Our viands

Vinegar appears to have been used as a beverage in ancient Rome, and to have been commonly served at banquets, probably mixed with water. The extravagance of Cleopatra, in dissolving her splendid pearl earring in vinegar and drinking it, is frequently quoted, but this is not a solitary instance of wasteful lavishness at Roman banquets ; the same story is told of Caligula, and of the son of yEsop the actor, of whom Horace writes : — 1 An actor's son dissolved a wealthy pearl (The precious earring of his favourite girl) In vinegar, and thus luxurious quaff'd A thousand solid talents at a draught.' And since our vinegar would certainly not be powerful enough to dissolve pearls, we must suppose that used in Egypt and Rome to have been much more powerful, so that to drink it, even much diluted, must have been any- thing but agreeable. One of the English condiments greatly in favour formerly seems to have fallen into disuse except in certain counties, this is saffron, which at one time was used in many sauces and cakes, and appears very frequently in old recipes, but is now seldom used except in Cornwall, where it still forms the flavouring and colouring matter of almost all the cakes. CONDIMENTS 165 In modern Greece, mastich is used in the same way to give a pleasant flavour to bread ; and in Germany, carraways, aniseed, and pimento are freely used for the same purpose, whilst almost all sweet sauces are flavoured with rum, which is rejected among ourselves in favour of brandy or ratafia. A more recent flavouring, vanilla, the product of a Mexican orchid, has become the prime favourite among French and English cooks. There are two or three important condiments which come to us from the West Indies. One of these is molasses or treacle, beloved of children, and another, the pimento or allspice ; but there is another which is very little known, but which is supposed to form the basis of most modern sauces. This is casareep, a dark fluid prepared from bitter cassava, which gives both colour and piquancy to the sauce to which it is added. Tamarinds, too, are much used by modern cooks in curries and sauces, and the very hot West Indian pickles are highly esteemed. Curry-powder, mulligatawny, chutney, and various pickles and preserves from India are now so common, that it is unnecessary to do more than name them, but the following South African condiments may, perhaps, be new to most of our readers. For blachang — to eat with fish or meat — one table- spoonful of powdered chili, one teaspoonful coriander seed pounded, twenty pounded almonds, one baked onion, two cloves of garlic, enough vinegar for proper consistency, and a little salt. For samball — peel a cucumber and cut it into pieces two inches long, slice each piece round and round till you get to the seedy part, which throw away. Roll the sliced part into a small roll, and then slice it 1 66 OUR VIANDS again very fine into cold water with a little salt. Let it stand two hours. Pour boiling water over two onions sliced as thin as possible ; which also let stand two hours, then strain off the water from both and squeeze as dry as possible. Take a teaspoonful of vinegar, a dessertspoonful of anchovy sauce, cayenne pepper, and a little mustard, mix together and pour over the onion and cucumber.