As a rule, English women cooks, especially when their title to the name
depends upon their being the mistress of the house, will often find that
soups and sauces are a weak point. Do not despise, in cooking, little
things. Those who really understand such matters will know how vast is the
difference in flavour occasioned by the addition of that pinch of thyme or
teaspoonful of savoury herbs, and yet there are tens of thousands of
houses, where meat is eaten every day, who never had a bottle of thyme at
their disposal in their lives.