LTHOUGH it is generally admitted that the clever pastry-cook is, like the Poet, born, not made ; or, in other words, that the art of making really good pastry is a gift, rather than an accomplishment, there can be no doubt that the chef of average capacity is capable of improving himself by studying the rules which govern this branch of his profession. Raraasamy stands in great need of instruction here, for his ideas of pastry are, as a rule, crude in the extreme. He is acquainted apparently with two standard compositions alone, which he distin- guishes by the terms " butter crust," and " suet crust." The former is a kind of short bread, the latter a humble apology for pufE paste. His selection of the one or of the other, if left to himself, is guided by one law : — " butter crust" for sweet things, and " suet crust" for savoury. Concerning the former I have but little to say. In my opinion it is so very inferior to puff paste, that I recommend its use in no branch of cookery whatever. If a cook be wholly incapable of making eatable puff pastry, he may, of course, be permitted to fall back upon his " butter crust," but I would never allow him to do so unless quite satisfied of his incompetence. " Suet crust," on the other hand, is the " subject of my story" for I think that with a little careful teaching Ramasamy is capable of achieving very fair results with it. PASTRY-MAKING, ET CETERA. 259 Kow, I think that it would be a mere waste of time to jot down a great number of recipes for pastry. The ordi- nary domestic cookery book generally contains a dozen or more of them which tend, I think, to confuse rather than to instruct the student. In endeavouring to improve our native cooks, we should certainly cast aside all complica- tion, and reduce our instruction to the simplest formulae. So, let us do our best to confine their attention to three compositions as follows : — (a) puff paste. (h) pie-crust. (c) raised pie-crust. The first to be used for the vol-au-vent, all patties, bou" chees, fruit tarts, tartlets, puffs, cheese cakes, mince pies, &c., &G. The second for all savoury pies made in the ordinary pie-dish, such as pigeon pie, chicken and beef steak pie, &c., &c. The third for savoury pies in raised crust, like the well- known pork pie, veal and ham pie, &c., of the English restaurant. If a cook can present a good sample of each of these pastes, he need not bother his head with varieties. Let us then run through the ' a. b. c' of pastry-making, and make sure that our chef thoroughly understands the elementary part of this branch of his work : — First, if you can possibly get one, you should use a marble pastry slab. As I said at page 72, in Madras the chief difl&culty the pastry-maker has to contend against is the high temperature : a jugful of iced water poured slowly over the surface of the slab (since marble retains cold far more readily than wood) is his surest safeguard. In fact, without iced water at his elbow, the cook can scarcely hope to turn out really light puff pastry. I have heard a 260 CULINARY JOTTINGS FOR MADRAS.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

LTHOUGH it is generally admitted that the clever pastry-cook is, like the Poet, born, not made ; or, in other words, that the art of making really good pastry is a gift, rather than an accomplishment, there can be no doubt that the chef of average capacity is capable of improving himself by studying the rules which govern this branch of his profession. Raraasamy stands in great need of instruction here, for his ideas of pastry are, as a rule, crude in the extreme. He is acquainted apparently with two standard compositions alone, which he distinguishes by the terms " butter crust," and " suet crust." The former is a kind of short bread, the latter a humble apology for puff paste. His selection of the one or of the other, if left to himself, is guided by one law : — " butter crust" for sweet things, and " suet crust" for savoury. Concerning the former I have but little to say. In my opinion it is so very inferior to puff paste, that I recommend its use in no branch of cookery whatever. If a cook be wholly incapable of making eatable puff pastry, he may, of course, be permitted to fall back upon his " butter crust," but I would never allow him to do so unless quite satisfied of his incompetence. " Suet crust," on the other hand, is the " subject of my story" for I think that with a little careful teaching Ramasamy is capable of achieving very fair results with it. Kow, I think that it would be a mere waste of time to jot down a great number of recipes for pastry. The ordinary domestic cookery book generally contains a dozen or more of them which tend, I think, to confuse rather than to instruct the student. In endeavouring to improve our native cooks, we should certainly cast aside all complication, and reduce our instruction to the simplest formulae. So, let us do our best to confine their attention to three compositions as follows : — (a) puff paste. (h) pie-crust. (c) raised pie-crust. The first to be used for the vol-au-vent, all patties, bouchees, fruit tarts, tartlets, puffs, cheese cakes, mince pies, &c., &G. The second for all savoury pies made in the ordinary pie-dish, such as pigeon pie, chicken and beef steak pie, &c., &c. The third for savoury pies in raised crust, like the wellknown pork pie, veal and ham pie, &c., of the English restaurant. If a cook can present a good sample of each of these pastes, he need not bother his head with varieties. Let us then run through the ' a. b. c' of pastry-making, and make sure that our chef thoroughly understands the elementary part of this branch of his work : — First, if you can possibly get one, you should use a marble pastry slab. As I said at page 72, in Madras the chief difficulty the pastry-maker has to contend against is the high temperature : a jugful of iced water poured slowly over the surface of the slab (since marble retains cold far more readily than wood) is his surest safeguard. In fact, without iced water at his elbow, the cook can scarcely hope to turn out really light puff pastry. I have heard a

Culinary jottings