means operative artisans. This will enable him to judge
of processes, their principles and results, and of materials
and their adaptation to processes. He should next have a
good knowledge of physics and chemistry, to be able to
define accurately the metamorphoses effected by cookery,
and to transform empirical traditions into rules emanating
from understood principles. He should further possess a
good knowledge of the historical literature of cookery of all
times, as this alone will enable him to comprehend the
gradual evolution of the art and the difiSculties through
which it has progressed to its present high development.
For this an extensive acquaintance with languages, both
ancient and modern, is essential. He should further know
practically, by study amongst the people of many lands,
not only the so-called national dishes, but all piecidiar food-
p>reparations from the most humble upwards to the most
accomplished, and should aid this knowledge by an ex-
tensive acquaintance with the general literature in which
the state of the culture of different nations and different
periods is recorded. He ought to make a very deep, and
withal very critical, sUidy of his predecessors on the
culinary field, without the least pharisaical bias, but with
the firm intention of acquiring on the one hand all the
available information, while on the other hand eliminating
errors arising from ignorance or vanity ; for the literature
of cookery is remarkable for the conservatism not only of
what is good and absolutely established, but also the
pertinacity with which it retains a great bulk of useless
dross, which has to be sifted out, as we have already
shown above. Dr. Kitchiner read or consulted upwards
of one hundred and eighty works for the purposes of his
‘ Oracle,’ and to these labours next to his genius the
great value of his work is due. Plow little his practice has
been followed by later authors is evident from the fact that
most of them misspell his name, while many of them distort,
OBJECTS A'ND RESULTS OF COOKERY 13
while copying his supposed recipes from distorted tran-
scripts, by omission as well as interpolation. Criticism
must be extended even to small things whenever they are
erroneously stated ; thus, we find in two of the best
practical works, one French, the other English, tendrons,
the rib-cartilages of calves, persistently called tendons,
which are sinews. This lapse, originally produced by
Beauvilliers, and copied from him and his copyists for
near a century, and similar accidents, show that philo-
sophical culture was not one of the qualifications of the
otherwise highly - meritorious, and by ourselves highly-
esteemed, authors.
Illustration derived from the Case of Cardons.
Page 18
Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
means operative artisans. This will enable him to judge of processes, their principles and results, and of materials and their adaptation to processes. He should next have a good knowledge of physics and chemistry, to be able to define accurately the metamorphoses effected by cookery, and to transform empirical traditions into rules emanating from understood principles. He should further possess a good knowledge of the historical literature of cookery of all times, as this alone will enable him to comprehend the gradual evolution of the art and the difficulties through which it has progressed to its present high development. For this an extensive acquaintance with languages, both ancient and modern, is essential. He should further know practically, by study amongst the people of many lands, not only the so-called national dishes, but all peculiar food preparations from the most humble upwards to the most accomplished, and should aid this knowledge by an extensive acquaintance with the general literature in which the state of the culture of different nations and different periods is recorded. He ought to make a very deep, and withal very critical, study of his predecessors on the culinary field, without the least pharisaical bias, but with the firm intention of acquiring on the one hand all the available information, while on the other hand eliminating errors arising from ignorance or vanity ; for the literature of cookery is remarkable for the conservatism not only of what is good and absolutely established, but also the pertinacity with which it retains a great bulk of useless dross, which has to be sifted out, as we have already shown above. Dr. Kitchiner read or consulted upwards of one hundred and eighty works for the purposes of his ‘ Oracle,’ and to these labours next to his genius the great value of his work is due. How little his practice has been followed by later authors is evident from the fact that most of them misspell his name, while many of them distort,
while copying his supposed recipes from distorted transcripts, by omission as well as interpolation. Criticism must be extended even to small things whenever they are erroneously stated ; thus, we find in two of the best practical works, one French, the other English, tendrons, the rib-cartilages of calves, persistently called tendons, which are sinews. This lapse, originally produced by Beauvilliers, and copied from him and his copyists for near a century, and similar accidents, show that philosophical culture was not one of the qualifications of the otherwise highly - meritorious, and by ourselves highly esteemed, authors.
Illustration derived from the Case of Cardons.