient pastrycook what qualities he must bring with him in order to insure success; they are qualities which would probably make him the master of any other art which he might be desirous to acquire,—quickness, intelligence, a lively and inventive fancy, a love of study, patience, perseverance, and artistic feeling. Armed with these requisites, he is recommended to have an elementary knowledge of drawing, sculpture, and architecture, and to devote eight or ten years to the practical study of pastry ! Who would have thought that all this was needful, in order fitly to provide baked meats even for the tables of kings ?
But are not Italian villas, made of nougat, rustic summer-houses, fountains, military and naval trophies, biscuit hams, swans, and all the wonderful devices which M. Gouffe's illustrations bring before us, deserving of severe study and a long apprenticeship? to say nothing of all the queer kuchens of Tyrolese and German in- vention, the Russian Blinis and Perodis, and the innumerable French friandises, which make our mouths water as we merely read the many recipes for their successful manufacture. Some of them, indeed, are very quaint, in particular, a meringue beehive, a most natural-looking straw-built edifice, with bees (with pistachio bodies, currant heads, and almond wings,) dotted over it, and appar- ently regaling themselves with the delicious whipped cream with which the structure is so temptingly filled. But M. Gouffe is not by any means content with displaying his own knowledge of these niceties of his art ; be is really anxious to teach not only cooks, but those ladies who are willing to use their hands to good purpose in the preparation of delicacies, how best to suc- ceed in their object, and for this purpose he not only gives them
p * The Royal Book WPastry and Confectionery. By Jules Gouge. Chef de Cuisine treatment of social questions in Switzerland especially attractive
of the Paris Jockey Club. Translated from the French and adapted to English
use by Alphonse Gouffe, Head Pastrycook to her Majesty the Queen. London : * Arbeiter - Verhaltnisse end Fainikeinrichtungen der .5eloetz. By Professor
Sampson Low and Co. Biihmert, of Zurich.
the fullest instructions, but he also presents them with woodcuts of the simplest utensils which they will require to use,-not even the pestle and mortar and the hair-sieve, the rolling-pin or the jelly-bag, articles to be found, we should have supposed, in kitchens of the most moderate pretensions, being unrepresented. We must say, however, that M. Gouffe, unlike many teachers, is not above the suggestion of an appropriate substitute when the proper re- quisite is not at hand, and a kitchen stool, turned upside down, with a diaper napkin tied over it, does admirable duty for a filter, when no better may be had. A very useful and very simple pre- paration for stiffening jelly or cream is made out of so common a substance as the rind of pork, and as it will keep good for a length of time, we commend it to the attention of our lady readers, who may, with a moderate degree of practice, learn from M. Gouffe's book how to make many fancy dishes for which hitherto they have been obliged to have recourse to the professed confectioner. In the first place, all the technical terms used in pastry-making are carefully explained ; and next, the modes of heating the oven and the care to be used in baking are dwelt upon ; then come the various preparations, by which are meant the colouring of sugars, the making of paste, the washing of currants and raisins, the blanching of almonds, &c. It may surprise some of our readers to hear of puff-paste made with oil, and to see the moderation with which butter, so lavishly employed by the makers of heavy and indigestible coverings for tarts, is used by real masters of the art ; but it would be well if a little of this moderation and judgment were practised by our English house- wives or those under their command. M. Gouffe is quite right in insisting that all provisions shall be of first quality, and that the cook should learn to judge of them from their appearance, smell, flavour, ripeness, and freshness, for often we find that carelessness or false economy in these matters have caused failure when success would have been certain, and that by these means an entertainment which has cost much labour and considerable expense has only re- sulted in ridicule and disappointment. We are not, as a nation, remarkable for skill in the culinary art, and it is not, therefore, surprising that the chapter on " indigenous pastry " should be but a short one. The beefsteak pie and mutton patties, the jam roll, and the few other puddings, the cheese-cakes, the mince-meat, and the gooseberry-fool, however dear to the average Briton, make but a poor show, in comparison with all the light and airy delicacies in which the French, the Swiss, and the Italian confec- tioners are known to excel. But there was a time, and to its existence our old cookery-books sufficiently testify—a "good old time "—when ladies thought it not beneath them to vie with each other in the preparation of delicacies for the table, and although at present such tastes, and the knowledge sufficient to gratify them, are alike rare, something of a reaction appears to be setting in, and by the establishment of a school of cookery an impetus has probably been given to it. Of course it is necessary, in the first instance, that the graver branches of cookery should be studied, and although M. Gouffe pronounces that while a good pastry- cook easily becomes a good cook, the converse case has never been recorded ; we should certainly prefer that our wives and daughters should make themselves familiar with the essentials of the culinary art before proceeding to the ornamental depart- ments, although these are by no means to be despised ; and M. Gouffe, in his Livre de Cuisine, which has also been translated and published by Messrs. Sampson Low and Co., has afforded them ample means of doing so. In so far, indeed, as practical acquaintance with an art can be attained by book-knowledge, we think that pastry-making and confectionery may be acquired from the Royal Pastry Book, which is written with a clearness, a careful attention to detail, and a thoroughness quite beyond praise ; and if the ardour of M. Gouffe and his devotion to his craft cannot but now and then induce a smile, it must be confessed that in pastry- making, as in every other walk in life, ardour and devotion are qualifications which must not be wanting, if the neophyte should desire to rise in the vocation to which he has devoted himself, and to take an honourable place amongst the workers of his time.
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