French Cookery
What to Eat and Drink in France. By Austin de Crozeo (Warne. 5s.) French Dishes for English Tables. By J. Berjane. -(Warne. (i8.) THE best works of art are always produced in the first instance for the artist's own satisfaction, and French cookery was evolved for the French by the French. But the wise artist likes to profit by his skill and France of to-day realizes more than ever how great an attraction to tourists her tables provide. So there has been established in Paris a centre of propaganda over which M. de Croze presides ; in every copy of his book is a form to be filled in, and on sending this to the Bureau Francais de la Gastronomic, 26 Avenue de l'Opera you will get a "circuit gastronotnique," the outline of a tour for any province you select, marking the places to visit and the dishes to ask for in them. Doubtless also the wines ; for this excellent book concludes each section by a review of the local vintages. No one could have a better travelling companion. It is a dull thing to go to Touraine, for instance, and call for Bordeaux or Burgundy. Most people have heard of Vouvray and some know how exquisite it is in its own country ; but only a few know the delights of its neighbour, Bourgueil, or of Chinon—the wine on which Rabelais was nourished. In the same way for the foods ; Sole Norrnande in its own province is one of the most delicious dishes ; but if you are in Burgundy, it is foolish to choose it : try rather what a skilful cook can do with pike—or even with carp and tench for that matter, by cooking them in white wine with a deal of pepper and garlic.
M. de Croze does not tell his readers where to go and he does wisely : the excellence of restaurants is fleeting. But he tells you what dishes you should look for in the menus of any special region, and each has its own excellence. He has, of course, like most French writers on this fascinating theme, a store of illustrative knowledge—for instance, the article on Lorraine tells us that Claude Lorraine invented puff paste and that Stanislas Leczynski, when he lost Poland and fell back on the duchy, consoled himself by devising the baba au rhum.
In general this book will give even the most casual reader some idea of the richness and variety of French invention in this art. It suggests also the reason—France is uniquely endowed in its range of products, the cookery based on butter or the cookery based on oil both have a natural home there : and over most of the country wine is available as a cheap ordinary article of diet, and is an invaluable resource for the cook. There are lessons to be drawn also. We have a better fish supply, both sea and fresh water, and it is lament- able to think how poorly we avail ourselves of it. Or, again, in several districts cider is as plentiful as in Brittany and Nor- mandy, but is it ever used to heighten the flavour of mussels ? It is foolish to cry out about expense : the French eat not only better but in most cases more cheaply than we do. They serve everything (to twist Goldsmith's phrase a little) "with a garnish of brain." Madame Berjane is a polished and fluent French missionary writing in English (she occasionally stumbles in her use of the language of the heathen she desires to convert--what cook, for instance, would know that " decor- ticated" meant " shelled " ?). Her zeal is admirable when she preaches the cult of the hors d'oeuvre to which, giving excellent and varied recipes, she devotes twenty-four pages. English faith in the efficacy of the savoury is the hardest of all culinary heresies to upset. Our palates are rarely so delicately trained as to fear what the authoress justly says is a "treachery to the sense of taste" in some compound hiding the "coarseness of an unexpected and strong flavour such as anchovy, for instance," at the conclusion of a meal. In many English houses the savoury is the most carefully considered item in a dinner : in few houses would the prepara- tion of varied and exquisite hors d'oeuvre be considered anything but an unnecessary complication.
Madame Berjane's book also contains a section on soups and one on salads. Her praise of soup is excellent and discerning and though some of the recipes given are extrava- gant and complicated (for instance, the consommé paillettes d'or in which are included truffle stock, old brandy and beaten gold), the majority are suited for use in families where both means and service are limited. Too much can never be said of the excellence and value of the pot au feu, or of the use of every kind of vegetable in soups. And she offers us infinite variety, and the clearest of directions. Four qualities only are necessary in cooking, she says : "Love and care ; Sense of balance ; Imagination controlled by good taste ; Patience." Four ! Few cooks in this country could be credited with more than one of these.
The book has a preface by M. Escoffier and one by a mistress of Girton College. May the girl undergraduates help to
Previous page
