the village, ‘ The bec-figues ! the bec-figues !’ it was said,
‘ Father Faby is coming !’ This ecclesiastic was appointed
Grand Penitentiary at Borne, and then ceased to come to
Belly for the bec-ligue season. Dumas says that the
greatest penitence he suffered was that he could eat no
more bec-figues in ProvenQe. Let us hope that he imposed
no greater penitence upon his victims.
Unlike ortolans, larks, and quails, the bec-figue cannot be
eaten ; it can only be chewed entire, and the consomme of
flavours stowed in its roasted carcase can be sucked out.
Such is the advice of the Canon Charcot, namesake of the
renowned physician quoted by Brillat-Savarin.
Dumas relates that a King Ferdinand of Naples lost his
throne by going after the becca-ficas, instead of remaining
with his Council of State, when he had been informed that
the birds had arrived at his shooting-box at Capodimonte.
‘ Do what you like, and go to the devil !’ he said to his
councillors. They did what they liked, but it was he who
went to the devil. These birds bear their name from their
love for figs ; they are said even to eat figs in Sussex in
summer and autumn.
The seven sotoi^s of qxMils {cf. D.D. 325 to 345 ;
F. 1041 to 1050) are the result of the exodus reminiscence
methodized in a magiric mind which expected imports
from Egypt. The desert may furnish quails sometimes,
but the great bulk of the birds and the grease to fry them
in have always been whipped out of Egypt.
CHAPTER XLVII.
PREPARATIONS OF SALT-WATER OR SEA FISH.
Fjsu are a grand resource of human alimentation; they
furnish not only some of the most delicate dishes, but
512
THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY
supply the cheapest animal food, as well in the fresh as
in the salted, dried, tinned, or oil -immersed condition.
Montesquieu attributed the populosity of coasts and river
valleys to the frequent use of fish as one of the causes ;
and there is no doubt that populations who make use of
fish as a regular part of nutrition are better fed than
those to whom it is inaccessible, although in other re-
spects they may be subject to greater privations than the
latter. The preparation of fish, and its preservation in such
a form that an aesthetically educated or naturally disposed
person may be able to eat it with enjoyment, is an invention
of the cultured part of mankind, and is of relatively modern
date. Thus, the preservation of herrings by salting, smoking,
and drying is said to have been, at least systematically, in-
troduced (if not invented) in the Netherlands by a Dutch-
man of the name of Bucking, and it is related that the
Emperor Charles V. visited the grave of that man as that
of a benefactor of mankind. Preservation by mere salting
was practised in antiquity, also the preserving in oil and
aromatic mixtures ; the escabeached* fish of the Italians and
Spaniards of our time is but a tradition of an ancient mode
of preparation. There are very few special records of the
manner in which the ancients prepared the various de-
scriptions of fish which they ate ; but some are important,
e.g., the recipe of Galen, prescribing that tunny should be
salted before use, as in that state its flesh was less dense
or hard.
Page 322
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
the village, ‘ The bec-figues ! the bec-figues !’ it was said, ‘ Father Faby is coming !’ This ecclesiastic was appointed Grand Penitentiary at Borne, and then ceased to come to Belly for the bec-figue season. Dumas says that the greatest penitence he suffered was that he could eat no more bec-figues in Provence. Let us hope that he imposed no greater penitence upon his victims.
Unlike ortolans, larks, and quails, the bec-figue cannot be eaten ; it can only be chewed entire, and the consomme of flavours stowed in its roasted carcase can be sucked out. Such is the advice of the Canon Charcot, namesake of the renowned physician quoted by Brillat-Savarin.
Dumas relates that a King Ferdinand of Naples lost his throne by going after the bec-figues, instead of remaining with his Council of State, when he had been informed that the birds had arrived at his shooting-box at Capodimonte.
‘ Do what you like, and go to the devil !’ he said to his councillors. They did what they liked, but it was he who went to the devil. These birds bear their name from their love for figs ; they are said even to eat figs in Sussex in summer and autumn.
The seven stories of quails {cf. D.D. 325 to 345 ; F. 1041 to 1050) are the result of the exodus reminiscence methodized in a magiric mind which expected imports from Egypt. The desert may furnish quails sometimes, but the great bulk of the birds and the grease to fry them in have always been whipped out of Egypt.
CHAPTER XLVII.
PREPARATIONS OF SALT-WATER OR SEA FISH.
Fish are a grand resource of human alimentation; they furnish not only some of the most delicate dishes, but
supply the cheapest animal food, as well in the fresh as in the salted, dried, tinned, or oil-immersed condition. Montesquieu attributed the populosity of coasts and river valleys to the frequent use of fish as one of the causes ; and there is no doubt that populations who make use of fish as a regular part of nutrition are better fed than those to whom it is inaccessible, although in other respects they may be subject to greater privations than the latter. The preparation of fish, and its preservation in such a form that an aesthetically educated or naturally disposed person may be able to eat it with enjoyment, is an invention of the cultured part of mankind, and is of relatively modern date. Thus, the preservation of herrings by salting, smoking, and drying is said to have been, at least systematically, introduced (if not invented) in the Netherlands by a Dutchman of the name of Bucking, and it is related that the Emperor Charles V. visited the grave of that man as that of a benefactor of mankind. Preservation by mere salting was practised in antiquity, also the preserving in oil and aromatic mixtures ; the escabeached* fish of the Italians and Spaniards of our time is but a tradition of an ancient mode of preparation. There are very few special records of the manner in which the ancients prepared the various descriptions of fish which they ate ; but some are important, e.g., the recipe of Galen, prescribing that tunny should be salted before use, as in that state its flesh was less dense or hard.