Sea Cookery

I believe there is room, and indeed a decided need, for a cookery book which will on sensible and plain lines give a number of recipes of value both on sea and shore. Seeing that food plays the most important part in our life, it should be considered equally as important to prepare it in a proper manner, and more especially in a manner so economical that the utmost value is obtained from the articles treated. I therefore consider that no apology is needed for issuing a work with these aims in view. I have now entitled this work “ Sea Cookery,” and the recipes will be found to supply the most distinct information to that rapidly-increasing body of men who have received special training in the art of sea-cookery. It will be noticed that I have carefully avoided using foreign terms and titles, as I have found these to be a constant source of bewilderment to students, and the common cause of many of the mistakes in preparation of the various foods made by cooks, both experienced and inexperienced. I am now and then asked by students for recipes for strange dishes which are sometimes made at sea, such as “ Palm Oil Chopp,” the best way to prepare “ Porpoise Steaks,” or “ Buffalo Hump,” &c. As these are only occasional dishes and do not enter into the scope of my work, my advice to these men is to get such recipes from experts on the particular coast or part of the world in which these “ dainties ” are usual, when the proper materials for these, if I may use the term, freak dishes, may be obtained. Another difficulty with many cooks is, that they find the recipes either too large, or too small in quantity for their particular requirements. For the benefit of these cooks I may mention that the dishes may be made larger or smaller as required so long as the proportions of the various ingredients are increased or reduced pro rata. A great source of difficulty with many sea cooks is their lack of knowledge of how to use the various herbs and seasonings, which are so necessary for the proper flavouring of foods, and the foundation of variety in made dishes. I have given the quantities to use in these recipes in measurements so exact, that no one need be afraid to follow them, and I venture to say that with a careful and intelligent cook success will be assured. It is hardly possible to divide the book into sections which would deal exclusively with sea cookery or land cookery ; for in the present day “ tramp ” steamer, when almost everything in foods are either dried, tinned, or compressed, there may be found everything necessary for the preparation of palatable dishes, and passenger vessels now are little less than floating hotels, and as far as the cuisine is concerned, there is no difference between the firstclass hotels on shore and the majestic liner out on the broad Atlantic. In conclusion I place these recipes and instructions before my readers with the fullest confidence, they having each and every one been worked out in practical lessons and demonstrations by myself. R. BOND. CONTENTS. Title Page . . . . . . . . . . 1 Portrait o f Mr. Bond . . . . . . 2 Introduction to the First Edition by the late Lord Nunburnholme .... .. 3 Introduction to the Second Edition by the Right Hon. Lord Brassey, G.C.B.. . 5 Preface to the First Edition by Commander W. F. Cabome, C.B., R.N.R. . . . . 7