Now in progress,
Soyer’s Plain Cookery for the People,
CONTAINING NUMEROUS RECIPES,
Adapted for the Cottage of the Labourer, the Home of the Artisan, and
the Chamber of the Invalid.
NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.
In the year 1846 I published a work on Cookery, entitled “The Gastronomic Regenerator,” which was very successful. At page 650 I observed that if any author were to write a work on the History of Food and Cookery, it would not only be very interesting, but also an extremely useful production. No one, however, having entertained my suggestion, I determined to undertake the task, and, after several years of deep study and perseverance, have completed this voluminous work.
In the “Modern Housewife,” which I published in 1849, treating of sauces prepared by the ancients, I said, that “In all ages and countries removed from barbarism, where fish has formed an article of diet, sauces of various kinds have been an accompaniment. With the Romans, in the time of Lucullus, great care was observed in their preparation; the most celebrated of those which they used were the Garum and the Muria.
“The Garum was a sauce which the Romans used in nearly all their dishes; the preference was given to that which came from Antipolis and from Dalmatia. Horace praises that made at Byzantium, being the most esteemed and the most expensive: its composition is unknown.”[I] The epicures of the present day should offer a premium for that which, in their opinion, may bear the greatest resemblance to this ancient relish. It is a subject well worthy the attention of the professors of our universities; perhaps some leaf yet undiscovered, that may have escaped the conflagration of Alexandria, might throw some light upon so interesting a subject.
A. SOYER.
42 Trinity Square, Tower Hill.