FRENC H COOKERY.
[TO THE EDITOR OF TES " SPEOTATOR.1
Six,—The characteristic letter of your French correspondent, admits of a brief rejoinder. Of all questions of cookery, the- saying holds, "De gustibus non est disputandam," and that other saw, " Quot homines, tot sententhe." Nevertheless, as a long resi- dent in France and Germany, I would venture to say that French cooking is exceedingly over-rated, and that good French cooking is inferior to good English. For these reasons,—first, the- French can neither roast nor boil, the first condition of a fine- cuisine. They used to cook their meat to rags ; they now give it you raw in Paris. At the most fashionable restaurants, if you. complain, the waiter says, opening his eyes, "Monsieur, le rang- y est." They do not understand fish at all ; and their knowledge' of tarts and puddings is infantine. Further—the sure mark of a. bad cook—the cooks drown everything in salt, and do not know the use of pepper, so that the word " savoury " has no proper- place in their vocabulary. The merits of the French cuisiner for it has merits, are precisely those of the French classics,. Racine and Moliere, delicacy and correctness. They never mix tastes, they eschew almost all stuffing, eat nothing but celery with their fine poultry, out of which they manage to take all savour altogether,—have no spirit or genuine go in them, are profoundly classical. • The English school has more of the romantic element about it, inasmuch as it mixes
tastes, at least the sweet and the savoury. The Germans add the sour. Now many people will say it is vulgar and savage to mix tastes. The same people might call Shakespeare a barbarian. The French are logical and dry, though, in a certain sense, inventive, and this holds of all their arts, cooking among the rest.
The wise man knows that most national cuisines have their own distinctive merits ; but, of course, for that true China of the West, France and Frenchmen, there is nothing but the celestial republic and outer barbarism. The letter of " Un Francais "frise is sublime indeed. What a pity that no ordinary Frenchman should be able to write or speak about France without making himself so un- necessarily ridiculous I—I am, Sir, &c., AN ANGLO-PARISIAN.
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