To do common things perfectly is far better worth our
endeavor than to do uncommon things respectably. We Americans in many
things as yet have been a little inclined to begin making our shirt
at the ruffle; but, nevertheless, when we set about it, we can make
the shirt as nicely as any body; it needs only that we turn our
attention to it, resolved that, ruffle or no ruffle, the shirt we will
have.
A few words as to the prevalent ideas in respect to French cookery.
Having heard much of it, with no very distinct idea of what it is, our
people have somehow fallen into the notion that its _forte_ lies in high
spicing--and so when our cooks put a great abundance of clove, mace,
nutmeg, and cinnamon into their preparations, they fancy that they are
growing up to be French cooks. But the fact is, that the Americans and
English are far more given to spicing than the French. Spices in our
made dishes are abundant, and their taste is strongly pronounced. Living
a year in France one forgets the taste of nutmeg, clove, and allspice,
which abounds in so many dishes in America. The English and Americans
deal in _spices_, the French in _flavors_--flavors many and flue,
imitating often in their delicacy those subtle blendings which nature
produces in high-flavored fruits.
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