Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/1714

 CHAPTER LII

Cookery in Germany.—In no other country does cookery form so much a part of advanced education as in Germany and Austria, where every girl, whatever her position, learns how to cook, and not superficially, as is too often the case in England, for until she has mastered every branch of the subject her education is not considered complete. This useful preparation, aided by a complete course of instruction in the general principles of domestic economy, has naturally developed the practical side of their character, and won for almost every German and Austrian woman a well-deserved reputation of being a good housewife or hausfrau.

For some reason the general reputation of German cookery is not very high in this country: in fact, not a few think that the German diet consists chiefly of boiled beef and dumplings, milk soup, peas pudding, sauerkraut, and sausages. The recipes given in the following chapter should disabuse the mind of the reader of such an erroneous idea, for many useful dishes are included which might be advantageously employed to vary the somewhat monotonous diet of the English middle classes.

The salads, of which the Germans possess an even greater variety than the French, are extremely good, especially the salads made of fish, either freshly cooked, or previously smoked or marinaded. In addition to an almost endless variety of salads of cold cooked meat, poultry, game, etc., they have innumerable salads made of almost every kind of known vegetables, which include artichokes, beans, beetroot, celery, peas, potatoes, usually plainly boiled and served with a good dressing. Many others not generally used in England find favour in Germany, such as succory, dandelion, corn, salmagundi, young hops, and pickled red and white cabbage. 1534