Our modern epicures resemble the ancient,[309-*] who thought the dearest dish must be the most delicious:
——“And think all wisdom lies
In being impertinently nice.”
Thus, they reckon turtle and punch to be “sheventy-foive per shent” more inviting than mock turtle and good malt liquor: however bad the former may be, and however good the latter, we wish these folks could be made to understand, that the soup for each, and all the accompaniments, are precisely the same: there is this only difference, the former is commonly made with a “starved turtle” (see [Notes] at the foot of [page 220]), the latter with a “fatted calf.” See Nos. [247], [343], and [343*].
The scarcity of tolerably good cooks ceases to be surprising, when we reflect how much more astonishing is the ignorance of most of those who assume the character of scientific gourmands,[309-†] so extremely ignorant of “the affairs of the mouth,” they seem hardly to “know a sheep’s head from a carrot;” and their real pretensions to be profound palaticians, are as moderate as the wine-merchant’s customer, whose sagacity in the selection of liquors was only so exquisite, that he knew that Port wine was black, and that if he drank enough of it, it would make him drunk.
Brisket of Beef stewed.—(No. 494.)
This is prepared in exactly the same way as “soup and bouilli.” See Nos. [5], [238], or [493].
Haricot of Beef.—(No. 495.)
A stewed brisket cut in slices, and sent up with the same sauce of roots, &c., as we have directed for haricot of mutton ([No. 489]), is a most excellent dish, of very moderate expense.
Savoury Salt Beef baked.—(No. 496.)
The tongue side of a round of beef is the best bit for this purpose: if it weighs fifteen pounds, let it hang two or three days; then take three ounces of saltpetre, one ounce of coarse sugar, a quarter of an ounce of black pepper, and the same of allspice (some add a quarter of an ounce of ginger, or [No. 457]), and some minced sweet and savoury herbs ([No. 459]), and three quarters of a pound of common salt; incorporate these ingredients by pounding them together in a mortar; then take the bone out, and rub the meat well with the above mixture, turning it and rubbing it every day for a fortnight.