The bachelor and the chafing dish

To maintain that a man must not change his wine is a heresy ; the palate becomes cloyed, and, after three or four glasses, it is but a deadened sensation that even the best wine provokes. A last course at dinner, wanting cheese, is like a pretty woman with only one eye. Cookery is an art, but to roast requires genius. In a cook the most essential quality is punctuality ; it should be also that of the guest. It is a breach of politeness towards those guests who are punctual when they are kept long waiting for one who is late. He who receives friends without himself bestowing some pains upon the repast prepared for them, does not deserve to have friends. As the coffee after dinner is the special care of The Bachelor and the Chafing-dish . the lady of the house, so the host must see that the liqueurs are the choicest possible. To receive any one as our guest is to become responsible for his happiness during the whole of the time he is under our roof. If Hamlet was offended to his soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear passion to tatters, what shall I say of the man or woman who tears a salad to very rags ? It is the one thing on the menu that should be considered a legal offence if served improperly. I do declare unto all of you beginners that a plain salad should not be prepared until the time has arrived for its eating. Most any sort of salad material will become withered and toughened by standing for any length of time after being mixed. First of all look to your oil. Cheap oil will spoil anything. Pure sweet olive-oil, such as any reputable grocer can guarantee you, is the only stuff to be used. The simplest mode of preparing a salad is called "French dressing." In a large tablespoon held over the salad put quarter of a teaspoonful of salt; add to this about a quarter of a teaspoon of pepper, and then fill up the large spoon with oil, and mix with a fork. Throw this over the salad, and follow with three more tablespoons of oil, then one tablespoon of good vinegar. In plain dressing about four parts of oil to one of 70 The Bachelor and the Chafing-dish. vinegar is a good rule. After the dressing is thus put upon the salad, turn the material over gently with the spoon and fork, and then serve. Remember, O Plebe ! the same rule about cutting an oyster with a knife applies to salad. That glorious old wit and bon vivant , Sidney Smith, gave this recipe for a “ winter salad ” : Two large potatoes, pass’d through kitchen sieve, Unwonted softness to the salad give. Of mordent mustard add a single spoon ; Distrust the condiment which bites so soon : But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault To add a double quantity of salt. Three times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown, And once with vinegar procured from town. True flavour needs it, and your poet begs, The pounded yellow of two well-boil'd eggs. Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl, And, scarce suspected, animate the whole. And, lastly, on the favour’d compound toss A magic teaspoonful of anchovy sauce ; Then, though green turtle fail, though venison ’s tough, And ham and turkey are not boil’d enough, Serenely full the epicure may say — “ Fate cannot harm me — I have dined to-day.” The simplest green salads are lettuce, chicory, watercress, fetticus, dandelion, escarole or endive, Salads and Sauces. ?l