The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual Part 1

The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual.

by William Kitchiner.

PREFACE.

Among the mult.i.tudes of causes which concur to impair health and produce disease, the most general is the improper quality of our food: this most frequently arises from the injudicious manner in which it is prepared: yet strange, "pa.s.sing strange," this is the only one for which a remedy has not been sought; few persons bestow half so much attention on the preservation of their own health, as they daily devote to that of their dogs and horses.

The observations of the Guardians of Health respecting regimen, &c. have formed no more than a catalogue of those articles of food, which they have considered most proper for particular const.i.tutions.

Some medical writers have, "in good set terms," warned us against the pernicious effects of improper diet; but not one has been so kind as to take the trouble to direct us how to prepare food properly; excepting only the contributions of Count Rumford, who says, in pages 16 and 70 of his tenth Essay, "however low and vulgar this subject has. .h.i.therto generally been thought to be--_in what Art or Science could improvements be made that would more powerfully contribute to increase the comforts and enjoyments of mankind? Would to G.o.d! that I could fix the public attention to this subject!_"

The Editor has endeavoured to write the following receipts so plainly, that they may be as easily understood in the kitchen as he trusts they will be relished in the dining-room; and has been more ambitious to present to the Public a Work which will contribute to the daily comfort of all, than to seem elaborately scientific.

The practical part of the philosophy of the kitchen is certainly not the most agreeable; gastrology has to contend with its full share of those great impediments to all great improvements in scientific pursuits; the prejudices of the ignorant, and the misrepresentations of the envious.

The sagacity to comprehend and estimate the importance of any uncontemplated improvement, is confined to the very few on whom nature has bestowed a sufficient degree of perfection of the sense which is to measure it;--the candour to make a fair report of it, is still more uncommon; and the kindness to encourage it cannot often be expected from those whose most vital interest it is to prevent the developement of that by which their own importance, perhaps their only means of existence, may be for ever eclipsed: so, as Pope says, how many are

"Condemn'd in business or in arts to drudge, Without a rival, or without a judge: All fear, none aid you, and few understand."

Improvements in _Agriculture_ and the _Breed of Cattle_ have been encouraged by premiums. Those who have obtained them, have been hailed as benefactors to society! but _the Art of_ making use of these means of _ameliorating Life and supporting a healthful Existence_--COOKERY--has been neglected!!

While the cultivators of the raw materials are distinguished and rewarded, the attempt to improve the processes, without which neither vegetable nor animal substances are fit for the food of man (astonishing to say), has been ridiculed, as unworthy the attention of a rational being!!

The most useful[vii-*] art--which the Editor has chosen to endeavour to ill.u.s.trate, because n.o.body else has, and because he knew not how he could employ some leisure hours more beneficially for mankind, than to teach them to combine the "_utile_" with the "_dulce_," and to increase their pleasures, without impairing their health, or impoverishing their fortune, has been for many years his favourite employment; and "THE ART OF INVIGORATING AND PROLONGING LIFE BY FOOD, &C. &C." and this Work, have insensibly become repositories for whatever observations he has made which he thought would make us "LIVE HAPPY, AND LIVE LONG!!!"

The Editor has considered the ART OF COOKERY, not merely as a mechanical operation, fit only for working cooks, but as the _a.n.a.leptic part of the Art of Physic_.

"How best the fickle fabric to support Of mortal man; in healthful body how A healthful mind the longest to maintain,"

(ARMSTRONG,)

is an occupation neither unbecoming nor unworthy philosophers of the highest cla.s.s: such only can comprehend its importance; which amounts to no less, than not only the enjoyment of the present moment, but the more precious advantage of improving and preserving _health_, and prolonging _life_, which depend on duly replenishing the daily waste of the human frame with materials pregnant with nutriment and easy of digestion.

If _medicine_ be ranked among those arts which dignify their professors, _cookery_ may lay claim to an equal, if not a superior, distinction; to _prevent_ diseases is surely a more advantageous art to mankind than to _cure_ them. "Physicians should be good cooks, at least in theory."--Dr.

MANDEVILLE _on Hypochondriasis_, p. 316.

The learned Dr. ARBUTHNOT observes, in page 3 of the preface to his _Essay on Aliment_, that "the choice and measure of the materials of which our body is composed, what we take daily by _pounds_, is at least of as much importance as what we take seldom, and only by _grains_ and spoonfuls."

Those in whom the organ of taste is obtuse, or who have been brought up in the happy habit of being content with humble fare, whose health is so firm, that it needs no artificial adjustment; who, with the appet.i.te of a cormorant, have the digestion of an ostrich, and eagerly devour whatever is set before them without asking any questions about what it is, or how it has been prepared--may perhaps imagine that the Editor has sometimes been rather over-much refining the business of the kitchen.

"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."

But as few are so fortunate as to be trained up to understand how well it is worth their while to cultivate such habits of Spartan forbearance, we cannot perform our duty in registering wholesome precepts, in a higher degree, than by disarming luxury of its sting, and making the refinements of Modern Cookery minister not merely to sensual gratification, but at the same time support the substantial excitement of "mens sana in corpore sano."

_Delicate and nervous invalids_, who have unfortunately a sensitive palate, and have been accustomed to a luxurious variety of savoury sauces, and highly seasoned viands; those who, from the infirmity of age, are become incapable of correcting habits created by absurd indulgence in youth, are ent.i.tled to some consideration; and, for their sake, the _Elements of Opsology_ are explained in the most intelligent manner; and I have a.s.sisted the memory of young cooks, by annexing to each dish the various sauces which usually accompany it, referring to their numbers in the work.

Some idle idiots have remarked to the Author, that "there were really so many _references_ from one receipt to another, that it is exceedingly troublesome indeed; they are directed sometimes to turn to half a dozen numbers:" this is quite true. If the Author had not adopted this plan of _reference_, his book, to be equally explicit, must have been ten times as big; his object has been to give as much information as possible in as few pages, and for as few pence, as possible.

By reducing culinary operations to something like a certainty, _invalids_ will no longer be entirely indebted to chance, whether they shall recover and live long, and comfortably, or speedily die of starvation in the midst of plenty.

These rules and orders for the regulation of the business of the kitchen have been extremely beneficial to the Editor's own health and comfort.

He hopes they will be equally so to others: they will help those who enjoy health to preserve it; teach those who have delicate and irritable stomachs how to keep them in good temper; and, with a little discretion, enable them to indulge occasionally, not only with impunity, but with advantage, in all those alimentary pleasures which a rational epicure can desire.

There is no question more frequently asked, or which a medical man finds more difficulty in answering, to the satisfaction of himself and his patient, than--_What do you wish me to eat?_

The most judicious choice of aliment will avail nothing, unless the culinary preparation of it be equally judicious. How often is the skill of a pains-taking physician counteracted by want of corresponding attention to the preparation of food; and the poor patient, instead of deriving nourishment, is distressed by indigestion!

PARMENTIER, in his _Code Pharmaceutique_, has given a chapter on the preparation of food: some of the following receipts are offered as an humble attempt to form a sort of _Appendix to the Pharmacopia_, and like pharmaceutic prescriptions, they are precisely adjusted by _weight_ and _measure_. The author of a cookery book, first published in 1824, has claimed this act of industry of mine as his own original invention; the only notice I shall take of his pretensions is to say, that the first edition of "_The Cook's Oracle_" appeared in 1817.

By ordering such receipts of the _Cook's Oracle_ as appear adapted to the case, the recovery of the patient and the credit of the physician, as far as relates to the administration of aliment, need no longer depend on the discretion of the cook. For instance: _Mutton Broth_, No.

490, or No. 564; _Toast and Water_, No. 463; _Water Gruel_, No. 572; _Beef Tea_, No. 563; and _Portable Soup_, No. 252. This concentrated _Essence of Meat_ will be found a great acquisition to the comfort of the army, the navy, the traveller, and the invalid. By dissolving half an ounce of it in half a pint of hot water, you have in a few minutes _half a pint of good Broth for three halfpence_. The utility of such accurate and precise directions for preparing food, is to _travellers_ incalculable; for, by translating the receipt, any person may prepare what is desired as perfectly as a good English cook.

He has also circ.u.mstantially detailed the easiest, least expensive, and most salubrious methods of preparing those highly finished soups, sauces, ragouts, and _piquante_ relishes, which the most ingenious "officers of the mouth" have invented for the amus.e.m.e.nt of thorough-bred "_grands gourmands_."

It has been his aim to render food acceptable to the palate, without being expensive to the purse, or offensive to the stomach; nourishing without being inflammatory, and savoury without being surfeiting; constantly endeavouring to hold the balance equal, between the agreeable and the wholesome, the epicure and the economist.

_He has not presumed to recommend one receipt that has not been previously and repeatedly proved in his own kitchen_, which has not been approved by the most accomplished cooks; and has, moreover, been eaten with unanimous applause by _a Committee of Taste_, composed of some of the most ill.u.s.trious gastropholists of this luxurious metropolis.

The Editor has been materially a.s.sisted by Mr. Henry Osborne, the excellent cook to the late Sir Joseph Banks; that worthy President of the Royal Society was so sensible of the importance of the subject the Editor was investigating, that he sent his cook to a.s.sist him in his arduous task; and many of the receipts in this edition are much improved by his suggestions and corrections. See No. 560.

_This is the only English Cookery Book_ which has been written from the real experiments of a _housekeeper_ for the benefit of _housekeepers_; which the reader will soon perceive by the minute attention that has been employed to elucidate and improve the _Art of Plain Cookery_; detailing many particulars and precautions, which may at first appear frivolous, but which experience will prove to be essential: to teach a common cook how to provide, and to prepare, common food so frugally, and so perfectly, that _the plain every-day family fare of the most economical housekeeper_, may, with scarcely additional expense, or any additional trouble, be _a satisfactory entertainment for an epicure or an invalid_.

By an attentive consideration of "_the Rudiments of Cookery_," and the respective receipts, the most _ignorant novice_ in the business of the kitchen, may work with the utmost facility and certainty of success, and soon become _a good cook_.

Will all the other books of cookery that ever were printed do this? To give his readers an idea of the immense labour attendant upon this Work, it may be only necessary for the Author to state, that he has patiently pioneered through more than _two hundred cookery books_ before he set about recording these results of his own experiments! The table of _the most economical family_ may, by the help of this book, be entertained with as much elegance as that of _a sovereign prince_.

LONDON, 1829.

FOOTNOTES:

[vii-*] "The only test of the utility of knowledge, is its promoting the happiness of mankind."--_Dr. Stark on Diet_, p. 90.

INTRODUCTION.

The following receipts are not a mere marrowless collection of shreds and patches, and cuttings and pastings, but a bona fide register of practical facts,--acc.u.mulated by a perseverance not to be subdued or evaporated by the igniferous terrors of a roasting fire in the dog-days,--in defiance of the odoriferous and calefacient repellents of roasting, boiling, frying, and broiling;--moreover, the author has submitted to a labour no preceding cookery-book-maker, perhaps, ever attempted to encounter,--having _eaten_ each receipt before he set it down in his book.

They have all been heartily welcomed by a sufficiently well-educated palate, and a rather fastidious stomach:--perhaps this certificate of the reception of the respective preparations, will partly apologize for the book containing a smaller number of them than preceding writers on this gratifying subject have transcribed--for the amus.e.m.e.nt of "every man's master," the STOMACH.[15-*]

Numerous as are the receipts in former books, they vary little from each other, except in the name given to them; the processes of cookery are very few: I have endeavoured to describe each, in so plain and circ.u.mstantial a manner, as I hope will be easily understood, even by the amateur, who is unacquainted with the practical part of culinary concerns.

OLD HOUSEKEEPERS may think I have been tediously minute on many points which may appear trifling: my predecessors seem to have considered the RUDIMENTS of COOKERY quite unworthy of attention. These little delicate distinctions const.i.tute all the difference between a common and an elegant table, and are not trifles to the YOUNG HOUSEKEEPERS who must learn them either from the communication of others or blunder on till their own slowly acc.u.mulating and dear-bought experience teaches them.