he came into a kitchen where a sirloin was roasting
he would " eat up the fire and leave the beef." This
taste was even stranger than that of the " stone-eater"
mentioned at Avignon. His keepers professed to have
discovered him on a desert island, where he was
subsisting wholly upon " large flints and such marbles
and stones as he could make into a paste, which was
to him a most surporting and wholesome food." When
brought to France he was induced to eat sparingly of
raw meat, but refused bread and vegetables. Possessors
of appetites like these might at least rely on being
able to feed themselves cheaply, the stone-eater
boarding himself more economically than the votary
of tobacco —
" Who hath his roast-meat in a box,
And on a pipe can dine."
As a rule, an appetite and the means of gratifying it
are too often separated. An old Scotch nurse was wont
to repeat the following lines as grace before meat : —
" Some have meat,
But cannot eat ;
And some can eat,
But have no meat ;
But we have meat,
And we can eat.
And so the Lord be thankit."
Many prescriptions have been given for accommo-
dating appetite and supply from Franklin's famous
32 PRACTICAL GASTRONOMY
mess of gruel, with bread crumbled in it (which pro-
fessed to be, like Sam Weller's crumpets, so " filling at
the price "), down to the " cheap living " recipe of an
American, who advised his readers to " first eat two
cents' worth of dried apples ; afterwards drink a quart
of water to swell the apples."
The Tongue and the Sense of Taste.
The tongue is not the only organ used in the enjoy-
ment of the sense of taste, and alone it is scarcely
capable of appreciating delicate flavours.
The difference between salt and sugar when placed
on the tongue is hardly perceptible, provided the tongue
is not allowed to touch the roof of the mouth and the
lips. Indeed, the act of the getting the full enjoyment
of a flavour, commonly called smacking the lips, consists
in bringing the tongue into contact with the roof of the
mouth and the lips. By this act the substance to be
tasted is spread over the surfaces of these parts, par-
ticularly of the tongue, and mixed with the saUva.
How this act produces taste is not exactly known ;
but we do know that the tongue is covered with two
THE ART OF COOKERY 33
layers of skin — the lower one thick and filled with nerves,
and the upper one thin and porous. The nerves in the
lower skin are the nerves of taste, and probably are set
into vibration by the substance tasted, very much as the
exquisitely sensitive nerves of the ear by sound. At all
events the sense is conveyed to the brain, where we
involuntarily distinguish between pleasant and disagree-
able tastes.
The nerves, moreover, of the tongue are not all
alike. In the tip of the tongue they are clustered to-
gether more closely than at the back, and transfer to
the brain a different sensation. For instance, a little
powdered alum placed on the back of the tongue tastes
sweet, whereas on the tip it tastes acid.
The sense of taste is an almost certain guide to the
wholesomeness of foods, and a monitor which warns us
when we are in danger of swallowing any injurious or
poisonous substance.
Poisons, as a rule, are extremely disagreeable to the
taste, and it requires an effort to overcome the natural
repugnance to them. Hence it is that accidental
poisoning so rarely occurs.
Page 12
Presented as published in 1892. 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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he came into a kitchen where a sirloin was roasting
he would " eat up the fire and leave the beef." This
taste was even stranger than that of the " stone-eater"
mentioned at Avignon. His keepers professed to have
discovered him on a desert island, where he was
subsisting wholly upon " large flints and such marbles
and stones as he could make into a paste, which was
to him a most surporting and wholesome food." When
brought to France he was induced to eat sparingly of
raw meat, but refused bread and vegetables. Possessors
of appetites like these might at least rely on being
able to feed themselves cheaply, the stone-eater
boarding himself more economically than the votary
of tobacco —
" Who hath his roast-meat in a box,
And on a pipe can dine."
As a rule, an appetite and the means of gratifying it
are too often separated. An old Scotch nurse was wont
to repeat the following lines as grace before meat : —
" Some have meat,
But cannot eat ;
And some can eat,
But have no meat ;
But we have meat,
And we can eat.
And so the Lord be thankit."
Many prescriptions have been given for accommo-
dating appetite and supply from Franklin's famous
32 PRACTICAL GASTRONOMY
mess of gruel, with bread crumbled in it (which pro-
fessed to be, like Sam Weller's crumpets, so " filling at
the price "), down to the " cheap living " recipe of an
American, who advised his readers to " first eat two
cents' worth of dried apples ; afterwards drink a quart
of water to swell the apples."
The Tongue and the Sense of Taste.
The tongue is not the only organ used in the enjoy-
ment of the sense of taste, and alone it is scarcely
capable of appreciating delicate flavours.
The difference between salt and sugar when placed
on the tongue is hardly perceptible, provided the tongue
is not allowed to touch the roof of the mouth and the
lips. Indeed, the act of the getting the full enjoyment
of a flavour, commonly called smacking the lips, consists
in bringing the tongue into contact with the roof of the
mouth and the lips. By this act the substance to be
tasted is spread over the surfaces of these parts, par-
ticularly of the tongue, and mixed with the saUva.
How this act produces taste is not exactly known ;
but we do know that the tongue is covered with two
THE ART OF COOKERY 33
layers of skin — the lower one thick and filled with nerves,
and the upper one thin and porous. The nerves in the
lower skin are the nerves of taste, and probably are set
into vibration by the substance tasted, very much as the
exquisitely sensitive nerves of the ear by sound. At all
events the sense is conveyed to the brain, where we
involuntarily distinguish between pleasant and disagree-
able tastes.
The nerves, moreover, of the tongue are not all
alike. In the tip of the tongue they are clustered to-
gether more closely than at the back, and transfer to
the brain a different sensation. For instance, a little
powdered alum placed on the back of the tongue tastes
sweet, whereas on the tip it tastes acid.
The sense of taste is an almost certain guide to the
wholesomeness of foods, and a monitor which warns us
when we are in danger of swallowing any injurious or
poisonous substance.
Poisons, as a rule, are extremely disagreeable to the
taste, and it requires an effort to overcome the natural
repugnance to them. Hence it is that accidental
poisoning so rarely occurs.