" " " with Parmesan Paste . . 92 ** Pur^e of Chestnuts 37 " Swedish Fish Soup 109 Srasis (Russian) 112 " with fine herbs (Polish) 112 Varenikis, Sweden and Poland 114 Veal scalloped with Herring 67 " German Curry of 1\ Watrouskis 114 IN FOREIGN KITCHENS. ENGLAND. " I "HE American who seeks to gather from ■*• modern English literature some theory as to how an Englishman really lives is sadly divided in his conclusions. On one side he reads of the ** roast beef of old England," its plum-puddings and mince-pies, and the va- rious dishes of Christmas-time. These, with many another dainty, crossed the sea with the Virginia settlers, who were chiefly Tory and held to old fashions; but for New England they were allowed no place, since the Puri- tan considered mince-pies synonymous with the other tools of the Prince of Darkness, and plum-pudding equally so. Irving re- vived their memory for us, and made them, with other hearty cheer, an essential element of English cookery. This side still remains ; 8 IN FOREIGN KITCHENS. but the modern English novel, with which America is so flooded that small place re- mains for her own, refuses to admit that • refined people can tolerate such heavy feed- ing, and places the French cook in the fore- ground as the chief essential to any proper place in society. Certainly the French cook has had an ameliorating influence on English cookery; and it needed it, since, in spite of certain most excellent national dishes, the English- man's chief need remained, — beef and beer, — and he desired to see his joint smoking before him, and to cut with his own hands the mighty slices dear to his soul. The taste still lingers. The Englishman cares as much for quantity as quality; and in one of the old inns near the Temple — the dim rooms haunted still by the shades of the men who once sat there: Johnson, Goldsmith, Lamb, and that host of worthies — they served weekly the pudding which has made it famous. This inn or coffiee-house is the " Cheshire Cheese," and the pudding is the beefsteak-pudding which all Americans who seek out every trace of old London make ENGLAND. 9 haste to taste. It is a mighty pudding, and boiled in a mighty caldron, a hundred pounds of beefsteak entering into its composition, and the whole, when the thirty-six hours of boiling are over, demanding all the strength of two strong men to bear the pewter platter on which it rests to the waiting guests. Its way to them lies down several steps, and last winter (1886.^, on one of the regular days, the bearers, staggering under the steaming weight, slipped suddenly and fell, the pud- ding receiving one of them in its deepest in- terior, where he sat till extracted by his companions, soaked in gravy and burned most seriously. An actual howl of disap- pointed hunger went up from the throng, too indignant at their loss to sympathize for a moment with the unlucky waiter. Only the beggars were the gainers, and they hov- ered about the old coffee-house for many days thereafter, hoping for another catas- trophe of the same nature, smacking their lips as they recalled a flavor quite beyond anything life had ever before offered. The great English hotels give one very small hint of English cookery, and in large lO IN FOREIGN KITCHENS.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

" " " with Parmesan Paste . . 92 ** Puree of Chestnuts 37 " Swedish Fish Soup 109 Srasis (Russian) 112 " with fine herbs (Polish) 112 Varenikis, Sweden and Poland 114 Veal scalloped with Herring 67 " German Curry of Watrouskis 114 " I "HE American who seeks to gather from ■*• modern English literature some theory as to how an Englishman really lives is sadly divided in his conclusions. On one side he reads of the ** roast beef of old England," its plum-puddings and mince-pies, and the various dishes of Christmas-time. These, with many another dainty, crossed the sea with the Virginia settlers, who were chiefly Tory and held to old fashions; but for New England they were allowed no place, since the Puritan considered mince-pies synonymous with the other tools of the Prince of Darkness, and plum-pudding equally so. Irving revived their memory for us, and made them, with other hearty cheer, an essential element of English cookery. This side still remains ; but the modern English novel, with which America is so flooded that small place remains for her own, refuses to admit that • refined people can tolerate such heavy feeding, and places the French cook in the foreground as the chief essential to any proper place in society. Certainly the French cook has had an ameliorating influence on English cookery; and it needed it, since, in spite of certain most excellent national dishes, the Englishman's chief need remained, — beef and beer, — and he desired to see his joint smoking before him, and to cut with his own hands the mighty slices dear to his soul. The taste still lingers. The Englishman cares as much for quantity as quality; and in one of the old inns near the Temple — the dim rooms haunted still by the shades of the men who once sat there: Johnson, Goldsmith, Lamb, and that host of worthies — they served weekly the pudding which has made it famous. This inn or coffee-house is the " Cheshire Cheese," and the pudding is the beefsteak-pudding which all Americans who seek out every trace of old London make haste to taste. It is a mighty pudding, and boiled in a mighty caldron, a hundred pounds of beefsteak entering into its composition, and the whole, when the thirty-six hours of boiling are over, demanding all the strength of two strong men to bear the pewter platter on which it rests to the waiting guests. Its way to them lies down several steps, and last winter (1886.^, on one of the regular days, the bearers, staggering under the steaming weight, slipped suddenly and fell, the pudding receiving one of them in its deepest interior, where he sat till extracted by his companions, soaked in gravy and burned most seriously. An actual howl of disappointed hunger went up from the throng, too indignant at their loss to sympathize for a moment with the unlucky waiter. Only the beggars were the gainers, and they hovered about the old coffee-house for many days thereafter, hoping for another catastrophe of the same nature, smacking their lips as they recalled a flavor quite beyond anything life had ever before offered. The great English hotels give one very small hint of English cookery, and in large

In foreign kitchens