Old Law and Odd Cookery. particularity with which laws are laid down for the regulation of property rights, marital rela tions, etc. There is, of course, not so much system as one of our modern codes or trea tises; and still the many instances covered without much regard to logical arrangement are no more specific in their detail than many of the English or criminal statutes. But of course really to understand such a work we must have a firm grasp of the entire social and political features of the region. Perhaps the oddest discovery of all might be made on opening a book placed among the statutes and labelled " Loan Societies, etc." and lighting upon various " Receipts," making up a mass of " Advice on Cooking." How came these culinary suggestions, with the popular designation for " recipes," into such strange company? The solution appears on turning over the other pages of the book. We find that a number of pamphlets have been bound together, and that they include an en actment for the relief of the poor in Ireland, and a statute for the regulation of charitable loan societies, both passed before 1845; and naturally related to these is a pamphlet giving "Cheap Receipts and Hints on Cookery for Distribution amongst the Irish Peasantry in 1847," ar>d explaining that much suffering may also be relieved by the introduction of unknown dishes and directions for the prep aration of others. Some of these sugges tions and directions are quite interesting even to those who know little of the house wife's modes of management, and many are gravely comical. For instance, we are told that the " first point to be attended to in cookery is cleanliness; — the hands of the cook, in particular, should be always clean, — that is, washed every time after doing any kind of work which has soiled them, before proceeding to cook. She should be careful in having her hair neatly fastened up, so that no loose hairs may drop into the dishes, and also that she has no pins about her, which might be exceedingly dangerous if they fell, unawares, into the food." The
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effect of stray hair-pins upon the appetite, which might so appropriately have been touched upon in such a connection, is not even mentioned. We learn that meat should be wiped daily with a cloth in damp weather, to ward off the effects of a moist thick atmos phere; that musty meat may be completely restored by washing it in camomile tea; and that vegetables begin to ferment very soon after being taken from the ground, and so should be placed in a perfectly dry and cool situation, but not exposed to cur rents of wind, all of which may be interest ing information to domestic-minded members of the profession, who care about the control of the kitchen. Culinary experts may also be interested in the recommendation of Indian corn, which, it appears, had never before that date been extensively used in Ireland, on account of the almost total igno rance of the people as to the mode of pre paring it for human food. But now none need feel amazed on beholding maize, but can learn that men " will endure more, work longer, and enjoy better health on this food than on any other that can be bought for the same money." Americans have often been charged with the possession of dyspep tic tendencies, but we are here told that Indian corn is "excellent in all disorders aris ing from bad digestion." Passing by such prosaic "receipts" as those pertaining to rice, oatmeal, barley, and rye, and the depart ment of soups, we find the advice winding up with directions for boiling tripe or salt fish, and preparing peas pudding and peas flour pudding, chopped cabbage and mint, and fry of spinach and onions;, the whole ending with a tailpiece representing a fountain spouting from a vase in the midst of a mass of oriental tracery, in the highest style of the art of the period. Altogether, amid these arid statutes, this advice on cookery is a real culinary oasis in the desert of legal phraseology; and it seems quite appropriate that the welcome waters should be represented as appearing in such peculiar surroundings.
