BY JESSIE CONRAD With a preface by Joseph Conrad Publisher logo London WILLIAM HEINEMANN, Ltd. London WILLIAM HEINEMANN, Ltd. First published, February, 1923. Printed in Great Britain...

Of all the books produced since the most remote ages by human talents and industry those only that treat of cooking are, from a moral point of view, above suspicion. The intention of every other piece of prose may be discussed and even mistrusted; but the purpose of a cookery book is one and unmistakable. Its object can conceivably be no other than to increase the happiness of mankind. This general consideration, and also a feeling of affectionate interest with which I am accustomed to view all

Cooking ought not to take too much of one’s time. One hour and a half to two hours for lunch, and two and a half for dinner is sufficient, providing that the servant knows how to make up the fire in order to get the stove ready for use. Most girls will quickly learn to do that and how to put a joint properly in the oven. For my part I never went into the kitchen before half-past eleven for a half-past one lunch of three dishes. But once the cooking is begun one must give all one’s attention and

This small book may be called the A. B. C. of cookery and the writer is mainly anxious to give her experiences as a general guide and help both for cooking and the preparing of an appetizing meal. Take for instance either a small flat in town or a cottage in the country with one maid. It is quite possible to have two dishes for breakfast with toast, tea or coffee, and to vary those dishes for every day in the week. Easy breakfast dishes will be found in the body of the book. All the statements i

With a Few Illustrative Recipes Great care should be taken in the use of an onion. One often finds that if by accident a knife used for cutting an onion has been overlooked and it comes in contact with any article of food the flavour of the onion will spoil everything. It is also a fact that if an onion is cut before it is put into soup or sauce, the soup at once becomes cloudy, while on the other hand if it is merely peeled and put in whole, soup or sauce will remain perfectly clear. Then again

Small savouries are useful to lengthen a lunch or dinner without making the whole meal too heavy. Their materials are often what is left over of various dishes. Therefore the remnants that are kept should be always put away with care and separated from each other. Cut onion should never be kept in the safe containing butter or milk. Raw bacon should be laid in the dish on the rind. A tin of sardines should never be left open more than twenty-four hours. Tinned salmon must be used at once. Bottle

If the vegetables are used for flavouring only, they may remain in the soup all the time it is cooking. If, on the other hand, they are intended to be dished in the soup they should be put in only in time to be cooked thoroughly. Every kitchen should contain in a cupboard always a bottle of cooking sherry, a bottle of mushroom catsup, one of Worcester sauce, one of tomato (bottled) sauce, some fresh lemons, vinegar, the best salad oil, a packet of sweet herbs, bovril, nutmeg, cloves, and spice.

Roasting. Boiling The first and the two last joints should be bought large, not under seven pounds, on account of the bone they contain. In roasting or rather in baking, as is the general practice of small households (either in gas stove or coal), attention should be paid that the oven is not too fierce as it reduces the joint greatly and of course spoils the taste and appearance. On the other hand, an oven not sufficiently hot spoils the meat by making it hard. The proper degree of heat is best

Roasting. Boiling For roasting mutton the oven must be brisk. No joint of mutton should be put on the top of the stove. For dishing and gravy proceed as for beef. Shank end of leg of mutton makes very good mutton broth. Boil the bottom half of a leg of mutton in a saucepan three parts full of water for one and a half hours with a teaspoonful of salt. Serve on a flat dish with a little parsley as garniture. Serve with caper sauce. Proceed as per No. 110 but adding half a cupful of capers (bottled

Roasting. Boiling If fillet piece is too large to cook for one joint you may cut off a slice one and a half inches thick, horizontally, to be used later either as veal cutlets or for veal olives. For dishing and obtaining gravy and dripping proceed as for beef. Generally speaking, a piece of veal wants a longer time for cooking than a piece of beef or mutton of the same size. Chop off the long bones of two pounds of veal cutlets and put them to stew in a stone saucepan with a little salt to make

Frying. Boiling Raw fish should be kept in an uncovered dish in the icebox. Always wash in a little vinegar and water before cooking. Smoked fish such as haddock should be boiled always in a deep frying pan allowing the water to cover it. Kippers are difficult to cook without smell and to keep moist. The best way is to lay the kipper on its back in a flat meat dish. A small piece of butter should be always put into the dish first and a larger piece on the open side of the kipper, with a little w

Roasting and Between Boiling In roasting birds the great point is to avoid dryness. Butter should be put into the bird as well as outside. The fowl should never be washed with water after being trussed but wiped with a damp cloth. On no account should a fowl intended for roasting be floured on the outside. It is an abominable practice, causing the skin to become leathery and thick. Fowls or any birds already plucked and trussed cannot be kept for more than two days. But before trussing they may

Always boil without a lid on. Always put straight into boiling water. Never add salt or soda till the vegetables are in the water. Never have green vegetables lying in cold water more than half an hour before they are to be cooked. Cabbage, savoy, cauliflower should be steeped for ten minutes in a pan of cold water with a good tablespoonful of salt. Time to boil twenty-five to thirty minutes. Potatoes must lie in cold water without salt. Onions should never lie in water or be wet before being us

For Tarts the fruit of all kinds must always be cooked first by itself. Bottled fruits should also be brought to a boil with sugar before being put into the pastry, except for baked apple dumplings. For Puddings the fruit should not be cooked before. Suet crust should be mixed with water with just the chill off but not hot. Milk puddings always require to be cooked in a very slow oven. Never use brown sugar for sweetening except for Christmas pudding and apple pudding. For meat pies, sausage rol