Chapter 1

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual Author: William Kitchiner Release date: May 4, 2009 [eBook #28681] Most recently updated: January 5, 2021 Language: English Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28681 Credits: Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COOK'S ORACLE; AND HOUSEKEEPER'S MANUAL *** Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Transcriber's Note Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A list of corrections is found at the end of the text. Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been maintained. A list of inconsistently spelled and hyphenated words is found at the end of the text. Oe ligatures have been expanded. Text surrounded with ~ was printed in Greek in the original book. Text surrounded with = was originally printed in a black-letter typeface. The following codes are used for characters that are not found in the character set used for this version of the book. *.* Asterism [Rx] Rx symbol _Harper's Stereotype Edition._ THE COOK'S ORACLE; AND HOUSEKEEPER'S MANUAL. CONTAINING =Receipts for Cookery,= AND DIRECTIONS FOR CARVING. ALSO, THE ART OF COMPOSING THE MOST SIMPLE AND MOST HIGHLY FINISHED BROTHS, GRAVIES, SOUPS, SAUCES, STORE SAUCES, AND FLAVOURING ESSENCES; PASTRY, PRESERVES, PUDDINGS, PICKLES, &c. WITH A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF COOKERY FOR CATHOLIC FAMILIES. THE QUANTITY OF EACH ARTICLE IS ACCURATELY STATED BY WEIGHT AND MEASURE; BEING THE RESULT OF ACTUAL EXPERIMENTS INSTITUTED IN THE KITCHEN OF WILLIAM KITCHINER, M.D. ADAPTED TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC BY A MEDICAL GENTLEMAN. FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION. =New-York:= _PRINTED BY J. & J. HARPER, 82 CLIFF-ST._ SOLD BY COLLINS AND HANNAY, COLLINS AND CO., G. AND C. AND H. CARVILL, WILLIAM B. GILLEY, E. BLISS, O. A. ROORBACH, WHITE, GALLAHER, AND WHITE, C. S. FRANCIS, WILLIAM BURGESS, JR., AND N. B. HOLMES;--PHILADELPHIA, E. L. CAREY AND A. HART, AND JOHN GRIGG;--ALBANY, O. STEELE, AND W. C. LITTLE. 1830. SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK, _ss._ BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the 20th day of November, A. D. 1829, in the fifty-fourth year of the independence of the United States of America, J. & J. HARPER, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to wit: "The Cook's Oracle, and Housekeeper's Manual, Containing Receipts for Cookery, and Directions for Carving; also the Art of Composing the most simple and most highly finished Broths, Gravies, Soups, Sauces, Store Sauces, and Flavouring Essences; Pastry, Preserves, Puddings, Pickles, &c. With a Complete System of Cookery for Catholic Families. The Quantity of each Article is accurately stated by Weight and Measure; being the Result of Actual Experiments instituted in the Kitchen of William Kitchiner, M.D. Adapted to the American Public by a Medical Gentleman." In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled "An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned." And also to an Act, entitled "An Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." FREDERICK I. BETTS, _Clerk of the Southern District of New-York._ ADVERTISEMENT. The publishers have now the pleasure of presenting to the American public, Dr. Kitchiner's justly celebrated work, entitled "The Cook's Oracle, and Housekeeper's Manual," with numerous and valuable improvements, by a medical gentleman of this city. The work contains a store of valuable information, which, it is confidently believed, will not only prove highly advantageous to young and inexperienced housekeepers, but also to more experienced matrons--to all, indeed, who are desirous of enjoying, in the highest degree, the good things which Nature has so abundantly bestowed upon us. The "Cook's Oracle" has been adjudged, by connoisseurs in this country and in Great Britain, to contain the best possible instructions on the subject of serving up, beautifully and economically, the productions of the water, land, and air, in such a manner as to render them most pleasant to the eye, and agreeable to the palate. Numerous notices, in commendation of the work, might be selected from respectable European journals; but the mere fact, that within twelve years, seventy thousand copies of it have been purchased by the English public, is sufficient evidence of its reception and merits. NEW-YORK, _December, 1829_. PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. The whole of this Work has, a _seventh time_, been carefully revised; but this last time I have found little to add, and little to alter. I have bestowed as much attention on each of the 500 receipts as if the whole merit of the book was to be estimated entirely by the accuracy of my detail of one particular process. The increasing demand for "_The Cook's Oracle_," amounting in 1824 to the extraordinary number of upwards of 45,000, has been stimulus enough to excite any man to submit to the most unremitting study; and the Editor has felt it as an imperative duty to exert himself to the utmost to render "_The Cook's Oracle_" a faithful narrative of all that is known of the various subjects it professes to treat. PREFACE. Among the multitudes of causes which concur to impair health and produce disease, the most general is the improper quality of our food: this most frequently arises from the injudicious manner in which it is prepared: yet strange, "passing strange," this is the only one for which a remedy has not been sought; few persons bestow half so much attention on the preservation of their own health, as they daily devote to that of their dogs and horses. The observations of the Guardians of Health respecting regimen, &c. have formed no more than a catalogue of those articles of food, which they have considered most proper for particular constitutions. Some medical writers have, "in good set terms," warned us against the pernicious effects of improper diet; but not one has been so kind as to take the trouble to direct us how to prepare food properly; excepting only the contributions of Count Rumford, who says, in pages 16 and 70 of his tenth Essay, "however low and vulgar this subject has hitherto generally been thought to be--_in what Art or Science could improvements be made that would more powerfully contribute to increase the comforts and enjoyments of mankind? Would to God! that I could fix the public attention to this subject!_" The Editor has endeavoured to write the following receipts so plainly, that they may be as easily understood in the kitchen as he trusts they will be relished in the dining-room; and has been more ambitious to present to the Public a Work which will contribute to the daily comfort of all, than to seem elaborately scientific. The practical part of the philosophy of the kitchen is certainly not the most agreeable; gastrology has to contend with its full share of those great impediments to all great improvements in scientific pursuits; the prejudices of the ignorant, and the misrepresentations of the envious. The sagacity to comprehend and estimate the importance of any uncontemplated improvement, is confined to the very few on whom nature has bestowed a sufficient degree of perfection of the sense which is to measure it;--the candour to make a fair report of it, is still more uncommon; and the kindness to encourage it cannot often be expected from those whose most vital interest it is to prevent the developement of that by which their own importance, perhaps their only means of existence, may be for ever eclipsed: so, as Pope says, how many are "Condemn'd in business or in arts to drudge, Without a rival, or without a judge: All fear, none aid you, and few understand." Improvements in _Agriculture_ and the _Breed of Cattle_ have been encouraged by premiums. Those who have obtained them, have been hailed as benefactors to society! but _the Art of_ making use of these means of _ameliorating Life and supporting a healthful Existence_--COOKERY--has been neglected!! While the cultivators of the raw materials are distinguished and rewarded, the attempt to improve the processes, without which neither vegetable nor animal substances are fit for the food of man (astonishing to say), has been ridiculed, as unworthy the attention of a rational being!! The most useful[vii-*] art--which the Editor has chosen to endeavour to illustrate, because nobody else has, and because he knew not how he could employ some leisure hours more beneficially for mankind, than to teach them to combine the "_utile_" with the "_dulce_," and to increase their pleasures, without impairing their health, or impoverishing their fortune, has been for many years his favourite employment; and "THE ART OF INVIGORATING AND PROLONGING LIFE BY FOOD, &C. &C." and this Work, have insensibly become repositories for whatever observations he has made which he thought would make us "LIVE HAPPY, AND LIVE LONG!!!" The Editor has considered the ART OF COOKERY, not merely as a mechanical operation, fit only for working cooks, but as the _Analeptic part of the Art of Physic_. "How best the fickle fabric to support Of mortal man; in healthful body how A healthful mind the longest to maintain," (ARMSTRONG,) is an occupation neither unbecoming nor unworthy philosophers of the highest class: such only can comprehend its importance; which amounts to no less, than not only the enjoyment of the present moment, but the more precious advantage of improving and preserving _health_, and prolonging _life_, which depend on duly replenishing the daily waste of the human frame with materials pregnant with nutriment and easy of digestion. If _medicine_ be ranked among those arts which dignify their professors, _cookery_ may lay claim to an equal, if not a superior, distinction; to _prevent_ diseases is surely a more advantageous art to mankind than to _cure_ them. "Physicians should be good cooks, at least in theory."--Dr. MANDEVILLE _on Hypochondriasis_, p. 316. The learned Dr. ARBUTHNOT observes, in page 3 of the preface to his _Essay on Aliment_, that "the choice and measure of the materials of which our body is composed, what we take daily by _pounds_, is at least of as much importance as what we take seldom, and only by _grains_ and spoonfuls." Those in whom the organ of taste is obtuse, or who have been brought up in the happy habit of being content with humble fare, whose health is so firm, that it needs no artificial adjustment; who, with the appetite of a cormorant, have the digestion of an ostrich, and eagerly devour whatever is set before them without asking any questions about what it is, or how it has been prepared--may perhaps imagine that the Editor has sometimes been rather over-much refining the business of the kitchen. "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." But as few are so fortunate as to be trained up to understand how well it is worth their while to cultivate such habits of Spartan forbearance, we cannot perform our duty in registering wholesome precepts, in a higher degree, than by disarming luxury of its sting, and making the refinements of Modern Cookery minister not merely to sensual gratification, but at the same time support the substantial excitement of "mens sana in corpore sano." _Delicate and nervous invalids_, who have unfortunately a sensitive palate, and have been accustomed to a luxurious variety of savoury sauces, and highly seasoned viands; those who, from the infirmity of age, are become incapable of correcting habits created by absurd indulgence in youth, are entitled to some consideration; and, for their sake, the _Elements of Opsology_ are explained in the most intelligent manner; and I have assisted the memory of young cooks, by annexing to each dish the various sauces which usually accompany it, referring to their numbers in the work. Some idle idiots have remarked to the Author, that "there were really so many _references_ from one receipt to another, that it is exceedingly troublesome indeed; they are directed sometimes to turn to half a dozen numbers:" this is quite true. If the Author had not adopted this plan of _reference_, his book, to be equally explicit, must have been ten times as big; his object has been to give as much information as possible in as few pages, and for as few pence, as possible. By reducing culinary operations to something like a certainty, _invalids_ will no longer be entirely indebted to chance, whether they shall recover and live long, and comfortably, or speedily die of starvation in the midst of plenty. These rules and orders for the regulation of the business of the kitchen have been extremely beneficial to the Editor's own health and comfort. He hopes they will be equally so to others: they will help those who enjoy health to preserve it; teach those who have delicate and irritable stomachs how to keep them in good temper; and, with a little discretion, enable them to indulge occasionally, not only with impunity, but with advantage, in all those alimentary pleasures which a rational epicure can desire. There is no question more frequently asked, or which a medical man finds more difficulty in answering, to the satisfaction of himself and his patient, than--_What do you wish me to eat?_ The most judicious choice of aliment will avail nothing, unless the culinary preparation of it be equally judicious. How often is the skill of a pains-taking physician counteracted by want of corresponding attention to the preparation of food; and the poor patient, instead of deriving nourishment, is distressed by indigestion! PARMENTIER, in his _Code Pharmaceutique_, has given a chapter on the preparation of food: some of the following receipts are offered as an humble attempt to form a sort of _Appendix to the Pharmacopoeia_, and like pharmaceutic prescriptions, they are precisely adjusted by _weight_ and _measure_. The author of a cookery book, first published in 1824, has claimed this act of industry of mine as his own original invention; the only notice I shall take of his pretensions is to say, that the first edition of "_The Cook's Oracle_" appeared in 1817. By ordering such receipts of the _Cook's Oracle_ as appear adapted to the case, the recovery of the patient and the credit of the physician, as far as relates to the administration of aliment, need no longer depend on the discretion of the cook. For instance: _Mutton Broth_, No. 490, or No. 564; _Toast and Water_, No. 463; _Water Gruel_, No. 572; _Beef Tea_, No. 563; and _Portable Soup_, No. 252. This concentrated _Essence of Meat_ will be found a great acquisition to the comfort of the army, the navy, the traveller, and the invalid. By dissolving half an ounce of it in half a pint of hot water, you have in a few minutes _half a pint of good Broth for three halfpence_. The utility of such accurate and precise directions for preparing food, is to _travellers_ incalculable; for, by translating the receipt, any person may prepare what is desired as perfectly as a good English cook. He has also circumstantially detailed the easiest, least expensive, and most salubrious methods of preparing those highly finished soups, sauces, ragoûts, and _piquante_ relishes, which the most ingenious "officers of the mouth" have invented for the amusement of thorough-bred "_grands gourmands_." It has been his aim to render food acceptable to the palate, without being expensive to the purse, or offensive to the stomach; nourishing without being inflammatory, and savoury without being surfeiting; constantly endeavouring to hold the balance equal, between the agreeable and the wholesome, the epicure and the economist. _He has not presumed to recommend one receipt that has not been previously and repeatedly proved in his own kitchen_, which has not been approved by the most accomplished cooks; and has, moreover, been eaten with unanimous applause by _a Committee of Taste_, composed of some of the most illustrious gastropholists of this luxurious metropolis. The Editor has been materially assisted by Mr. Henry Osborne, the excellent cook to the late Sir Joseph Banks; that worthy President of the Royal Society was so sensible of the importance of the subject the Editor was investigating, that he sent his cook to assist him in his arduous task; and many of the receipts in this edition are much improved by his suggestions and corrections. See No. 560. _This is the only English Cookery Book_ which has been written from the real experiments of a _housekeeper_ for the benefit of _housekeepers_; which the reader will soon perceive by the minute attention that has been employed to elucidate and improve the _Art of Plain Cookery_; detailing many particulars and precautions, which may at first appear frivolous, but which experience will prove to be essential: to teach a common cook how to provide, and to prepare, common food so frugally, and so perfectly, that _the plain every-day family fare of the most economical housekeeper_, may, with scarcely additional expense, or any additional trouble, be _a satisfactory entertainment for an epicure or an invalid_. By an attentive consideration of "_the Rudiments of Cookery_," and the respective receipts, the most _ignorant novice_ in the business of the kitchen, may work with the utmost facility and certainty of success, and soon become _a good cook_. Will all the other books of cookery that ever were printed do this? To give his readers an idea of the immense labour attendant upon this Work, it may be only necessary for the Author to state, that he has patiently pioneered through more than _two hundred cookery books_ before he set about recording these results of his own experiments! The table of _the most economical family_ may, by the help of this book, be entertained with as much elegance as that of _a sovereign prince_. LONDON, 1829. FOOTNOTES: [vii-*] "The only test of the utility of knowledge, is its promoting the happiness of mankind."--_Dr. Stark on Diet_, p. 90. CONTENTS. Page PREFACE v ---- to Seventh Edition iv