But although ‘ most cookery-books
are useless,’ the two chartreuses so called are only para-
phrases of old recipes, one for chartretise de fommes, the
other for a compound case of vegetables with partridge,
called chartreuse de perdrea^ix. The gdteau Savarin, a mere
modern anonymous plagiarism of the old French Batan cahe,
is unwarily accepted, though happily, we might perhaps
say necessarily, seeing that Gouffe is a practical man, the
culte of Savarin is not paraded. Many of the author’s
general observations, e.g., those against the absurd French
names of dishes, are most excellent ; but the illustrations of
combinations, which, like the Bouisson de Coquillage, facing
p. 696, might pass as showplates in a fishmonger’s shop-
window, seem to us to be out of place in the book, as their
incarnation would be on a dinner-table. The author has
not numbered his recipes, perhaps in execution of the some-
what mystic principle announced in his preface, that he had
fait autre chose que ce qtie Von a fait jusqiVici. We have
carefully scrutinized the recipes and general observations of
Gouffe on bouillon, blond de veaiL and the several consoinmh
THE HISTORIC LITERATURE OF COOKERY 49
of meat, fowl, game and fish, and have been quite unable to
discover any objective standard by which the value or
concentration of bis broths could be ascertained, or even
estimated. While he carefully weighed and measured
numerous ingredients, he never ascertained what he ex-
tracted from his stock-pot, and by this omission vitiated
his quantations. This omission was, and is, so general in
the grande cuisine that the ‘ Almanach -des Gourmands ’ for
1826 said that it was a fact, based upon observation, that
the grand cooks produced bad soup. Careme was in his
time highly incensed at this criticism, but it has retained
its truthfulness down to the present day, when extremely
dilute, pale, almost tasteless preparations of hot water, with
some finely minced roots or herbage distributed in them,
are put forth as consommds , of which they are in every respect
either the negative or the reverse. Although the work of
Gouffe excels in style many of his forerunners, it is not free
from grave misapprehensions, arising from the fact that he
occasionally loses sight of his principles and does just the
same as that which has been done hitherto; thus, tendrons,
the soft rib-cartilages of the calf, are throughout termed
tendons, i.e., sinews, a confusion which, initiated by Beau-
villiers, has affected, during the last eighty years, all those
treatises which have uncritically copied his recipes.
Latest German Works.
The developments of German cookery are represented in
the work of J. Eottenhofer.'*'’ The author was for some
time first cook to the late Maximilian II., King of Bavaria,
and subsequently ’major-domo, or Haushofmeister, to the un-
fortunate King Ludwig II. , circumstances which must be
borne in mind during the perusal of the treatise. It con-
* Kottenhofer, .T., ‘ Illustrirtes Kochbuch ; Neue vollstiindige Iheoretiscli-
practische Anweisung in der feineren Kochkunst mifc besonderer Beriick-
sichtigung der herrschaftlichen and busgerlichen Kiiclie.’ Miinchen, 8vo,
No date ; illustrated with woodcuts.
4
50
THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY
Page 43
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
But although ‘ most cookery-books are useless,’ the two chartreuses so called are only paraphrases of old recipes, one for chartretise de fommes, the other for a compound case of vegetables with partridge, called chartreuse de perdreaux. The gdteau Savarin, a mere modern anonymous plagiarism of the old French Batan cahe, is unwarily accepted, though happily, we might perhaps say necessarily, seeing that Gouffe is a practical man, the culte of Savarin is not paraded. Many of the author’s general observations, e.g., those against the absurd French names of dishes, are most excellent ; but the illustrations of combinations, which, like the Bouisson de Coquillage, facing p. 696, might pass as showplates in a fishmonger’s shopwindow, seem to us to be out of place in the book, as their incarnation would be on a dinner-table. The author has not numbered his recipes, perhaps in execution of the somewhat mystic principle announced in his preface, that he had fait autre chose que ce qtie Von a fait jusqiVici. We have carefully scrutinized the recipes and general observations of Gouffe on bouillon, blond de veaiL and the several consoinmh
of meat, fowl, game and fish, and have been quite unable to discover any objective standard by which the value or concentration of bis broths could be ascertained, or even estimated. While he carefully weighed and measured numerous ingredients, he never ascertained what he extracted from his stock-pot, and by this omission vitiated his quantations. This omission was, and is, so general in the grande cuisine that the ‘ Almanach -des Gourmands ’ for 1826 said that it was a fact, based upon observation, that the grand cooks produced bad soup. Careme was in his time highly incensed at this criticism, but it has retained its truthfulness down to the present day, when extremely dilute, pale, almost tasteless preparations of hot water, with some finely minced roots or herbage distributed in them, are put forth as consommds , of which they are in every respect either the negative or the reverse. Although the work of Gouffe excels in style many of his forerunners, it is not free from grave misapprehensions, arising from the fact that he occasionally loses sight of his principles and does just the same as that which has been done hitherto; thus, tendrons, the soft rib-cartilages of the calf, are throughout termed tendons, i.e., sinews, a confusion which, initiated by Beauvilliers, has affected, during the last eighty years, all those treatises which have uncritically copied his recipes.
Latest German Works.
The developments of German cookery are represented in the work of J. Rottenhofer.'*'’ The author was for some time first cook to the late Maximilian II., King of Bavaria, and subsequently ’major-domo, or Haushofmeister, to the unfortunate King Ludwig II. , circumstances which must be borne in mind during the perusal of the treatise. It con-
* Kottenhofer, .T., ‘ Illustrirtes Kochbuch ; Neue vollstiindige Iheoretisclipractische Anweisung in der feineren Kochkunst mifc besonderer Beriicksichtigung der herrschaftlichen and busgerlichen Kiiclie.’ Miinchen, 8vo, No date ; illustrated with woodcuts.