"THE TARTINE"

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 89, 5 December 1931, Page 2

"THE TARTINE"

II A GOURMET WRITES OF THE jnj , POETRY IN BREAD III " and butter. I . FRENCH CHEP'S ADVICE'. »'l * - IS , : . , / , " .. ... That dull Ameriean preacher, JRalph ujf Waldo Emerson, who had a genius for llll uttering flat • commonplaces in ■ a M weighty manner, said that there was !|| a right and a wrong way to do everyf| thing, even to. boil an egg, says. a g special writer in the Sydney SunII Guardian. >,» ' •| I wish that I could have taken || ; Emerson out of the pulpit, to give y | hi mapprenticeship in a kitchen, As l|j ; a philosopher he remains a hore, but lr|! he might have been made a passable ■> | family cook. ||j| i ' As'fhe world's finest exemplar of X i those who wish to do even the smallII ; est thing in an infallibly right faL'5 i shion, I select an anonympus Frenchfi| ; man who in the year 1878 wrote a |j letter to the culinary experts, telling them just how they should cut a j|l ! slice of bread and hutter, which the l],[ , French call a "tartine." |ll j When you. come to think of it, a l|ll ; slice of bread and hutter is not such "*• a small thing after alh : It is typical of a frugal standard of living;' the bread-and-butter wage. It is synibolic of a former race of fresh and innocent flappers who now have ceased to be; a bread-and-butter Miss . But until I read the effusion of this unnamed yet imniortal French- ; ' man, I did not appreeiate how gravely serious could he the operation of.' spreading and eutting a ; "tartine." Listen''to his story. Tartine — Yes, No! "Have yo.u eyer thought," he wrote to the College of Cooks, "that the modest tartine may deserve some small pjace, besi^e your aristocratic fries and'roasts? Yes? Then let me tell you, that here in our Northern Prance everybpdy eats • bread and Jmtter; but, alas, how few of them even suspect the point of

i perfection to which it can be hrought! "To make good bread-and-butter you need something besides plenty of butter. ! a "Tlie secret lies in having them both at their hest,, a.nd in equal quantity, but wi.thout extravaganee in butter. "In order to . obtain all the best qualities of good flavour and good preparation, you must choose bread eooked last night. To-day's bread is too soft; the day before yesterday's J has already lost its flavour. The j bread must be well made, its crumb •; of even texture, and it is better to j have it too solid than too holey. "Your butter must be of exactly the right consistency to he easily spread; too hard, the bread wifl be_ crumhed; too soft, it will soak intoi the bread. And you must have aj very keen edge on the bread-knif e." | Simpletons might think that now _ they know how to cut bread and ] butter! but much more remains to be learned. I , As Thin as Lace. "Cut a slice the whole length of-. the loaf," says our expert; "as thin j as you can; with the fineness of lace if it he possihle, "Thip flrst, slice is.destined to epver the second. Before eutting the second slice, spread the butter on the loaf; j press as lightly as possible, that the hutter may not penetrate the crumb. apd do not let it lap over the edge. Now cut th-e second slice, making it as thin as the flrst; and even before you remove it from the loaf, place the flrst slice upon it. "Adjqst pne slice to, the other so regularly that the existence of two slices cannot be detected; and cut in two, halves, qcross the middle, Thus ypu will have two tartines,. "Only in this way will you sncceed. in obtaining bread and butter which under rnastication permits you to enjoy equally the flavour of the bread and of the hutter." This Frenchman of the North lived at Cqstines, and he was an unprefentious "petit r-entier" living in retirement; but in the worship of all good eaters he will be immortal, since he knew how to turn a' simple "tartine" irito a gastrological poerp.