RESTAURANTS, CAKES, AND PLUM PUDDING.
As a rule, British inns and restaurants serve food as badly cooked as it is in American "hash houses," if not more so. I have had experiences with meat pies and sausages, with several kinds of pastry and with tasteless vegetables that quite recalled the Arizona days before Fred Harvey came from England—as related in the first chapter of this book—to civilize our Southwest.
Adulteration of foods is largely practised, and many of them are denatured by the use of chemical preservatives, although in these respects there has been considerable improvement since the "Lancet" exposed "the appalling state of the food supply" and fearlessly gave the names and addresses of hundreds of manufacturers and tradesmen who sold adulterated articles.
It was hoped that with the introduction of motoring there would come a revival of the good old coaching inns; but nothing of the sort has happened. According to the gastronomic editor of the "Pall Mall Gazette" what the touring motorist gets is "probably an American preserved soup which tastes like boiled blankets, a few sardines, stale and too long opened, a joint which has either been overcooked or under-done, a sodden pancake with no suggestion of the real thing, and a piece of cheese which is obviously non-British. And for this he is charged at least five shillings.... On the Continent one can get an excellently cooked and served meal for half the price."
While the English are thus their own severest critics, they do not hesitate, when brought to bay, to present the other side of the shield. In commenting on the Exhibition of the Cookery and Food Association in 1912, the London "Telegraph" called attention to the fact that "typical dishes are served to perfection every day on innumerable English tables"; and the writer just quoted, referring to the fact that France, Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Switzerland had sent over experts to show how things are done in their countries, goes on to say that "it might humbly be suggested that our own cooks might show the foreigners something. Few cooks, other than English, can cook whitebait satisfactorily; the same applies to Irish stew, steak, and kidney pudding with larks and oysters, to liver and bacon, to tripe and onions (no, not tripe à la mode de Caen), to a really good devil, and above all, to curry, wet or dry.... It is really about time that the British cook asserted himself."
A German lexicographer calls attention to the fact that the United Kingdom has contributed at least half a dozen words to the international dining-room language: Beefsteak, roast beef, Irish stew, mock-turtle soup, pudding, and toast. He might have added marmalade and cakes. A firm in Germany once offered a thousand marks for a good Teutonic equivalent for "cakes"; with what success I do not know.
It is not strange that Continental manufacturers are so much interested in these British cakes and biscuits. They are favorites the world over because of their crispness and good Flavor, and the exports of them amount to about £1,400,000 a year.
Seven million dollars! Is there a better guide to wealth than gastronomy, the art of preparing and serving appetizing food?
Plum pudding is another profitable product of British manufacturing skill.
Though it has been traced to a Teutonic origin (Pflaumen-grütze) it is now characteristically Anglican, and the plum (Pflaume) has disappeared. In that monumental compendium of English philological erudition, Murray's "New English Dictionary," we read as one of the definitions of Plum: "a dried grape or raisin as used for puddings, cakes, etc.," and the editor adds: "This use probably arose from the substitution of raisins for dried plums or prunes as an ingredient in plum-broth,—porridge, etc., with retention of the name plum for the substituted article."
Considering the national liking for this pudding it is not surprising that the word plum for this favorite was retained, for "plum" also stands for tit-bit, or a good thing in general. As long ago as 1660 devotion to this dish was amusingly illustrated by these words in a mock sermon: "But there is your Christmas pye and that hath plums in abundance.... He that discovered the new Star in Cassiopeia ... deserves not half so much to be remembered, as he that first married minced meat and raisins together."
Until a few years ago the English housewife always boiled her own plum pudding. To-day she can buy it if she desires. It is made by machinery; hundreds of thousands of pounds are shipped to other countries annually; and it is claimed that this kind is as a rule superior in Flavor and digestibility to the home-made. It was during the Boer war that the export business received its first great impulse, thousands of pounds being sent to the soldiers in Africa to give them a taste of the Christmas dinner at home; and now the pudding is made in such large quantities that the United States Government has begun to take cognizance of it in official reports. In the "Consular and Trade Reports" (1911) Commercial Agent, John M. Carson, had a two-page communication from which I cite the following:
The extent and magnitude of the trade may be inferred from figures furnished by one of the several large manufacturers. In order to be prepared to meet the demand for their product, manufacturers begin active operations as soon as the new crops of raisins, currants, and other required fruits appear in September. All the constituents of plum pudding, which do not include plums, are prepared and manipulated by elaborate and expensive machinery. Currants are washed and stems removed, raisins are stoned, nuts are shelled and ground, oranges and lemons are peeled, the peel candied and cut up, eggs are beaten, and all other ingredients prepared by machinery. The manufacturing firm alluded to, in order to supply their trade this season, used the materials and quantities given below.
Pounds. Currants 145,800 Sugar 101,250 Peel 72,360 Suet 72,360 Bread crumbs 72,360 Flour 54,000 Raisins 48,330 Sultanas 48,330 China ginger 3,510 Spices 1,440 Almonds 400 Milk, gallons 948 Rum, gallons 948 Exclusive of milk and rum, the ingredients above enumerated aggregate 620,140 pounds used by a single manufacturer in supplying plum pudding to meet the demands of the Christmas season of 1910, the number of puddings furnished aggregating 250,000. There are three or four other London manufacturers each of whose output perhaps equaled that described, and there are a large number of smaller establishments in which plum pudding was supplied for home and foreign consumption.
The pudding is put up in packages weighing one to five pounds each and securely packed to insure preservation and safe transportation. Properly prepared and packed the plum pudding of England, with ordinary care on the part of the housewife, will retain its virtues for a year or more.
| Pounds. | |
| Currants | 145,800 |
| Sugar | 101,250 |
| Peel | 72,360 |
| Suet | 72,360 |
| Bread crumbs | 72,360 |
| Flour | 54,000 |
| Raisins | 48,330 |
| Sultanas | 48,330 |
| China ginger | 3,510 |
| Spices | 1,440 |
| Almonds | 400 |
| Milk, gallons | 948 |
| Rum, gallons | 948 |
Plum pudding has the evil repute of being indigestible. An English friend informs me that while it certainly is so if boiled only three hours, as is usually done, it becomes as digestible as good bread if boiled seven hours. It is then compact and yet brittle.
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
Still another profitable branch of the art of preparing appetizing food is that of the cheesemaker. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the English makers of Cheddar cheese have been flattered as few mortals have; for in the United States, as well as in Canada and Australia, most of the cheese made is of the Cheddar type. There would thus be no cause for exporting Cheddar, even if England had any to spare; nor is much of the Cheshire sent abroad, its fragile nature making it unsuitable for exportation, which is to be regretted, because in the opinion of Dr. Voelker, shared by many epicures, Cheshire is the finest flavored of British cheeses. It is made from milk which is perfectly sweet, and to this its special aroma has been attributed. For the third of the three best-known varieties of British cheeses—Stilton—there is a considerable demand for the tables of foreign epicures, as it exports well.
Stilton is a blue-molded cheese, which is manufactured of unskimmed milk in a way similar to the methods of making the French Roquefort and the Italian Gorgonzola. Like those, it owes its piquant Flavor to the mold, which is artificially spread throughout the cheese in diverse ways.[18]
Every American tourist who visits London goes to take a meal at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, made famous by Dr. Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith, and for three centuries the haunt of literary men, including Dickens and Thackeray. Toasted cheese—cheese bubbling in tiny tins and tasting like Welsh rarebit—was the original specialty of this place and is still served unless you prefer a wedge of uncooked Cheshire. But what ultimately made this place renowned throughout the world was its lark pudding.
Fortunately it is lark no more but pigeon pudding; at least, so it was frankly called when I ate it in September, 1912. What else it is compounded of no one knows but the proprietor and the cook, who guard the secret carefully. Kidney and steak and oysters are hinted at, and diverse strong spices are certainly in it.
HAUNCH OF VENISON, 3/6. This day at 6 o'clock.
Friday, 13th September, 1912.
BILL OF FARE.
| Ready from 12 noon TO 9.30 p.m. | s. | d. |
| SIMPSON'S FISH DINNER, consisting of three kinds of Fish | 3 | 9 |
| Dinner from the Joint | 2 | 6 |
| Dinner from one Special Dish | 2 | 6 |
| Dinner from one Special Dish, with Joint to follow | 3 | 0 |
| Dinner from two Special Dishes | 3 | 6 |
The above prices include Vegetables, Cheese[†], Bread and Butter, and Salad.
Joints, 2/6
Served Freshly Cooked at the following hours.
| FROM 12.0 TO 9.30 |  | |
| Saddle of Mutton | ||
| Roast Sirloin of Beef | ||
| 1.0 | | Saddle of Mutton. Roast Sirloin Beef |
| Boiled Beef | ||
| Forequarter Lamb | ||
| Roast Loin of Pork | ||
| 5.30 | Boiled Beef | |
| Roast Sirloin of Beef. Saddle of Mutton | ||
| 6.0 | Saddle of Mutton | |
| Roast Sirloin of Beef | ||
| Forequarter Lamb | ||
| 7.30 | Saddle of Mutton | |
| 6.0 | Haunch of Venison, 3/6 |
The above prices include Vegetables, Cheese[†], Bread and Butter, and Salad.
Soups.
| s. | d. | |
| Turtle, clear or thick | 3 | 0 |
| Green Pea | 1 | 6 |
| Scotch Hotch-Potch | 1 | 0 |
| Ox Tail, clear or thick | 1 | 0 |
| Thick Mock Turtle | 1 | 0 |
| Clear Mock Turtle | 1 | 6 |
| Julienne | 1 | 0 |
| Macaroni | 1 | 0 |
| Gravy | 1 | 0 |
| Vermicelli | 1 | 0 |
| Tomato | 1 | 0 |
NOTE.—If served with Joint or Special Dish to follow, 6d. LESS WILL BE CHARGED FOR EACH OF THE ABOVE.
Fish.
| s. | d. | |
| Boiled Salmon and Lobster Sauce | 2 | 6 |
| Boiled Turbot and Lobster Sauce | 2 | 0 |
| Curried Turbot | 2 | 0 |
| Fried Turbot | 2 | 0 |
| Sole Souchet | 2 | 0 |
| Salmon Cutlets and Piquant or Indian Sauce | 2 | 0 |
| Curried Prawns | 1 | 6 |
| Fresh Herrings and Mustard Sauce | 1 | 6 |
Freshly Cooked Salmon and Turbot (the whole fish) served daily from 12 noon to 9.30 p.m.
| s. | d. | |
| Fish Pie | 1 | 0 |
| Fish Balls or Cakes | 1 | 0 |
| Fried Whiting | 1 | 0 |
| Whitebait | 1 | 6 |
| Stewed Eels, Port Wine or Parsley and Butter Sauce | 1 | 6 |
| Fillet of Sole, Fried or Boiled | 2 | 0 |
| Sole, Fried, Grilled or Boiled | 2 | 0 |
NOTE.—If served with Joint or Special Dish to follow, 6d. LESS WILL BE CHARGED FOR EACH OF THE ABOVE.
| s. | d. | |
| Plain Lobster | 2 | 6 |
| Lobster Mayonnaise | 3 | 6 |
| Lobster Salad | 3 | 0 |
| Salmon Mayonnaise | 2 | 6 |
WHITSTABLE NATIVE OYSTERS, 3/-per dozen.
Special Dishes, 2/6.
HAM AND PEAS. HASHED VENISON.
STEWED NECK OF LAMB AND PEAS.
| Curried Chicken | Chicken Marengo | Haricot Mutton |
| Fricassé Chicken | Stewed Pigeon | Curried Fillets of Mutton |
Stewed Rump Steak Stewed Kidneys
The above prices include Vegetables, Cheese[†], Bread and Butter, and Salad.
FROM THE GRILL (15 to 30 minutes.)
| s. | d. | |
| Mutton Cutlets, Tomato or Piquant Sauce | 2 | 6 |
| Rump Steak | 2 | 6 |
| Grilled Fowl and Mushroom Sauce | 3 | 0 |
| Porterhouse Steak | 4 | 6 |
| Porterhouse Steak for two | 7 | 6 |
| Mixed Grill—Chop, Kidney and Sausage | 2 | 6 |
The above prices include Vegetables, Cheese[†], Bread and Butter, and Salad.
| 10 mins. | | Chump Chop | 1 | 6 |
| Loin Chop | 1 | 3 | ||
| Two Kidneys | 1 | 3 | ||
| Lamb Chops | 2 | 6 |
PARTRIDGES 5/- each. GROUSE 5/- each.
Vegetables.
NEW PEAS, 6d. per portion.
Beetroot. 3d. Tomato, Plain, 3d. Tomato, Grilled, 4d.
Cucumber, 3d.
Sweets.
| Tapioca Pudding | 6d. |
| Mixture of Fruit | 6d. |
| Orange Fritters | 6d. |
| Apple Fritters | 6d. |
| Madeira Jelly | 6d. |
| Damson Pie | 6d. |
| Prunes and Rice | 6d. |
| Apple Pie | 6d. |
| College Pudding | 6d. |
| Sweet Omelette | 1/- |
| Lemon Pudding | 6d. |
| St. Clair Pudding | 6d. |
| Rum Omelette | 1/6 |
Ices.
| Strawberry Cream | 9d. |
| Pineapple Water | 9d. |
Sundries.
| Anchovy Toast, Fish or Paste | 9d. |
| Macaroni with Cheese | 6d. |
| Macaroni with Tomatoes | 6d. |
| Welsh Rarebit | 6d. |
| Buck Rarebit | 9d. |
| Scotch Woodcock | 1/3 |
| Anchovies, Plain | 6d. |
| Poached Eggs on Toast | 9d. |
| Sardines on Toast | 9d. |
| Bloaters Roes on Toast | 9d. |
| Stewed Cheese | 6d. |
| Red Currant Jelly | 3d. |
| Olives | 6d. |
Tea and Coffee.
| Tea, per cup, | 6d. |
| Tea, per pot, | 1/- |
| Coffee, small cup, 4d., large, | 6d. |
| Cream, | 3d. |
Dessert.
| PEARS, | 6d. each. |
| Almonds and Raisins, | 9d. |
| APPLES, | 3d. each. |
Attendance, 3d each person charged in the Bill.
FINE OLD TAWNY PORT. 8d. per Glass.
BASS & CO'S PALE ALE on Draught.
WHITSTABLE NATIVE OYSTERS. 3/-per dozen.
[†] THE CHEDDAR AND CHESHIRE CHEESES SERVED HERE OBTAINED FIRST PRIZE AT THE DAIRY SHOW 1911.
We entered the kitchen, but did not see the immense bowl that holds enough for sixty or seventy people, according to the booklet of ninety-two pages which tells the story of this eating place. Nor did we test the assertion that you can have two, three, or four helpings of the "pie" if you chose.
To tell the plain truth, one was quite enough and more. Never in all my wanderings—not even in Spanish countries where cayenne pepper is the staff of life—had I put into my mouth a mess so peppered and otherwise overseasoned as this same fiery pigeon pie. And the taste lingered for hours, giving me time to call back to memory all that I had read about the condimental atrocities of the Middle Ages, when the porpoise, the whale, the seawolf made favorite dishes; when potatoes were seasoned with nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, lemon, sugar, and rosewater; and meats were maltreated even more barbarously.
Quite as English as the Cheshire Cheese, and more up to date, is another London restaurant which all Americans visit—Simpson's, where joints are wheeled to you on little tables and you choose the particular cut you want. A glance at the bill of fare herewith reproduced will interest those who have never had a chance to compare English with American menus.
Colonel Newnham-Davis accomplished the task of writing a book of three hundred and seventy-six pages on the restaurants of London entitled "Dinners and Diners." It is not so interesting or so useful a book as his "Gourmet's Guide to Europe," yet it succeeds in a gossipy way in giving the atmosphere of these places. The best of them are in most respects frankly Parisian in cuisine and menu. The epicurean Colonel found four dozen among them with sufficient individuality to claim separate chapters. Since the second edition of this book appeared (1910), some of the old houses have disappeared and many new ones of the highest class have been opened. At all of them you can get, besides French dishes, such British specialties as turtle, ox-tail, and mulligatawny soups, venison, rabbit, or veal and ham pies, and, with your fish and meats—hot or cold—all the fiery gherkins, chow-chow, and diverse pungent sauces and catsups you may desire.
While these sharp condiments are for the most part special products of British ingenuity which cannot be duplicated elsewhere, it is likely that they will be less in demand in the future than they are now. They were invented to go with cold meats chiefly, and to give zest and varied Flavor to the monotonously recurring joints. But this monotony is disappearing; the number of national dishes is multiplying rapidly; and, altogether, "there is now," as a London journal has remarked, "a cult of cookery in England such as has never been before."
[XI]
GASTRONOMIC AMERICA
In the preceding pages I have neglected no chance to expose our shortcomings, not with any muck-raking intentions but in order to show in how many ways we could profit by following the example set by European nations.
It is now time to raise our flag and do a little patriotic boasting. There is a gastronomic America as well as an ungastronomic America; we have unequaled opportunities for producing the best of nearly everything, and if we utilize those opportunities, recognizing the all-importance of Flavor in food, in its various stages from the field to the grill and the table, we can easily become, within a few decades, a leading—perhaps even the leading—gastronomic nation.
In the present chapter and the following one I purpose to dwell on some of the delicacies for the enjoyment of which at their best Europeans must come to America.