MEMOIR ON

CRANBERRY SAUCE.

From the Anthology, October, 1808.

GENTLEMEN,

It is well known, that the French government sent many missionaries, in the early part of the revolution, to different countries for different purposes: some of these were diplomatic and consular agents, openly accredited and acknowledged; others were scavans, who travelled as private individuals, but who furnished memoirs and information on persons and things, which have aided that government in their intercourse with foreign nations. Many visited the United States, and some of their writings have been published; those of Talleyrand, Volney, &c. are familiar to the public. The singular felicity, which the French writers possess, of furnishing a -memoir on every subject, has often been remarked and envied, and is exemplified in the one, I now of fer for your miscellany. It has never been publish

in the United States. Some persons may remark an anachronism, for which I do not pretend to account; in speaking of the lobster, the author cites the regulation of the Board of Health, to prevent their being eaten in the summer months, which, it is believed, is posterior to the period, at which the writer visited this country, but which may possibly have been inserted from subsequent information. I hope indulgence will be granted for any French idioms, that may appear in the translation, as it is a kind of labour, of which I am not very fond, and to which I am very little accustomed.

Yours, &c.

Memoir on the consumption of Cranberry Sauce, by the Americans, addressed to the Citizen

of the National Institute, by the Citizen siding at Boston.

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NOTHING excites the sensibility of a Frenchman more strongly, on his first landing in the United States, than the raw and simple state of their culinary preparations. If the supposition, which has been made by some philosophers, be not too fanciful, that the progress of a nation in civilization and refinement may be ascertained by the degree of skill they have attained in cooking, this infant nation are still in the most barbarous situation. A general consideration

of this subject cannot enter into the present memoir; but some notion may be formed of their rude state, when it is known, that soups, so common in France, are but little used, and that they substitute for them, a composition, called a pudding, made of flour, suet, dried grapes, eggs, milk, spices, and other heterogeneous materials, which, when served upon the table, is a real phenomenon, for it is commonly asserted, that its specific gravity is greater than that of lead. Our rich nutritious sauces are almost unknown; and, as a proof of the early corruption and degeneracy of this nation, many of the country people have bestowed this name* upon vegetables, which they eat in the most unprepared state, boiled and soaked in hot water. But the most universal dish, which obtains equally at the tables of the rich and poor, is the substance which forms the subject of this memoir.

Cranberry Sauce, vulgarly called cramberry sauce, from the voracious manner in which they eat it,† is made from a berry, produced by a plant, called by us, Airelle des marais; the Vaccinium Hispidulum of Linnæus, a plant of the 8th order, first class, Octandria Monogynia: it grows in meadows filled with moss, on a slender, bending stalk, covered with silky scales, whose leaves are oval, rather oblong, and

*The reproach here extended to the nation, is too general; the corruption alluded to is confined to some parts of New England.-Trans.

+ This is a ludicrous mistake, but excusable in a foreigner not intimately acquainted with the language.-Trans.

shining the berries are large, red, and of a pleasant acid taste. The fruit is ripened by the early frosts in the autumn, but is gathered through the winter, and in the spring after the ice dissolves, and even then is the most esteemed.

Preparing them for the table is very easily done; the berries are stewed slowly with nearly their weight of sugar for about an hour, and served on the table cold: the sugar made use of differs in quality according to the wealth of those by whom the sauce is used. It is eaten with almost every species of roasted meat, particularly the white meats, turkies, partridges, &c. some even eat it with boiled fish, and I knew one person, otherwise a very worthy man, who eat it with lobsters, for supper! The mention of this shell fish, which is taken in great abundance on the neighbouring coasts, induces me, though rather foreign to the subject of this paper, to relate a striking instance of the narrow, selfish policy of the institutions of this people. During the three summer months, the Board of Health prohibit the sale of lobsters in this city; but it is freely permitted in Roxbury, the southern suburb of Boston, inhabited principally by gardeners, butchers, and curriers; and the inhabitants of this quarter are abandoned to the ill consequences arising from this practice.*

*This furnishes an instance of the rashness with which foreigners, particularly those from despotic countries judge of our institutions. Every person could have told the author, that the Board of Health is confined to the limits of Boston, which do not include Roxbury.-Trans.

One individual informed me, that the rosy complexion of their women had been attributed to their consumption of this article. Though this opinion seemed extravagant, I resolved to try the truth of it, because every argument in its favour should be destroyed if possible. I therefore prevailed upon a servant girl, about fourteen years of age, to eat nothing else; partly by coaxing and partly by menaces, I confined her to this food for a week; at the end of which she grew pale and exhibited feverish symptoms, which is sufficient to prove the absurdity of the supposition. I could pursue the experiment no further, as she threatened to run away, and the most senseless clamour would have ensued, if any ill consequences should have happened to her. For so cold and backward are this people, that they would not sacrifice the life of one individual, to ascertain the most brilliant philosophical truth; and that spirit, which has animated Frenchmen, defying every obstacle, and despising every danger, to the sacrifice of thousands of the human race, to propagate the advantages of splendid discoveries, where antiquated abuses formerly reigned, is almost entirely unknown among them.

The important object of impelling their sensibilities to sympathize with ours, which must be preparatory to that powerful influence, which it is so strong an object with the government to attain, will be greatly aided by an intimate approximation of the common habits and customs of life. None have a greater influence than the pleasures of the table, to which this gross people are remarkably addicted.