Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/302

 298 COOKERY Stocking and Silk " (1854), which was almost immediately followed by " The Youth of Jef- ferson" and "Virginia Comedians." In 1855 appeared " Ellie, or the Human Comedy," in 1856 " The Last of the Foresters," and two years later "Henry St. John, Gentleman." This series of fiction presents many phases of life in Virginia. During the civil war he served on the staff of different confederate generals until the close of the contest, and wrote a " Life of Stonewall Jackson " (1866). He resides on a farm near Winchester, Va. His later works are : " Wearing of the Gray " (1867) ; " Mohun, or the Last Days of Lee and his Paladins" (1868); "Hilt to Hilt, or Days and Nights in the Shenandoah " (1869) ; " Hammer and Rapier " (1870) ; " Out of the Foam" and "Life of Robert E. Lee" (1871) ; "Doctor Vandyke" (1872); and "Her Ma- jesty the Queen " (1873). COOKERY, the preparation of food by dressing, compounding, and the application of heat. Posi- donius was of opinion that the culinary art fol- lowed immediately the discovery of fire, and that it was at first an imitation of the natural pro- cess of mastication and digestion. There are frequent allusions to cooking in the Bible and in the oldest writings of all nations. In the East, the land of spices, the taste was first tempted by carefully wrought compositions and condi- ments, and the first great feasts were given. It was the custom of the ancient Egyptians, as at present in oriental and tropical climates, to cook the meat as soon as killed, with the view of having it tender. Beef and goose constituted the principal part of the animal food, though the kid, goat, gazelle, duck, teal, and quail were also well known. Mutton was excluded from a Theban table, and Plutarch says that no Egyptians except the Lycopolites would eat the flesh of sheep. The blood of animals was frequently received into a vase for purposes of cookery, and black puddings were popular in Egypt, as they afterward were in modern Europe, to the horror of the Moslems. Large supplies of fish were obtained from the Nile and Lake Moaris, and were brought to the table whole, boiled or fried, the tail and fins being removed. Herodotus says no Egyptian would taste the head of any species of animal. The vegetables which abound in Egypt made a large part of the ordinary food ; they were eaten raw, stewed, boiled, or roasted in ashes. Bread was made either of wheat or of barley, and the dough was sometimes kneaded with the feet in a wooden bowl on the ground. Pastry was made to represent any object, ac- cording to the fancy of the confectioner, and was sprinkled with seeds of caraway, cummin, or sesame. The Greeks raised every depart- ment of cookery to a high art. In the Homer- ic age royal personages prepared their own meats. Menelaus at the marriage feast of Hermione placed before the guests with his own hands the roasted side of an ox. Achilles, with the assistance of Patroclus, feasted the Argive leaders upon the shoulders of lambs, a fat doe, and a succulent pig, which were broiled on live coals and garnished with the en- trails of oxen ; dishes, according to Athenasus, " consecrated to the gods, and usual at all the feasts of the brave." They were contented in that age with plain roasts, seldom boiling their meat or dressing it with sauces. Professional cooks had come into existence before the age of Pericles. They could serve up a whole pig dexterously boiled on one side, roasted on the other, and stuffed with flavored and spiced thrushes, eggs, and various delicacies, so that the guest could not discover where the ani- mal had been divided. To invent a popular cake or a poignant sauce was a worthy object of ingenuity and erudition. Aristoxenus after many trials succeeded in a peculiar way of sea- soning hams, which were hence called Aris- toxenians ; as afterward the Roman Apicius, one of the three gastronomers of that name, devis- ed a sort of cakes which were termed Apicians. Nearly all the Athenian dishes were prepared with a mixture of asafoetida or rue, and one of the most popular was a composition of cheese, garlic, and eggs. The Greeks and Romans ex- tracted delicacies from the tough membranous parts of the matrices of sows, the flesh of young asses and young hawks, and from a great va- riety of sea fish, as the dog fish, star fish, por- poises, seals, and especially from two species termed the echinus and the glociscus. The Syracusans were especially noted for their cu- linary successes, while the Spartans, despising luxury of all kinds, had the term of reproach "to live like a Syracusan." A certain Syba- rite, after tasting the Lacedaemonian black broth, declared himself no longer astonished that the Spartans were so fearless of death in battle, since the pains of dissolution were preferable to those of existence on such execrable food. The poet Archestratus, a culinary philosopher of Syracuse, travelled through the most fertile lands known to the ancients, crossing many seas, and passing through many dangers and hardships, in order to add edibles and potables from every climate to the Greek table luxuries. His "Gastrology," a didactic poem in which he promulgated the results of his researches, became the authoritative creed of Greek epi- cures. It was a favorite exercise of accom- plished cooks, when rare and choice fish were wanting, to imitate their flavor, taste, and form so closely from inferior varieties that the most experienced gourmand could not distinguish the fraud. The Greeks excelled in sweetmeats, fruits, and the artistic ornaments and order of an entertainment, but the Romans in the more solid dishes. Simplicity of tastes and severity of manners disappeared during the latter part of the Roman republic, and under the empire luxurious gluttonies were indulged in at almost fabulous cost. The more common Roman deli- cacies were pheasants, beccaficos, quails, par- tridges, oysters, sea eels, and Cecubian and Falernian wines. Rare fishes and birds were