You can tell at once what is in them, oftentimes
to your sorrow. But a French soup has a flavor which one recognizes
at once as delicious, yet not to be characterized as due to any single
condiment; it is the just blending of many things. The same remark
applies to all their stews; ragouts, and other delicate preparations.
No cook will ever study these flavors; but perhaps many cooks'
mistresses may, and thus, be able to impart delicacy and comfort to
economy.
As to those things called hashes, commonly manufactured by unwatched,
untaught cooks out of the remains of yesterday's meal, let us not dwell
too closely on their memory--compounds of meat, gristle, skin, fat,
and burnt fibre, with a handful of pepper and salt flung at them,
dredged with lumpy flour, watered from the spout of the tea-kettle,
and left to simmer at the cook's convenience while she is otherwise
occupied. Such are the best performances a housekeeper can hope for
from an untrained cook.
But the cunningly devised minces, the artful preparations choicely
flavored, which may be made of yesterday's repast--by these is the
true domestic artist known.
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