REATISE THE History, Science Practice, AND Ethical AND MEDICAL Import uLim. The University Library Leeds LEEDS UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Classmark: COOKED ATH(A [JOOKSBV: • *» s . •'** 'A* / 'V • Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/b21528913 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY. f THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY. H popular Xlreatlse ON. THE HISTOBY, SCIENCE, PEACTICE, AND ETHIC AL AND MEDICAL IMPOBT OF CULINABY ABT. WITH picfiouarj? of ^ulinarj? '§cvms. BY J. L. W. THUDICHUM, M.D., F.R.C.P. Lond. LONDON AND NEW YORK : FREDERICK WARNE AND CO., AND LONDON, PARIS, MADRID : BAILLIERE, TINDALL & COX. 1895. COPYRUIHT. Entered at Stationers’ Hall. [All rir/hti reserved.] PREFACE. CooKEEY has attained its present development by a long process of experimental empiricism, at which all mankind has laboured from very early days of its existence. Such being its origin, the only means for its transmission and perpetuation was apprenticeship. The earliest records of acquired knowledge assumed the form of unconnected recipes, which were mostly handed down from generation to generation, and even when they received greater publicity, and were made easier of access by the printing press, they preserved this character of incoherency. Their contents and form rose somewhat in quality with the progress of the art itself, and these improvements attained their highest de- velopment about the middle of the last century. But during the time which has elapsed since that special renaissance, a distinct retrogression in culinary literature is perceptible, as shown by compromises with the demand for excellence in all its branches, and diagnosed at once by humanists accus- tomed to what one of its greatest exponents has termed the manly and elegant style of magiric art. Great as has been the number of printed books which recited rolls of prescriptions for the preparation of food, yet amongst them there does not occur any systematic attempt to express VI PREFACE the acquired knowledge in the shape of general rules, such as would result from a codification of principles. The great mass of detail seems to have prevented its organization in the shape of a logical system, and it became, consequently, a matter of great difficulty to teach and use it in practical life with celerity and ease. In the present treatise it has been attempted to produce such a system of general rules as will enable those who thoroughly master them to perform the principal culinary operations without reference to the frequently unintelligible records of the details of mere empiricism. These rules are based in the first place upon unimpeachable scientific data or fundamental truths which admit of no circumvention or compromise, but have to be obeyed under pain of certain failure. This obedience has at once its ample reward in clearing the subject of a mass of errors and delusions which disfigure it as a science, and impair its utility, and in placing into the hands of operators the means of attaining their object with certainty and elegance.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

TREATISE THE History, Science Practice, AND Ethical AND MEDICAL Import The University Library Leeds LEEDS UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Classmark: • *» s . •'** 'A* / 'V • Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/b21528913 f H popular Xlreatlse ON. THE HISTOBY, SCIENCE, PEACTICE, AND ETHIC AL AND MEDICAL IMPOBT OF CULINABY ABT. WITH Dictionary of ^ulinarj? 'Terms. BY J. L. W. THUDICHUM, M.D., F.R.C.P. Lond. LONDON AND NEW YORK : FREDERICK WARNE AND CO., AND LONDON, PARIS, MADRID : BAILLIERE, TINDALL & COX. COPYRIGHT. Entered at Stationers’ Hall. [All rights reserved.] Cookery has attained its present development by a long process of experimental empiricism, at which all mankind has laboured from very early days of its existence. Such being its origin, the only means for its transmission and perpetuation was apprenticeship. The earliest records of acquired knowledge assumed the form of unconnected recipes, which were mostly handed down from generation to generation, and even when they received greater publicity, and were made easier of access by the printing press, they preserved this character of incoherency. Their contents and form rose somewhat in quality with the progress of the art itself, and these improvements attained their highest development about the middle of the last century. But during the time which has elapsed since that special renaissance, a distinct retrogression in culinary literature is perceptible, as shown by compromises with the demand for excellence in all its branches, and diagnosed at once by humanists accustomed to what one of its greatest exponents has termed the manly and elegant style of magiric art. Great as has been the number of printed books which recited rolls of prescriptions for the preparation of food, yet amongst them there does not occur any systematic attempt to express the acquired knowledge in the shape of general rules, such as would result from a codification of principles. The great mass of detail seems to have prevented its organization in the shape of a logical system, and it became, consequently, a matter of great difficulty to teach and use it in practical life with celerity and ease. In the present treatise it has been attempted to produce such a system of general rules as will enable those who thoroughly master them to perform the principal culinary operations without reference to the frequently unintelligible records of the details of mere empiricism. These rules are based in the first place upon unimpeachable scientific data or fundamental truths which admit of no circumvention or compromise, but have to be obeyed under pain of certain failure. This obedience has at once its ample reward in clearing the subject of a mass of errors and delusions which disfigure it as a science, and impair its utility, and in placing into the hands of operators the means of attaining their object with certainty and elegance.

The spirit of cookery