It is of the utmost importance and difficulty to give orders to the cook in a way he will understand The Accra man can be talked to almost as to a home cook, but the native or “the savage ” requires greater simplicity of explanation and frequent repetition. It must always be remembered that he cannot have the least idea of how a dish ought to look or taste, he will never know why a white man prefers his soup thick and his sauce unburnt, and hardly anything in his own native cooking can help him to arrive at the results we expect of him. It must also be remembered that a native, when asked if he understands what you have told him, will almost invariably answer “yes” for fear he may anger the white man if he says he has not. All the recipes have been written so that they can be read to the cook without too many explanations, but to make sure that he has, if not understood, at least remembered, he should be made to repeat them to vou again. In the beginning certain broad rules should be as it were photographed on his memory ; sooner or later they will impress themselves upon his intelligence. If he has succeeded in correctly preparing a dish he should be praised and should be made to repeat it several times immediately. Do not wonder if it suddenly becomes uneatable, but refresh his memory, upon which, lackiug as yet any culinary intelligence, he must solely depend. Regularity of attention is a first necessity ; most natives like and respond to a regular system of drill which saves the white man much time and trouble. Ten minutes every morning should be given to the cook for the purpose of 17 ordering the day’s meal, ten minutes every evening, while the work is still fresh in his mind, to remarks and praise or blame. In the house as in the kitchen, regularity of attention is the only way of obtaining order and cleanliness without undue expenditure of time. If your household consists of a cook and a boy, the cook will do nothing but attend to his kitchen and boil the water for the bath and filter. The boy has to do all the rest of the work, clean, serve at table, filter the water and cool the drinks. If he is the only one, he should not be too small a boy, for though they often appear more intelligent than the elder ones, they are really not strong enough to do all the work. A “ parade ” will always rather appeal to a boy and will be little trouble to yourself ; the household tasks should be clearly defined and certain things should be inspected on regular days at regular times. For example, Monday might be reserved for the inspec- tion of the kitchen. Examine the shelves, meat boards and the insides of the saucepans, see that two out of the three kitchen cloths are washed clean, throw away any useless empty tins or bottles which the cook loves to accumulate in dark corners, and remove any of his garments which you may find lying about. On Tuesday the boy should take the filter to pieces and clean it as well as the sparklet bottles ; on Wednesday he could clean out the pantry and any cupboard where glass or crockery is kept. On Thursday the boy should clean the verandah, scrubbing it if possible, be it only with sand and water, and the cook should parade his pans, boards and cloths. Friday and Saturday should be kept for cleaning out the rooms.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

It is of the utmost importance and difficulty to give orders to the cook in a way he will understand The Accra man can be talked to almost as to a home cook, but the native or “the savage ” requires greater simplicity of explanation and frequent repetition. It must always be remembered that he cannot have the least idea of how a dish ought to look or taste, he will never know why a white man prefers his soup thick and his sauce unburnt, and hardly anything in his own native cooking can help him to arrive at the results we expect of him. It must also be remembered that a native, when asked if he understands what you have told him, will almost invariably answer “yes” for fear he may anger the white man if he says he has not. All the recipes have been written so that they can be read to the cook without too many explanations, but to make sure that he has, if not understood, at least remembered, he should be made to repeat them to vou again. In the beginning certain broad rules should be as it were photographed on his memory ; sooner or later they will impress themselves upon his intelligence. If he has succeeded in correctly preparing a dish he should be praised and should be made to repeat it several times immediately. Do not wonder if it suddenly becomes uneatable, but refresh his memory, upon which, lackiug as yet any culinary intelligence, he must solely depend. Regularity of attention is a first necessity ; most natives like and respond to a regular system of drill which saves the white man much time and trouble. Ten minutes every morning should be given to the cook for the purpose of ordering the day’s meal, ten minutes every evening, while the work is still fresh in his mind, to remarks and praise or blame. In the house as in the kitchen, regularity of attention is the only way of obtaining order and cleanliness without undue expenditure of time. If your household consists of a cook and a boy, the cook will do nothing but attend to his kitchen and boil the water for the bath and filter. The boy has to do all the rest of the work, clean, serve at table, filter the water and cool the drinks. If he is the only one, he should not be too small a boy, for though they often appear more intelligent than the elder ones, they are really not strong enough to do all the work. A “ parade ” will always rather appeal to a boy and will be little trouble to yourself ; the household tasks should be clearly defined and certain things should be inspected on regular days at regular times. For example, Monday might be reserved for the inspection of the kitchen. Examine the shelves, meat boards and the insides of the saucepans, see that two out of the three kitchen cloths are washed clean, throw away any useless empty tins or bottles which the cook loves to accumulate in dark corners, and remove any of his garments which you may find lying about. On Tuesday the boy should take the filter to pieces and clean it as well as the sparklet bottles ; on Wednesday he could clean out the pantry and any cupboard where glass or crockery is kept. On Thursday the boy should clean the verandah, scrubbing it if possible, be it only with sand and water, and the cook should parade his pans, boards and cloths. Friday and Saturday should be kept for cleaning out the rooms.

Practical West African cookery