intimately associated, that they can hardly be treated of separately.
The cook, however, is at the head of the kitchen; and in proportion to
her possession of the qualities of cleanliness, neatness, order,
regularity, and celerity of action, so will her influence appear in the
conduct of those who are under her; as it is upon her that the whole
responsibility of the business of the kitchen rests, whilst the others
must lend her, both a ready and a willing assistance, and be especially
tidy in their appearance, and active, in their movements.
In the larger establishments of the middle ages, cooks, with the
authority of feudal chiefs, gave their orders from a high chair
in which they ensconced themselves, and commanded a view of all
that was going on throughout their several domains. Each held a
long wooden spoon, with which he tasted, without leaving his
seat, the various comestibles that were cooking on the stoves,
and which he frequently used as a rod of punishment on the backs
of those whose idleness and gluttony too largely predominated
over their diligence and temperance.