DEPARTURE: 'ENGLISH COOKING' BY MUTHESIUS

DEPARTURE: In a brief departure from postcards I rather enjoyed this passage from Hermann Muthesius' Das Englische Haus (The English House) entitled 'English Cooking': "But an open fire is still indispensable for several activities at the English stove. First among these is the toasting of bread that forms so important an element of the English breakfast; toast entirely replaces our continental breakfast bread and rolls. The English are also still very fond of roasting meat at an open fire, a method of preparation that undoubtedly has great advantages; for the juices remain in the meat and meat prepared in this way is tastier and more easily digested. It would not occur to the English to add any kind of sauce to roast meat; and indeed it needs none. At most they use one of the piquant sauces that can be bought ready-made, such as the famous Worcester sauce. Consequently an important aspect of the higher culinary art, the preparation of sauces, is practically non-existent in the English kitchen. If one adds to this fact that vegetables are also simply boiled in water with nothing added and that all the dishes consisting of several ingredients combined and cooked together, in which our German cooking is so rich, are entirely unknown, it becomes obvious that English cooking is extremely simple, almost primitive. English cooking is the most artless, most uncultivated cooking in the world. Any refinement in the way food is prepared is alien to it, and is largely unwanted, for in eating, as in other matters, they endure, and indeed desire, the greatest monotony. They are content to east roast beef and roast mutton alternately for their main meal throughout the year. Yet sweets with a farinaceous basis play a large part and no meal is complete without them; but they too are prepared very simply and in this respect differ greatly from out sweet dishes; they are content to empty raw materials into a pan and to consign the whole thing to the stove. But all English dishes are made from the best raw materials. Nowhere will you find a leg of mutton to equal that in England and their beef and vegetables are also excellent. Good materials make up the lack of style; indeed, once one has become used to the artless English cooking, one has the feeling that embellishments would not find favour there; and once one has made acquaintance, the sophisticated French cuisine seems rather spineless, almost insipid. Nevertheless it is customary in English houses of standing to employ French chefs. They do not reject the food aspects of English cooking (nor would their employers want them to do that) but simple add a style that is indispensable, especially on festive occasions. England has always depended on France for these higher refinements. The culture of their neighbours has for centuries met the few needs of the most exalted sections of the English population for higher outward culture; yet they have not permanently influenced the English cultural scene, which has essentially always remained that of a countrified, rustic people.