The Cook’s Catechism.
| Browning | A preparation of white sugar, browned over the fire, and then diluted to the consistency of soy, for the purpose of colouring soups, gravies, &c. |
| Bechamel | A simple white gravy or sauce |
| To Braize | To stew over a slow fire |
| Consommé | A rich soup or gravy consumed over the fire to the consistency of a jelly, to be diluted and converted, when wanted, into soup |
| Cullis | A rich brown gravy, made in various ways, according to the purpose for which it is intended |
| Entrés | Dishes for a first course |
| Entremets | Dishes for a second course |
| Esculents or Edibles | Animal or Vegetable food—any article that may be eaten |
| Fricandeau | A sort of Scotch collops |
| Fricassee | Fowls, rabbits, or other things cut to pieces and dressed with a strong white sauce |
| Garnishes | Articles laid round a dish by way of ornament, and generally, but not always, intended to be eaten therewith |
| Glaze | A very rich sauce or gravy boiled to a thick substance, and preserved in pots, to be laid on with a long-haired brush, over high-seasoned dishes |
| To Glaze | To cover the outsides of hams, tongues, and all stewed dishes, with glaze or braize, to give them a rich appearance |
| Harrico | Veal, mutton, &c. stewed with vegetables |
| Hot-Bath | A pan or other vessel filled with water, and placed in a pot, which is kept boiling over the fire, for the purpose of scalding fruits, or preparing meats |
| Maigre | Soup, or any other dish, made without meat or gravy |
| To Pass | To dress a thing partially, by setting on, or shaking it over the fire for a short time |
| Ragoût | Or stewing or boiling meat or other articles, to preserve their juices |
| To Sheet | To line the inside of a dish with paste |
| Stock | A preparation from gravy meats, &c. always to be kept at hand, for the purpose of making soup or gravy |
We have now initiated our honest candidate for culinary fame, by regular and easy gradations, into the whole arcana of the profession,—taught her to judge of the natures and qualities of provisions, and their comparative values;—the best seasons and methods of purchasing, and of managing undressed animal and vegetable food; and the general economy of the larder;—Have given her the plainest elementary principles and precepts, and a few of the most simple examples, for practice, in all the various branches of boiling, roasting, baking, broiling, frying, &c.—the best methods of making soups, gravies, sauces, and salads: and, lastly, the modern mode of preparing a good dinner, with all its most approved accompaniments. In fine, we have been anxious, not only to instruct the common cook in the rudiments, and all the ordinary operations of her art, but how to combine, both in principle and practice, the most elegant with the most useful results; so as to enable her to please both the man of taste and the man of temperance;—the economist and the epicure;—the whimsical and the wise;—those who eat to live, and those who live to eat.—Under the head Housekeeper, we have also given ample instructions for making Pastry, Confectionary, Preserves, and Pickles, which frequently fall within the province of the cook. The whole comprises, as it were in a nut-shell, a complete compendium of culinary knowledge, chiefly valuable for its comprehensive brevity, and which, we trust, will be found, by the ingenious practitioner, full as useful as many, more elaborate volumes, professedly written on this subject only, and published at not less, if not more than the whole price of this little Work.
Dean Swift’s ironical directions to the Cook.
Although I am not ignorant, that it hath been a long time since the custom began among people of quality to keep men cooks, and generally of the French nation; yet because my treatise is chiefly calculated for the general run of knights, ’squires, and gentlemen both in town and country, I shall therefore apply to you, Mrs. Cook, as a woman; however, a great part of what I intend may serve for either sex: and your part naturally follows the former; because the butler and you are joined in interest; your vails are generally equal, and paid when others are disappointed; you can junket together at nights upon your own prog, when the rest of the house are a-bed; and have it in your power to make every fellow-servant your friend; you can give a good bit or a good sup to the little masters and misses, and gain their affections: a quarrel between you is very dangerous to you both, and will probably end in one of you being turned off, in which fatal case, perhaps, it will not be so easy in some time to cotton with another. And now, Mrs. Cook, I proceed to give you my instructions, which I desire you will get some fellow-servant in the family to read to you constantly one night in every week when you are going to bed; whether you serve in town or country, for my lessons shall be fitted for both.
If your lady forgets at supper, that there is any cold meat in the house, do not you be so officious as to put her in mind of it; it is plain she did not want it; and if she recollects it the next day, say she gave you no orders, and it is spent; therefore, for fear of telling a lie, dispose of it with the butler, or any other crony, before you go to bed.
Never send up a leg of a fowl at supper, while there is a cat or a dog in the house, that can be accused for running away with it: but if there happen to be neither, you must lay it upon the rats, or a strange hound.
It is ill house-wifery to foul your kitchen rubbers with wiping the bottoms of the dishes you send up, since the table-cloth will do as well, and is changed every meal.
Never clean your spits after they have been used; for the grease left upon them by meat is the best thing to preserve them from rust; and when you make use of them again, the same grease will keep the inside of the meat moist.