la campagne_ (1818) went through edition after edition. An interesting
old English work is Dr Pegge's _Forme of Cury_ (1780), which includes
some historical reflections on the subject. "We have some good families
in England," he says, "of the name of Cook or Coke.... Depend upon it,
they all originally sprang from real professional cooks, and they need
not be ashamed of their extraction any more than Porters, Butlers, &c."
He points out that cooks in early days were of some importance; William
the Conqueror bestowed land on his _coquorum praepositus_ and _coquus
regius_; and Domesday Book records the bestowal of a manor on Robert
Argyllon, by the service of a dish called "de la Groute" on the king's
coronation day.

At the present time, whatever the local varieties of cooking, and the
difference of national custom, French cooking is admittedly the ideal of
the culinary art, directly we leave the plain roast and boiled. And the
spread of cosmopolitan hotels and restaurants over England, America and
the European continent, has largely accustomed the whole civilized world
to the Parisian type. The improvements in the appliances and
appurtenances of the kitchen have made the whole world kin in the arts
of dining, but the French chef remains the typical master of his craft.
Schools of cookery have been added to the educational machine. The
literature of the subject has passed beyond enumeration.

It is unnecessary here to pursue so vast a practical subject into
detail; but the following notes on broiling, roasting, baking, boiling,
stewing and frying may be useful.

_Broiling._--The earliest method of cooking was probably burying seeds
and flesh in hot ashes, a kind of broiling on all the surfaces at the
same time, which when properly done is the most delicate kind of
cooking. Broiling is now done over a clear fire extending at least 2
in. beyond the edges of the gridiron, which should slightly incline
towards the cook. It is usual to rub the bars with a piece of suet for
meat, and chalk for fish, to prevent the thing broiled from being
marked with the bars of the gridiron. In this kind of cookery the
object is to coagulate as quickly as possible all the albumen on the
surface, and seal up the pores of the meat so as to keep in all the
juices and flavour. It is, therefore, necessary thoroughly to warm the
gridiron before putting on the meat, or the heat of the fire is
conducted away while the jui