ON THE IMPUTED ILL EFFECTS OF COOKERY ON THE HEALTH. "Sir, the waste of life must be repaired by the indulgences of the MANY persons, but particularly Medical Practitioners have, from time immemorial, been the declared enemies of Cooks and Cookery. The determination of the latter to keep mankind under their despotic dominion, has engaged them in a perpetual warfare against whatever might oppose their peculiar interests. But I will dare to affirm that good Cookery, so far from possessing any deleterious tendency, is, on the contrary, highly conducive to the preservation of health, inasmuch as it protects the appetite against the disadvantageous monotony of plain food. I will not, however, pretend to deny, that, like everything else, it should be used with discretion; but on what enjoyment, or even ordinary function of life, I would ask, is not discretion an indispensable attendant? The mischief then lies only in the abuse. A skilful and well-directed Cookery abounds in chemical preparations, highly salutary to weak stomachs. There exists a salubrity of aliment suited to every age. Infancy, youth, maturity, and old age-each has its peculiarly adapted food, and that not merely applicable to digestive powers in full vigour, but to stomachs feebly organized by nature, or to those debilitated by excess. I am greatly concerned at being obliged to combat a still more powerful, though amiable enemy to Cookery. The Ladies of England are unfavourably disposed to wards our art; yet I find no difficulty in assigning the cause of it. It is particularly the case with them (and indeed it is so in some measure with our own sex) that they are not introduced to their parents' table till their palates have been completely benumbed by the strict diet observed in the nursery and boarding-schools. Here, then, are two antagonists to cookery—the Ladies and the Doctors, whose empire is as extensive as the universe, and who divide the world between them. However, in spite of the envious, the Ladies will still wield the sceptre of pleasure; while the dispensations of the Doctors will be sought for by us only when under the influence of pain. Nature affords a simple remedy against the abuse of good cheer-ABSTINENCE. If you have eaten too much, doubtless you will feel inconvenienced. In that case, have immediate recourse to some weak tea *, which will speedily liberate your stomach from the superfluities which encumber and oppress it, without leaving those intestinal pains which are rather the result of the medicine than the effect of the disorder. Numbers of persons attribute the gout to the frequent use of dishes dressed in the French way. Many years' experience and observation have proved to me, that this disorder has not its origin in good cheer, but in excesses of other kinds. Have we not seen, in years past, numberless individuals who have lived entirely on French Cookery, to very advanced ages, without being afflicted with that disorder? and do we not see daily, that the greater number of those who suffer the acute agonies of it, derive it from their predecessors, rather than from their own habits of life? A * Galen and Hippocrates said, that they left behind them two still greater Doctors than themselves-WATER and ABSTINENCE. copious and sustained exercise is the surest preventive. It is true the gout more frequently attacks the wealthy than the indigent: hence it has been attributed to their way of living; but this is an error. It is exercise only which they need; not an airing on horseback, or in a carriage, but that bodily activity which, occasioning fatigue, would enable them to enjoy the sweets of repose. I do not attempt then, as empirics do, to prescribe ineffectually a remedy to cure the gout; but I have this advantage over them, that I can afford a positive preventive against it, and thus prevent many a sufferer from falling under their dominion. If the Art of Cookery had been held in a little more estimation, there can be no doubt but that among its professors many might have been found of sufficient information, and sufficiently devoted to the interests of the human race, to give prescriptions in Cookery, as Doctors give them in medicine. We have this advantage, however, over them, that our compositions are always agreeable to the palate, while theirs are horribly disgusting. I could therefore recommend a skilfully dressed dish, as in all respects more salubrious than simple fare. I do not mean to deny that a plainly roasted joint, well done, is food of easy digestion; but I peremptorily proscribe all salted and underdone provisions. Pork, in whatever way it may be dressed, is always unwholesome; yet if dressed in the French fashion, the stimulant of a sauce makes it aperient, and it of course is less indigestive than when dressed plainly. Our manner of dressing vegetables is more various and extensive than in England, a circumstance which embraces the double advantage of flattering the palate and being of easier digestion. I would recommend as a certain preventive against disorder, great bodily exercise-as hunting, billiards, tennis, shuttlecock, fencing, &c., for gentlemen; and for ladies, dancing, and such lively exercises as are suited to their sex: walking also, but not the grave and deliberate movements of a magistrate, but an active and accelerated pace, such as may occasion fatigue. Thus you may find health and appetite, which afford the pleasure of self-government, by keeping you from the power of Doctors and Doctors' stuff. One more remark, and that on the disproportion of talent which exists among Cooks. A person who has never tasted made dishes, sits down for the first time, perhaps, to indifferently dressed ones: hence arises, at first setting out, an impression, which the Author confesses it is hardly possible to overcome. He himself infinitely prefers a plain dish to a made dish that is badly seasoned, badly trimmed, and, above all, dressed in an uncleanly manner, and served up with a disagreeable appearance. But the wealthy are able to vanquish these disadvantages, by engaging in their service persons properly qualified to be placed in the rank of ARTIsts. I would, in conclusion, endeavour to persuade my readers that Cookery, well executed, is both nutritive and easy of digestion; and that, in spite of the custom ef many medical practitioners who decry the use of it, I cannot cite a better instance of its good effects than myself, who have always lived on good, indeed on the best of cookery, and who, although upwards of sixty years of age, am still in good health, and possess an excellent appetite; but the causes of the continuance of these two great blessings are, undoubtedly, my constant activity, and the exercises which I take, without which I should enjoy neither. ON CARVING. "Consider, Sir, the great utility of the decorums of life. Cease to disparage them; and let me no longer hear your sneers against the art of carving. You should praise, not ridicule your friend, who carves with as much earnestness of purpose as though he were legislating. Whatever is to be done at all, should always be well done."-Dr. Johnson's Table Talk. THE Art of Carving is, in two respects, too nearly allied to the interests of a family to be neglected; first, that by cutting the meat in its proper place, it is more tender and palatable; and secondly, that when the joint is judiciously carved, there will remain enough of it to be again presented at table. On the other hand, a joint badly carved is utterly spoiled: for instance in the case of roast beef, if you do not like the outside, cut off the brown part on one side, and afterwards carve what you want; by proceeding in this manner, the joint will have a good appearance so long as it remains at table, and when put in the larder, the meat will retain the gravy, but if you attack the joint in the middle, as some persons do, the gravy will run out on both sides, and the meat become dry and good for nothing, and the joint consequently shrink and be no more presentable. I have heard many gentlemen complain that they could not have cold meat when they wanted. The main cause of this deficiency is the bad mode of carving; for, in large families, where many joints are served often, not one is presentable.-As the servants like to adopt the fashions of their masters, they carve their meat exactly like them, and, exactly like their masters, spoil every joint. The unfortunate cook has all the blame of this; whereas, were he to roast all the produce of Smithfield |