The Feasts of Autolycus: The Diary of a Greedy Woman

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THE FEASTS OF AUTOLYCUS

The Diary of a Greedy Woman

[Illustration]

Edited by

ELIZABETH ROBINS PENNELL







Akron, O.
The Saalfield Publishing Company
Chicago New York
1900

Copyright, 1896,
by the Merriam Company.

[Illustration]




NOTE.--_These papers were first published in the "Pall Mall Gazette,"
under the heading, "Wares of Autolycus." It is due to the courteous
permission of the editors of that Journal that they are now re-issued
in book form._




INTRODUCTION


I have always wondered that woman could be so glib in claiming
equality with man. In such trifling matters as politics and science
and industry, I doubt if there be much to choose between the two
sexes. But in the cultivation and practice of an art which concerns
life more seriously, woman has hitherto proved an inferior creature.

For centuries the kitchen has been her appointed sphere of action. And
yet, here, as in the studio and the study, she has allowed man to
carry off the laurels. Vatel, Carême, Ude, Dumas, Gouffé, Etienne,
these are some of the immortal cooks of history: the kitchen still
waits its Sappho. Mrs Glasse, at first, might be thought a notable
exception; but it is not so much the merit of her book as its extreme
rarity in the first edition which has made it famous.

Woman, moreover, has eaten with as little distinction as she has
cooked. It seems almost--much as I deplore the admission--as if she
were of coarser clay than man, lacking the more artistic instincts,
the subtler, daintier emotions.

I think, therefore, the great interest of the following papers lies in
the fact that they are written by a woman--a greedy woman. The
collection, evidently, does not pretend to be a "Cook's Manual," or a
"Housewife's Companion": already the diligent, in numbers, have
catalogued _recipes_, with more or less exactness. It is rather a
guide to the Beauty, the Poetry, that exists in the perfect dish, even
as in the masterpiece of a Titian or a Swinburne. Surely hope need not
be abandoned when there is found one woman who can eat, with
understanding, the Feasts of Autolycus.

    ELIZABETH ROBINS PENNELL.




CONTENTS.


                                   PAGE
    THE VIRTUE OF GLUTTONY,           9

    A PERFECT BREAKFAST,             17

    TWO BREAKFASTS,                  25

    THE SUBTLE SANDWICH,             33

    A PERFECT DINNER,                43

    AN AUTUMN DINNER,                51

    A MIDSUMMER DINNER,              59

    TWO SUPPERS,                     67

    ON SOUP,                         75

    THE SIMPLE SOLE,                 89

    BOUILLABAISSE,                   97

    THE MOST EXCELLENT OYSTER,      105

    THE PARTRIDGE,                  117

    THE ARCHANGELIC BIRD,           125

    SPRING CHICKEN,                 135

    THE MAGNIFICENT MUSHROOM,       143

    THE INCOMPARABLE ONION,         155

    THE TRIUMPHANT TOMATO,          171

    A DISH OF SUNSHINE,             179

    ON SALADS,                      191

    THE SALADS OF SPAIN,            205

    THE STIRRING SAVOURY,           215

    INDISPENSABLE CHEESE,           223

    A STUDY IN GREEN AND RED,       231

    A MESSAGE FROM THE SOUTH,       239

    ENCHANTING COFFEE,              249




THE VIRTUE OF GLUTTONY


Gluttony is ranked with the deadly sins; it should be honoured among
the cardinal virtues. It was in the Dark Ages of asceticism that
contempt for it was fostered. Selfish anchorites, vowed to dried dates
and lentils, or browsing Nebuchadnezzar-like upon grass, thought by
their lamentable example to rob the world of its chief blessing.
Cheerfully, and without a scruple, they would have sacrificed beauty
and pleasure to their own superstition. If the vineyard yielded wine
and the orchard fruit, if cattle were sent to pasture, and the forest
abounded in game, they believed it was that men might forswear the
delights thus offered. And so food came into ill repute and foolish
fasting was glorified, until a healthy appetite passed for a snare of
the devil, and its gratification meant eternal damnation. Poor deluded
humans, ever so keen to make the least of the short span of life
allotted to them!

With time, all superstitions fail; and asceticism went the way of many
another ingenious folly. But as a tradition, as a convention, somehow,
it lingered longer among women. And the old Christian duty became a
new feminine grace. And where the fanatic had fasted that his soul
might prove comelier in the sight of God, silly matrons and maidens
starved, or pretended to starve, themselves that their bodies might
seem fairer in the eyes of man. And dire, indeed, has been their
punishment. The legend was that swooning Angelina or tear-stained
Amelia, who, in company, toyed tenderly with a chicken wing or
unsubstantial wafer, later retired to the pantry to stuff herself with
jam and pickles.