take it out when it is done—and probably the assumption is correct. If we had to do all our cooking with wood we also should become economical; but wood, even in England, does not cost as much as wood costs in many countries, where coals for domestic use are practically unknown.
Count Rumford's action in the matter of stoves was received with some scorn, though he died only in 1814. It used to be said of him that he would cook his dinner by the smoke from his neighbour's chimney. The wasted fuel that escapes as smoke would cook not one but many dinners.
It is a truism to say that France, pressed by circumstances, has accomplished much in the realm of cookery. France has achieved the highest results in luxurious cookery; and to the thrift of her peasantry we must look for the beginnings of the French economy in cookery that has become almost proverbial. Luxury with economy is the highest praise in cookery.
French Names.—In the present edition of this book French names—either the accepted or the literal translation—have been added to many of the dishes. Those of distinct English origin remain as they are. Our readers can now write a menu in either language.
THE SCIENCE AND PROGRESS OF COOKERY
Cookery and the Artificial Preparation of Food has one chief object, i.e., to assist in the wonderful series of changes known as digestion and assimilation. A secondary aim is to render certain foods, noxious in their natural state, fit for human consumption. The potato and manioc are poisonous when gathered, but rendered harmless by the cook. The object of a journey may be reached by many different, and sometimes by apparently divergent, roads. So it is here. Some even argue that the roads once diverging never become parallel. They declare that the art of cookery, as now understood, only results in the persistent overtaxing, instead of lightening the labours of, the digestive organs. But let us realize what it would mean to go back to pre-cooking days, when our ancestors not only devoured their relatives, but devoured them raw; or to place ourselves in some savage tribe where cookery is in its infancy; or even return to the coarse abundance of our nearer forefathers; and all will agree that the properly trained cook is more friend than foe.
The Art of Cookery.—Within the last few years cookery has made great strides in a totally new direction. The cook has turned philosopher, and loves—if not the process of reasoning—at least to be told other people's "reasons why" for the operations of the kitchen. Chemistry is a recent science, and is now in an active state of growth. Every day something is being added to our store of physiological knowledge. The science of food cannot advance a step but by the help of one of
