English roast-beef cannot be compared to American roast-beef - it is so superior.

We think that curry is very good and necessary on the borders of the Ganges River - but not on the Hudson or thereabouts.

Muffins, and other cakes or pastes, served warm are very bad for the stomach and teeth.

Opossum, otter, raccoon, skunk, fox, woodchuck, and other like animals: we cannot say that we have had much experience in cooking the above animals.

Frogs: the hind legs only are used as food. Take the hind-legs of fifty well-skinned green frogs, put them in cold water then simmer on the fire for about four hours.

Tstchy soup: put four pounds of beef into a soup-kettle (the poorer classes always use mutton) with a chicken or a duck, pork, sausages and vegetables. Cover with fish broth and a head of cabbage and simmer for about three hours.

The unexpected

Words of wisdom from Pierre Blot’s 19th century cookbook

Fat is not like water, which, no matter how fast you boil it, you cannot augment the degree of heat, while you can that of fat.  If water, by boiling it fast, could be heated as much as fat, it would be used to fry in its stead, being cheaper.

Sandwiches: these are too well known to require any direction.

Truffles: we think they may be compared to lace - both are dear and neither has an intrinsic value.

Dinner Time - on account of the various occupations of members of the same family, this is often the first and only time of the day that sees them all assembled.

A Pile of Cooking Know-how

There’s a surprising amount to learn from old cookery books. In 1865 Pierre Blot - a refugee from Napoleonic France - published The Handbook of Practical Cookery in America.

Blot is an expert. He warns his readers (Ladies and professional cooks) that the study of cookery is ‘as uninviting and dry as the study of grammar at first’. His book is amusing and informative - anything but dry. He begins by telling cooks:

Make use of everything good
Waste nothing
Have no prejudices
Be careful, clean and punctual

He is opinionated: ‘No one can roast in an oven… an object cooked in an oven is baked.’  He explains: ‘When an object tastes greasy, it’s not because it has been fried in grease, but because there was not enough of it, or it was not properly heated.’

I first came across this book in the Rare Books room of The British Library. Now through the miracles of modern technology it’s available free on Amazon. Click on the picture to find out more.