And now for a few words about kitchen ranges and
equipments. Until almost the other day, so to speak, an
English range was regarded as too expensive a luxury for
people in India of ordinary means. The expenditure of
from two to three hundred rupees upon such a thing was
looked upon as an extravagant freak. This strange opinion
must have been born and bred in Hindustan a generation
or more ago, and handed down to as together with numer-
OUR KITCHENS IN INDIA. 507
ous other baseless nostrums in the usual course of things ;
for people could scarcely have forgotten — even forty years
ago — that dwellings built for persons of three hundred a
year at home were considered uninhabitable unless equip-
ped with a kitchen range that at least cost thirty pounds.
Of course, there was an excuse for the economy, one
indeed, that is readily pleaded, I dare say, to-day : — An
English range would be thrown away upon a native cook,
he could never appreciate its advantages, and would fall
back upon his own way of doing things the moment he
was left to himself. With this ingenious subterfuge num-
bers of people have been contented, and have willingly
closed their eyes year after year to the wastefulness, and
barbarity, of the native system.
The consequence is that we now find ourselves in a some-
what anomalous position. Whereas our taste have under-
gone a complete change for the better; whereas men of
moderate means have become hypercritical in the matter
of their food, and demand a class of cooking which was
not even attempted in the houses of the richest twenty
years ago, — our kitchens have been in no way improved,
neither have their appliances or equipments undergone the
change that is necessary to keep pace with the requirements
of the times. Dinners of sixteen or twenty, thoughtfully
composed, are de rigueur; our tables are prettily decorated ;
and our meyiu cards discourse of dainty fare in its native
French. But what " nerves'' we all have to be sure !
Could we but raise the curtain, and examine our cook-
rooms, and all that in them is, just before we lead the way
to the banquet, should we not be actually dumb-foundered
at our own audacity ?
Setting aside the things which I have already enlarged
upon, it is no exaggeration to say that not one Indian
kitchen in twenty possesses a proper equipment. The
508 OUR KITCHENS IN INDIA.
hatterie de cidsine of people with incomes of two thousand
rupees a month, and more, is frequently inferior to that of
a " humble cottager in Britain," the total of whose means
does not exceed four hundred pounds. But while the
latter lives with consummate modesty, and thinks his
establishment by no means equal to the strain of a dinner
party of six, the former sits down, invites five-and-twenty
people with a light heart, and expects everything to be of
the best !
The nakedness of the land is easily discovered at the
auctions of our highest officials, where the contrast between
the " furniture principally by Deschamps" in the drawing-
room, and the " few useful kitchen sundries" in the back
verandah, is often very striking.
Page 280
Presented as published in 1885. 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
And now for a few words about kitchen ranges and equipments. Until almost the other day, so to speak, an English range was regarded as too expensive a luxury for people in India of ordinary means. The expenditure of from two to three hundred rupees upon such a thing was looked upon as an extravagant freak. This strange opinion must have been born and bred in Hindustan a generation or more ago, and handed down to us together with numerous other baseless nostrums in the usual course of things ; for people could scarcely have forgotten — even forty years ago — that dwellings built for persons of three hundred a year at home were considered uninhabitable unless equipped with a kitchen range that at least cost thirty pounds.
Of course, there was an excuse for the economy, one indeed, that is readily pleaded, I dare say, to-day : — An English range would be thrown away upon a native cook, he could never appreciate its advantages, and would fall back upon his own way of doing things the moment he was left to himself. With this ingenious subterfuge numbers of people have been contented, and have willingly closed their eyes year after year to the wastefulness, and barbarity, of the native system.
The consequence is that we now find ourselves in a somewhat anomalous position. Whereas our taste have undergone a complete change for the better; whereas men of moderate means have become hypercritical in the matter of their food, and demand a class of cooking which was not even attempted in the houses of the richest twenty years ago, — our kitchens have been in no way improved, neither have their appliances or equipments undergone the change that is necessary to keep pace with the requirements of the times. Dinners of sixteen or twenty, thoughtfully composed, are de rigueur; our tables are prettily decorated ; and our meyiu cards discourse of dainty fare in its native French. But what " nerves'' we all have to be sure ! Could we but raise the curtain, and examine our cookrooms, and all that in them is, just before we lead the way to the banquet, should we not be actually dumb-foundered at our own audacity ?
Setting aside the things which I have already enlarged upon, it is no exaggeration to say that not one Indian kitchen in twenty possesses a proper equipment. The
hatterie de cidsine of people with incomes of two thousand rupees a month, and more, is frequently inferior to that of a " humble cottager in Britain," the total of whose means does not exceed four hundred pounds. But while the latter lives with consummate modesty, and thinks his establishment by no means equal to the strain of a dinner party of six, the former sits down, invites five-and-twenty people with a light heart, and expects everything to be of the best !
The nakedness of the land is easily discovered at the auctions of our highest officials, where the contrast between the " furniture principally by Deschamps" in the drawingroom, and the " few useful kitchen sundries" in the back verandah, is often very striking.