"The circumstances under which this precious book was found seem to suggest a culinary poem on the model of the 'Ring and the Book,"' said Mrs. Sinclair, "or we might deal with the story in practical shape by letting every one of us prepare the same dish. I fancy the individual renderings of the same recipe would vary quite as widely as the versions of the unsavoury story set forth in Mr. Browning's little poem."
"I think we had better have a supplementary day for a trial of the sort Mrs. Sinclair suggests," said Miss Macdonnell. "I speak with the memory of a preparation of liver I tasted yesterday in the kitchen—one of the dishes which did not appear at dinner."
"That is rather hard on the Colonel," said Van der Roet; "he did his best, and now, see how hard he is trying to look as if he didn't know what you are alluding to!"
"I never in all my life—" the Colonel began; but the Marchesa, fearing a storm, interfered. "I have a lot more to tell you about my little Neapolitan book," she went on, "and I will begin by saying that, for the future, we cannot do better than make free use of it. The author opens with an announcement that he means to give exact quantities for every dish, and then, like a true Neapolitan, lets quantities go entirely, and adopts the rule-of-thumb system. And I must say I always find the question of quantities a difficult one. Some books give exact measures, each dish being reckoned enough for four persons, with instructions to increase the measures in proportion to the additional number of diners but here a rigid rule is impossible, for a dish which is to serve by itself, as a supper or a lunch, must necessarily be bigger than one which merely fills one place in a dinner menu. Quantities can be given approximately in many cases, but flavouring must always be a question of individual taste. Latitude must be allowed, for all cooks who can turn out distinguished work will be found to be endowed with imagination, and these, being artists, will never consent to follow a rigid rule of quantity. To put it briefly, cooks who need to be told everything, will never cook properly, even if they be told more than everything. And after all, no one takes seriously the quantities given by the chef of a millionaire or a prince; witness the cook of the Prince de Soubise, who demanded fifty hams for the sauces and garnitures of a single supper, and when the Prince protested that there could not possibly be found space for them all on the table, offered to put them all into a glass bottle no bigger than his thumb. Some of Francatelli's quantities are also prodigious, as, for instance, when to make a simple glaze he calls for three pounds of gravy beef, the best part of a ham, a knuckle of veal, an old hen, and two partridges."
Menu—Lunch
Maccheroni al sugillo. Macaroni with sausage and tomatoes.
Manzo in insalata. Beef, pressed and marinated.
Lingue di vitello all'Italiana. Calves' tongues.
Menu—Dinner.
Zuppa alla Modanese. Modenese soup.
Merluzzo in salamoia. Cod with sauce piquante.
Pollastro in istufa di pomidoro. Stewed chicken with tomatoes.
Porcelletto farcito alla Corradino. Stuffed suckling pig.
Insalata alla Navarino. Navarino salad.
Bodino di semolino. Semolina pudding.
Frittura di cocozze. Fried cucumber.
The Fifth Day
The following day was very warm, and some half-dozen of the party wandered into the garden after lunch and took their coffee under a big chestnut tree on the lawn. "And this is the 16th of June," said Lady Considine. "Last year, on this very day, I started for Hombourg. I can't say I feel like starting for Hombourg, or any other place, just at present."
"But why should any one of us want to go to Hombourg?" said Sir John. "Nobody can be afraid of gout with the admirable diet we enjoy here."