1831.] French Cookery. 23 



words, but to the tune of shrimps, and a plague of such sauce say we. 

 In this our land, the custom is different. As the " sound should be an 

 echo to the sense," so should the sauce be worthy of the fish, and 

 accordingly, instead of a " withered apple John" sort of sauce, such as 

 shrimps are, we have the rich and unctuous lobster variegated with a 

 vein of coral. 



Haddock we have never eaten good in Paris : neither have we found 

 it in London comparable to that which we have had in Ireland and 

 Scotland. The sauce for boiled haddock, according to us, is parslev 

 and butter ; and we make the avowal even at the risk of being deemed 

 vulgar. The Rocher hincale is certainly the best sauce for fish at Paris, 

 but all its fish is inferior to (excepting the fried), and dearer than that of 

 London. The larder, however, is excellent, and the wines choice and of 

 a rich bouquet. It is " not for nothing," however, that we drive down 

 towards the Rue Monlmarlre, and when the reckoning is paid, it is 

 indeed a " swingeing sum." 



On the subject of fish, then, let us admit that in the quality and in 

 the boiling of it, as well as in the adjunct of sauce, the English are 

 immeasurably superior to the French. 



We come now to the Entrees, and here the call is reversed ; for the 

 French are immeasurably superior to the English in all the nic-nacs 

 of life. At an ordinary dinner in France, they give you sixteen entrees, 

 in which are comprised a great variety of petils pales, and in which you 

 often find that exquisite dish Xhe fricassee de poidet a la belle vue ; the 

 Jilets de volaille aux trujfes, and the /ilets defaisans a license. Nothing 

 in this nether world can be better than the Jilets de volailles aux truff'es. 

 This precious turbercle, whose unctuous perfume enriches the " lean 

 earth" in whose bosom it is found (and with which the font becomes 

 saturated), warms the stomach, gives tone to the wearied appetite, and 

 facilitates digestion. The mind itself feels its inspiriting influence. 

 To the pig — which, Cobbett says, has a " nose as keen as a parson" — are 

 we indebted for this pearl above all price in the culinary art. Columbus 

 himself must give place to the Cochon — for what was the discovery of 

 America, in comparison to the discovery of the truffle .'' For one single 

 truffle any king of taste would lose America, and be content to lose it. 

 Notwithstanding all that has been said in praise of the pig, he is a selfish 

 and sensual animal, and a gourmand of the first magnitude. It is for 

 himself he scents this pink of perigord, and not for mankind. As civi- 

 lization extends, however, humanity gains the " 'vantage ground," and 

 now we employ truffle hounds, who on the umbrageous banks of limpid 

 rivers, or in the sweet seclusion of woods, through which brooks mur- 

 muringly meander— snatch the odorous esculent, all sacred to the genius 

 of a spot diversified by the presence of the towering oak — the ever- 

 moving aspen — the sentimental weeping- willow — the white virgin birch, 

 and the tall, stately, and sombre poplar. 



Entremets are divided into great and small. In the former consist 

 such abominations as a gentle sucking pig, or the glories of a dindonneaii 

 or perdraux piques ; and in the latter are comprised the various kinds 

 of sallads, jellies, vegetables — the peiits gateaux turcs, or ceufs pocM au 

 jus. 



In London, some years ago, there was a man who went about in his 

 carriage, dressing salads, for which the charge was half-a-guinea : but 

 all tlie world can dress sallad in France, and the species are more various. 



