had changed their rough, weather-beaten exteriors for a
glorious shining appearance. Often not contented with
this external embalming, they would drink cups of melted
fat, and when asked for a reason, the reply was, " Oh, sir,
it is so very comfortable (or nice) to smear both in and
outside."'* The Bushmen also enjoy locusts greatly, and
the writer quoted above gives the following as the method
of preparing them : — * Fire being applied to the brushwood,
the legs and wings of the locusts were consumed, the bodies
dropped in heaps to the ground, and were collected next
morning, and having been exposed to dry in the sun on
skins, when sufficiently desiccated they were pounded to
powder, to be cooked with a little fat, milk, or water. This
paste formed a material part of the food of this poor race
of human beings.'
In Soyer's ' History of Food ' we are given the menu of
a Roman supper which is worth transcribing : ' First course
— Sea hedgehogs, raw oysters, all sorts of shell fish and
asparagus. Second course — A fatted pullet, a fresh dish
of oysters and other shell fish, different kinds of dates,
univalve shell fish, as whelks, conchs, etc., more oysters
of different kinds, sea nettles, beccaficos, chines of roebuck
and wild boar, fowls covered with a perfumed paste, a second
dish of shell fish and purples (a very costly crustacean).
Third course — A wild boar's head, fish, a second set of hors
d'xuvres, chicks, potted river-fish, leverets, roast fowls, and
cakes from the marshes of Ancona.'
Here we see several curious combinations, many of the
favourite dishes of modern times mixed with others which
would now be relished only by Chinese, such as sea hedge-
* ' Memoir of Petrus Borchardus Borcherds, Esq.'
156 OUR VIANDS
hogs (which, however, are still eaten in Italy), sea nettles,
whelks, conchs, and fowls covered with perfumed paste,
reminding one of the ambergris and rose water so much
used in the last century. After all, we are constrained to
see that the tastes of civilised man do not vary much from
those of the savage, and that the unappreciated trifles of
to-day were highly esteemed by those who, in former ages,
were regarded as the most fastidious of epicures.
The feast of Tetuan, described by Hall Caine in the
' Scapegoat,' deserves to be recorded here as showing the
strange mixtures still eaten, and the ceremonies observed
in Mohammedan countries. First, steaming dishes of
meat, in which each plunged his fingers, then a dish of
dates, followed by fish in garlic; keskoos covered with
powdered sugar and cinnamon ; meat on skewers ; browned
fowls and fowls with olives ; flake pastry and sponge
fritters; and, in conclusion, three cups of green tea as
thick and sweet as syrup. After which a washing of hands,
and fumigating of garments with scented wood burnt in a
brass censer.
CHAPTER XII
CONDIMENTS
Our viands
1893Page 77
Presented as published in 1893. 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
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had changed their rough, weather-beaten exteriors for a
glorious shining appearance. Often not contented with
this external embalming, they would drink cups of melted
fat, and when asked for a reason, the reply was, " Oh, sir,
it is so very comfortable (or nice) to smear both in and
outside."'* The Bushmen also enjoy locusts greatly, and
the writer quoted above gives the following as the method
of preparing them : — * Fire being applied to the brushwood,
the legs and wings of the locusts were consumed, the bodies
dropped in heaps to the ground, and were collected next
morning, and having been exposed to dry in the sun on
skins, when sufficiently desiccated they were pounded to
powder, to be cooked with a little fat, milk, or water. This
paste formed a material part of the food of this poor race
of human beings.'
In Soyer's ' History of Food ' we are given the menu of
a Roman supper which is worth transcribing : ' First course
— Sea hedgehogs, raw oysters, all sorts of shell fish and
asparagus. Second course — A fatted pullet, a fresh dish
of oysters and other shell fish, different kinds of dates,
univalve shell fish, as whelks, conchs, etc., more oysters
of different kinds, sea nettles, beccaficos, chines of roebuck
and wild boar, fowls covered with a perfumed paste, a second
dish of shell fish and purples (a very costly crustacean).
Third course — A wild boar's head, fish, a second set of hors
d'xuvres, chicks, potted river-fish, leverets, roast fowls, and
cakes from the marshes of Ancona.'
Here we see several curious combinations, many of the
favourite dishes of modern times mixed with others which
would now be relished only by Chinese, such as sea hedge-
* ' Memoir of Petrus Borchardus Borcherds, Esq.'
156 OUR VIANDS
hogs (which, however, are still eaten in Italy), sea nettles,
whelks, conchs, and fowls covered with perfumed paste,
reminding one of the ambergris and rose water so much
used in the last century. After all, we are constrained to
see that the tastes of civilised man do not vary much from
those of the savage, and that the unappreciated trifles of
to-day were highly esteemed by those who, in former ages,
were regarded as the most fastidious of epicures.
The feast of Tetuan, described by Hall Caine in the
' Scapegoat,' deserves to be recorded here as showing the
strange mixtures still eaten, and the ceremonies observed
in Mohammedan countries. First, steaming dishes of
meat, in which each plunged his fingers, then a dish of
dates, followed by fish in garlic; keskoos covered with
powdered sugar and cinnamon ; meat on skewers ; browned
fowls and fowls with olives ; flake pastry and sponge
fritters; and, in conclusion, three cups of green tea as
thick and sweet as syrup. After which a washing of hands,
and fumigating of garments with scented wood burnt in a
brass censer.
CHAPTER XII
CONDIMENTS