Soyer's Culinary Campaign: Being Historical Reminiscences of the Late War.: With The Plain Art of Cookery for Military and Civil Institutions

We next went to the extra-diet kitchen, which was anything but a comfortable one, though Mrs. Davis, who made the extra diets, managed pretty well, by dint of perseverance and a deal of trouble. She was compelled to use preserved soups, which are not wholesome for delicate or weak stomachs, and are, moreover, generally served up too strong, as scarcely any one who uses them will take the trouble to read the instructions pasted upon each case, and add the proper quantity of water required. These are at all times better adapted for persons in health than for the sick, always excepting the essence of beef (see Hospital Diets), which, when properly seasoned according to my receipt, is really very good. I made a list of what apparatus and kitchen utensils were required, and then we left Miss Davis, much pleased with Miss Nightingale’s kind remarks, my approbation of her services, and, above all, very proud of having, two days before, been visited and highly complimented by Lady Stratford de Redcliffe and the other ladies. Lord Stratford and family had passed us at sea the day before, on their return to Constantinople, on board the _Caradoc_; a circumstance I much regretted, as I had anticipated the pleasure of accompanying Lord and Lady de Redcliffe to the various camp and hospital kitchens. We then left the General Hospital, and ascended to the Sanatorium by a narrow and almost perpendicular road cut out of the rock; in consequence of the ups and downs, it took us full three-quarters of an hour to accomplish the distance, and very uncomfortably too, the roads being so dirty. The view during the ascent is transcendently beautiful and refreshing--the sight of the harbour beneath filled with ships, the chain of rocky mountains, distant view of the Guards’ camp, the village of Kadikoi, its Greek church, the Zouave camp, and the traffic of thousands below, busily running to and fro, formed a naval and military tableau which well repaid us for our trouble. On reaching the verge of the hill facing the grand tower, which proudly bore the