Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/1879

Rh art of cookery, as is evidenced by the eminence attained by the Chefs-de-Cuisine of that day. Had those culinary artists, to whom we owe so much, lived in the early Hanoverian days instead of during the Regency and reign of George IV, in all probability they would have died unknown.

Service of Dinner.—Dinner à la Russe was introduced into England in the latter half of the nineteenth century, and after a few years' rivalry with the dinner à la Française almost succeeded in banishing the latter. The following menus illustrate the dinner à la Française in its various stages of development. The first menu, dated 1349, in the reign of Edward III, is divided into two courses, all the dishes of each course being, no doubt, arranged on the table at the same time, as was customary in the dinner à la Française of a later date.

COPY OF A BILL OF FARE OF A TWO-COURSE DINNER SERVED IN THE YEAR 1349.

FIRST COURSE.

Browel-farsed and charlet, for pottage.

Baked Mallard. Small Birds, Almond milk served with them.

Capon roasted with the syrup.

Roasted Veal. Pig roasted "endored."

Herons.

A "leche." A tart of flesh.

SECOND COURSE.

Brevet of Almayne and Viand vial for pottage.

Mallard. Roast Rabbit. Pheasant. Venison.

Jelly. A "leche." Hedgehogs.

Pomes de Orynge.

The introduction of soup into the second course is the most remarkable feature of the above menu. "A tart of flesh" was possibly a venison pasty, and the "Hedgehogs," in all probability, were sweet dishes similar to those which bear the name in the present day.

The following menu, dated 1561, of a City Banquet in the early days of Queen Elizabeth, is very remarkable, although it cannot be accepted as typical of that era. We learn that soup graced the upper end of the table, and the roast rabbit the lower, while on the right-hand side of the table were placed the stewed cockles and fried hasty pudding, on the left the poached eggs and broiled mushrooms, and in the centre a dish of black-caps. In the second course, the upper end of the table was occupied by a dish of fried sprats, and the bottom by tripe "ragoo'd" in its own liquor, while rice fritters and oysters were arranged on the right, and eggs a la mode and radishes on the left, the centre of the table being reserved, as in the first course, for the blackcaps.