early summer, and even then it is too
satisfying, not sufficiently delicate. The
man who gives salmon during the winter,
I care not what sauce he serves with it,
does an injury to himself and his guests.
Terrapin is with us as national a dish as
canvasback, and at the choicest dinners
is often a substitute for fish. It is a shellfish,
and an admirable change from the oft
repeated filet de sole or filet de bass. At
the South, terrapin soup, with plenty of
eggs in it, was a dish for the gods, and a
standard dinner party dish in days when a
Charleston and Savannah dinner was an
event to live for. But no Frenchman ever
made this soup. It requires the native born
culinary genius of the African.
Now when we mention the word terrapin,
we approach a very delicate subject,
involving a rivalry between two great cities;
a subject that has been agitated for thirty
years or more, and is still agitated, i.e.
the proper way of cooking terrapin. The
Baltimoreans contending that the black
stew, the chafing dish system, simply
adding to the terrapin salt, pepper, and
Madeira, produce the best dish; while
the Philadelphians contend that by fresh
butter and cream they secure greater
HYLAND
