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Show ENGLISH AND FRENCH COOKERY. Says London Queen: "It certainly will not be owing to any dearth of literature upon the subject of cookery and the benefits to be derived from domestic economy if in due time a few ordinary instincts be not developed in the minds of some of the youth of the period. Every month, every week, we hear of fresh courses of lectures being started, new books being written, and fresh pamphlets being published on these subjects; but, notwithstanding all this scientific and practical teaching, we somehow fail to produce cooks who can succeed in making dainties out of nothing as it were, and in serving up tempting repast at an hour or even half an hour's notice, as do our French neighbors; and yet, as far as I have been able to discover, across the Channel they require no such amount of lecturing and teaching as we do, and nevertheless turn out first-rate artistes, both in private and public life. <br><br> Some correspondence has, of late, been going on in our daily papers upon the relative merits of French and English cooking, and it must be confessed that the former, with far inferior means at command, very much surpass us in their culinary productions, especially those of a simple and economical style. I will not deny that some English women can cook; and cook remarkably well too; but almost all French women, even women in obscure country villages, are capable of setting a dinner on table prepared in such a way as to be fit for "any nobleman's table." <br><br> Now, if we look somewhat into the inner life of the people, it will be seen that this difference can hardly be wondered at. In the middle classes especially they live less for effect and show, and more with a view of producing the maximum amount of comfort with the minimum amount of expense. Then they are so much more free from prejudices with regard to what they eat and drink than we are. They are ready for any emergency, and can turn everything whether great or small to account. "All is fish that comes to their net." Jays and magpies, hedgehogs and frogs, snails and sea fowls, all at a pinch may be turned to some use. <br><br> And it must be owned that though they do not live so expensively, so extravagantly as do our middle classes, they certainly seem to get more comfort and pleasure out of what they do spend on eating and drinking. Now this is, doubtless, because they bring their minds to bear upon the subject, and are brought from their earliest days to consider dinner as a matter of some moment -- not one to be trifled with and negligently prepared. <br><br> What Frenchwoman, in however low a position, would think of setting before her husband a burned up broiled piece of tough steak, with badly-boiled potatoes, as his midday repast? Would she not probably rather stew it with fresh herbs and well trimmed vegetables, gathered from the garden or the field; or, if living in the town, would she not go and buy at the market or at a neighboring shop, for a few sous, just what she fancies would make her savory mess tasty and palatable? By gently simmering -- happily, fuel is more expensive in France, consequently not so wastefully used -- a tough junk of beef (French meat is, as a rule, not to be compared to English) would be metamorphosed into a delicious and wholesome morsel and would be served with dainty vegetables and suitable accompaniments. <br><br> But here again, with our insular prejudices, we are at a disadvantage. In England vegetables are very dear, and so, doubtless, are some in France, but the French cook knows what she is about, and uses many a vegetable which we consider only fit to be burned as a weed. Fungi of all descriptions are used abroad, and make no indifferent accompaniment to meat when real mushrooms are unattainable. Sorrel, rarely seen at an English table, is gathered from the field and prepared in a most delightful manner, not to speak of many other vegetables utterly unknown to us, with which the thrifty housewife enhances the flavor of her succulent viands, or which she converts into refreshing salads and wholesome green meat. <br><br> "Viator's" experience, as described to the Times, concerning dinners to be obtained at riverside inns in France for 3 francs or 3 ½ francs per head, will doubtless at this time of year call forth many a pleasant recollection of cheap dinners in out-of-the-way places in foreign parts, for France is not the only country where good and inexpensive food can be obtained. <br><br> Turning to Italian cookery, what, in a simple way, can be more delicious and economical than macaroni or rice (risotto) dressed to a turn, as only Italians know how to do it, with the exquisite flavoring of tomatoes and the sprinkling of sound Parmesan cheese? Such dishes can be procured well cooked, for the small sum of from ½ franc to 1 franc for each person at most restaurants anywhere in Italy, and for my part I can wish for nothing better or more nourishing with which to make a first rate luncheon than a good plateful of macaroni or a heaped-up dish of risotto. <br><br> And why cannot the same sort of thing be produced in England? Macaroni is cheap enough; rice is still cheaper; tomatoes and cheese are not unattainable. It is true that the tomato in its pristine beauty is not to be procured so easily in England; but tinned and "conserved" it is almost as good as in its original state, and cheap enough for any but the very poor. And, even without the tomato, few who have not traveled in Italy know how tasty macaroni or rice may be made. They can be served in a variety of ways and tossed in judiciously-flavored gravy, either brown or white, always seasoned with cheese; and in that southern clime, from some inscrutable reason, present a very different aspect from the compounds which are sent up to table in England under the grandiose names of macaroni a l'Italienne or risotto a la Milanaise. |