TO MAKE - ONE'S MOUTH WATER Menu and Recipe , Book.
By D. D. Cottington Taylor. (Good House Keeping. 28. 6c1.) • • "Way should not a cookery book be interesting?" asks Mrs. Allhusen inter introduction to Scents and Dishes. She adds that the old books were, but we doubt whether they were better than this or whether anyone has ever before so neatly combined a delicate and discursive allusiveness to history and manners with a constant eye to the business in hand—how to enjoy our meals.
"Four hundred years ago," the author tells us, "the English had four meals a day ; breakfast at 7 a.m., dinner at 10 a.m., supper at 4 p.m. and livery at 8 p.m. Gradually the dinner hour has shifted. Henry VII dined at 11 a.m. Oliver Cromwell added to the sum of his delinquencies by moving the hour to one. Addison, we know, dined at 2 p.m., and Pope, with great indignation, refused an invitation of Lady Suffolk, who actually expected him to join her for the great meal of the day at 4 p.m. To a friend he spoke of the innovation as the beginning of the end. How could people protest if the young, inflamed by these vicious habits, trod the paths of degeneracy ? "I will not sanction such proceedings by my presence !" asserted the affronted poet." Johnson, we learn, boasted of the niceness of his palate (we had imagined him a gastronomic barbarian) and declared that women might be able to spin but could not write a book on cookery. .Pos- terity has confounded the lexicographer. This is a book which would have appealed to Dr. Johnson as much as it will appeal to the housewife of to-day. There is matter for all minds here, and dishes for all tastes.
Very truly our author observes that a healthy man wants solid food for daily use—beef, apple tart, Stilton, rather than Souffles, -timbales and patisseries. Women as a whole prefer lighter viands—vol-au-vent, cakes, ices. Children prefer plain fare, and we would underline this sagacious sentence, "the myth relating to the nourishing properties of milk puddings &c., has mercifully been exploded and the modern child is no longer expected to plough through an ill-cooked and stodgy milk pudding every day of the week."
Queen Elizabeth's favourite drink was mead prepared by boiling together honey, water, spices, herbs and lemons. The liquid was allowed to stand for three months and then bottled for use. A fiercer, indeed a terrific, brew can be made from this recipe supplied by Mr. Horace Annesley Vachell : One quart of brandy, half a pint of rum, one quart champagne, two glasses Curacoa, sugar, the thin rind of six lemons, one quart strong green tea, one pineapple. We must refer readers to the book for directions as to how to mix the ingre- dients, merely suggesting that on page 165 there is a good recipe for the moment when "you feel peevishness is over- taking you again" : it is quite simple—just the juice of two good oranges and three teaspoonfuls of good brandy, mixed. We may add, from personal experience, that a cocktail, more wholesome than the average, can be made by combining the juice of an orange with a dash of gin, a dash of French Vermouth, a teaspoonful of Green Chartreuse and a few drops of rum ; shake the whole with ice. The substitution of a lemon for the orange makes a drier drink. But there is little about alcohol in Mrs. Allhusen's book and much about good cooking.
We could quote for pages from Scents and Dishes on delicious menus for soups, fishes, meat, poultry, vegetables, savouries, eggs, puddings, beverages, as well as recipes for biscuits and cakes, jams, confectionery, children's food and the preparation of potpourri, but space compels us to leave this singularly delightful volume. Even those—indeed especially those—who pride themselves on a discriminating palate should buy this book, for it is for the connoisseur and chef as much as for the amateur in eating. We are all amateurs of that art : we should all read this classic of cooking.
"Good Housekeeping," whose kitchen laboratory is well known, have published a very practical Menu and Recipe Book, by Mr. D. D. Cottington Taylor. This little volume has not the scope or range of Scents and Dishes ; on the other hand, it may be found to be more immediately useful to the young housewife, especially to one whose early years were not blessed by the refinements which in this imperfect world are largely the prerogative of the leisured class. "The flowers used for decoration should always be fresh and so arranged that they do not render cross-table conversation difficult." This is wise and often neglected advice. We wish the author had added that coffee must be freshly ground and that iced soup is a treacherous dish, disgusting if strength, flavour and tempera- ture are not exactly right. There is an excellent article on cooking by temperature and good suggestions for dishes suit- able to the various seasons ; also menus for dance suppers, garden parties, wedding breakfasts and the school tuck box. This book is obviously prepared by an expert in household management, and may be thoroughly recommended. It is exceptionally good value at half a crown.
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