4 minute read
The interest in scientific cookery, particularly in cookery as related to health, has manifestly increased in this country within the last decade as is evidenced by the success which has attended every intelligent effort for the establishment of schools for instruction in cookery in various parts of the United States. While those in charge of these schools have presented to their pupils excellent opportunities for the acquirement of dexterity in the preparation of toothsome and tempting viands, but little attention has been paid to the science of dietetics, or what might be termed the hygiene of cookery. A little less than ten years ago the Sanitarium at Battle Creek Mich., established an experimental kitchen and a school of cookery under the supervision of Mrs. Dr. Kellogg, since which time, researches in the various lines of cookery and dietetics have been in constant progress in the experimental kitchen, and regular sessions...
19 minute read
No one thing over which we have control exerts so marked an influence upon our physical prosperity as the food we eat; and it is no exaggeration to say that well-selected and scientifically prepared food renders the partaker whose digestion permits of its being well assimilated, superior to his fellow-mortals in those qualities which will enable him to cope most successfully with life's difficulties, and to fulfill the purpose of existence in the best and truest manner. The brain and other organs of the body are affected by the quality of the blood which nourishes them, and since the blood is made of the food eaten, it follows that the use of poor food will result in poor blood, poor muscles, poor brains, and poor bodies, incapable of first-class work in any capacity. Very few persons, however, ever stop to inquire what particular foods are best adapted to the manufacture...
15 minute read
A man's food, when he has the means and opportunity of selecting it, suggests his moral nature. Many a Christian is trying to do by prayer that which cannot be done except through corrected diet.— Talmage. Our pious ancestors enacted a law that suicides should be buried where four roads meet, and that a cart-load of stones should be thrown upon the body. Yet, when gentlemen or ladies commit suicide, not by cord or steel, but by turtle soup or lobster salad, they may be buried on consecrated ground, and the public are not ashamed to read an epitaph upon their tombstones false enough to make the marble blush.— Horace Mann. It is related by a gentleman who had an appointment to breakfast with the late A.T. Stewart, that the butler placed before them both an elaborate bill of fare; the visitor selected a list of rare dishes, and was...
5 minute read
Now good digestion waits on appetite, and health on both— Shakespeare. We live not upon what we eat, but upon what we digest.— Abernethy. If we consider the amount of ill temper, despondency, and general unhappiness which arises from want of proper digestion and assimilation of our food, it seems obviously well worth while to put forth every effort, and undergo any sacrifice, for the purpose of avoiding indigestion, with its resulting bodily ills; and yet year after year, from the cradle to the grave, we go on violating the plainest and simplest laws of health at the temptation of Cooks, caterers, and confectioners, whose share in shortening the average term of human life is probably nearly equal to that of the combined armies and navies of the world.— Richardson. Almost every human malady is connected, either by highway or byway, with the stomach.— Sir Francis Head. It is a...
19 minute read
Cookery is the art of preparing food for the table by dressing, or by the application of heat in some manner. Fuels. —Artificial heat is commonly produced by combustion, caused by the chemical action of the oxygen of the air upon the hydrogen and carbon found in fuel. The different fuels in common use for cooking purposes are hard wood, soft wood, charcoal, anthracite coal, bituminous coal, coke, lignite, kerosene oil, gasoline, and gas. As to their respective values, much depends upon the purpose for which they are to be used. Wood charcoal produces a greater amount of heat than an equal weight of any other fuel. Soft wood burns quicker and gives a more intense heat than hard wood, and hence is best for a quick fire. Hard wood burns slowly, produces a larger mass of coals, and is best where long-continued heat is desired. Anthracite coal kindles slowly,...
7 minute read
Bad cooking diminishes happiness and shortens life.— Wisdom of Ages. Says Mrs. Partington: "Many a fair home has been desiccated by poor cooking, and a man's table has been the rock on which his happiness has split." SIGNIFICANT FACT.— Lady —"Have you had much experience as a cook?" Applicant —"Oh, indeed I have. I was the cook of Mr. and Mrs. Peterby for three years." L. —"Why did you leave them?" A. —"I didn't leave them. They left me. They both died." L. —"What of?" A. —"Dyspepsia." Cooking is generally bad because people falling to routine; habit dulls their appreciation, and they do not think about what they are eating.— Didsbury. Lilly (Secretary of the cooking class)—"Now girls, we've learned nine cakes, two kinds of angel food, and seven pies. What next?" Susie (engaged)—"Dick's father says I must learn to bake bread." Indignant chorus —"Bread? How absurd! What are bakers...
7 minute read
Lack of sufficient table room is often a great source of inconvenience to the housekeeper. To avoid this, arrange swinging tables or shelves at convenient points upon the wall, which may be put up or let down as occasion demands. For ordinary kitchen uses, small tables of suitable height on easy-rolling casters, and with zinc tops, are the most convenient and most easily kept clean. It is quite as well that they be made without drawers, which are too apt to become receptacles for a heterogeneous mass of rubbish. If desirable to have some handy place for keeping articles which are frequently required for use, an arrangement similar to that represented in the accompanying cut may be made at very small expense. It may be also an advantage to arrange small shelves about and above the range, on which may be kept various articles necessary for cooking purposes. One of...
1 minute read
The Storeroom. —If possible to do so, locate the room for the keeping of the kitchen supplies on the cool side of the house. Plenty of light, good ventilation, and absolute cleanliness are essential, as the slightest contamination of air is likely to render the food supply unfit for use. The refrigerator should not be connected with the kitchen drain pipe, and the greatest care should be taken to keep it clean and sweet. It should be thoroughly scrubbed with borax or sal-soda and water, and well aired, at least once a week. Strongly flavored foods and milk should not be kept in the same refrigerator. The ice to be used should always be carefully washed before putting in the refrigerator. Care should also be taken to replenish it before the previous supply is entirely melted, as the temperature rises when the ice becomes low, and double the quantity will...
2 minute read
A good and simple test solution, which any housewife can use, may be prepared by dissolving twelve grains of caustic potash and three of permanganate of potash in an ounce of distilled water, or filtered soft water. Add a drop of this solution to a glass of the water to be tested. If the pink color imparted by the solution disappears at once, add another drop of the solution, and continue adding drop by drop until the pink color will remain for half an hour or more. The amount of the solution necessary to security permanent color is very fair index to the quality of the water. If the color imparted by the first one or two drops disappears within a half hour, the water should be rejected as probably dangerous. Water which is suspected of being impure may be rendered safe by boiling. Filters are only of service in...
5 minute read
In these days of invention and progress, much thought and ingenuity have been expended in making and perfecting labor-saving articles and utensils, which serve to make housework less of a burden and more of a delight. The Steam-Cooker. Vegetable Press. The Steam-Cooker. Vegetable Press. The Steam-Cooker. —One of the most unique of these conveniences is the steam-cooker, one kind of which is illustrated by the accompanying cut. Steaming is, for many foods, a most economical and satisfactory method of cooking. Especially is this true respecting fruits, grains, and vegetables, the latter of which often have the larger proportion of their best nutritive elements dissolved and thrown away in the water in which they are boiled. In the majority of households it is, however, the method least depended upon, because the ordinary steamer over a pot of boiling water requires too much attention, takes up too much stove room, and creates...
9 minute read
The kitchen is a chemical laboratory, in which are conducted a number of chemical processes by which our food is converted from its crudest state to condition more suitable for digestion and nutrition, and made more agreeable to the palate.— Prof. Matthew Williams. Half the trouble between mistresses and maids arises from the disagreeable surroundings to which servants are confined. There is no place more dismal than the ordinary kitchen in city dwellings. It is half underground, ill-lighted, and unwholesome. What wonder, then, in the absence of sunlight, there is a lack of sunny temper and cheerful service? An ill-lighted kitchen is almost sure to be a dirty one, where germs will thrive and multiply. Let sanitary kitchens be provided, and we shall have more patient mistresses and more willing servants.— Sel. A sluggish housemaid exclaimed, when scolded for the uncleanliness of her kitchen, "I'm sure the room would be...
4 minute read
All grains should be carefully looked over before being put to cook. In the cooking of grains, the following points should be observed:— 1. Measure both liquid and grain accurately with the same utensil, or with two of equal size. 2. Have the water boiling when the grain is introduced, but do not allow it to boil for a long time previous, until it is considerably evaporated, as that will change the proportion of water and grain sufficiently to alter the consistency of the mush when cooked. Introduce the grain slowly, so as not to stop the sinking to the bottom, and the whole becomes thickened. If the grain is cooked in a double boiler, this first boiling should be done with the inner dish directly over the fire, and when the grain has thickened or become "set," as it is termed, the dish should at once be placed in...
2 minute read
Description. —Wheat is the most important of the grain foods. It is probably a native of Southwestern Asia, though like most grains cultivated from the earliest periods, its history is extremely obscure. Wheat is of two principal kinds, characterized as soft and hard wheat, though there are hundreds of named varieties of the grain. The distinction between many of these is due to variation in the relative proportions of starch and nitrogenous matter. Some contain not more than eight per cent of nitrogenous elements, while others contain eighteen or twenty per cent, with a corresponding decrease in carbonaceous elements. This difference depends upon the soil, cultivation, season, climate, and other conditions under which the grain is produced. The structure of the wheat grain consists of an external tegument of a hard, woody nature, so coherent that it appears in the form of scales or bran when the wheat is ground,...
2 minute read
Pearl Wheat. —Heat a quart of water to boiling in the inner dish of a double boiler, and stir into it one cup or one-half pint of pearl wheat. Let it boil rapidly until thickened and the wheat has ceased settling, then place in the outer boiler, in which the water should be boiling, and cook continuously from three to four hours. Cracked Wheat. —Cracked wheat may be cooked in the same manner as pearl wheat, by using four and one-half parts of water to one of grain. The length of time required to cook it thoroughly is about the same as for pearl wheat. Rolled Wheat. —This preparation of wheat requires only three parts water to one of wheat. It should be cooked in the same way as pearled wheat, but requires only three hours' cooking. Boiled Wheat (sometimes called frumenty).—Select newly-cut wheat, well rubbed or threshed out. Look...
1 minute read
The grain of wheat is inclosed in a woody envelope. The cellular layers just beneath contain the largest proportion of nitrogenous matter, in the form of gluten, and are hard of pulverization, while the starchy heart of the grain is easily crumbled into fine dust. Thus it will be readily understood that when the grain is subjected to an equal pulverizing force, the several portions will be likely to be crushed into particles of different sizes. The outer husk being toughest, will be the least affected, the nitrogenous or glutenous portion will be much finer, while the brittle starch will be reduced to powder. This first simple product of grinding is termed wheat meal, unbolted, or Graham flour, and of course contains all the elements of the grain. In ordinary milling, however, this is subjected to various siftings, boltings, or dressings, to separate the finer from the coarser particles, and...
5 minute read
Farina. —Heat a pint of milk and one of water, or if preferred, a quart of milk, in the inner cup of a double boiler; and when boiling, stir in five tablespoonfuls of farina, moistened evenly with a little milk. Let it boil rapidly until well set, which will be in about five or eight minutes; then place in the outer boiler, and cook one hour. Serve cold or hot with a dressing of cream or fruit juices. Farina may be cooked in water alone, but on account of its lack of nutritive elements, it is more valuable if prepared with milk. Farina with Fig Sauce. —Cook the farina as in the foregoing recipe, and serve hot with a fig sauce prepared as follows:— Carefully look over, washed, and chop or cut quite finally, enough good figs to make a cupful. Stew in a pint of water, to which has...
4 minute read
Description. —The native country of the plant from which our common varieties of the oat are derived, is unknown. Oat grains have been found among the remains of the lake-dwellers in Switzerland, and it is probable that this plant was cultivated by the prehistoric inhabitants of Central Europe. The ancient Greeks and Romans used oats, ranking them next in value to barley, which they esteemed above all other cereals. Although principally grown as food for horses, the oat, when divested of its husk and broken by a process of milling, is an exceedingly nutritious and valuable article of diet for human beings; and there is no article of food that has increased in general favor more rapidly in the last few years than this grain. The Scotch have long been famed for their large consumption of oatmeal. It forms the staple article of diet for the peasantry, to which fact...
2 minute read
Oatmeal Mush. —Heat a quart of water to boiling in the inner dish of a double boiler, sift into it one cup of coarse oatmeal, and boil rapidly, stirring continuously until it sets; then place in the outer boiler, the water in which should be boiling, and cook three hours or longer. Serve with cream. Oatmeal fruit mush. —Prepare the oatmeal as directed above, and stir in lightly, when dishing for the table, some sliced mellow and juicy raw sweet apples. Strawberry apples and other slightly tart apples are likewise excellent for the purpose. Well-ripened peaches and bananas may also be used, if care is taken to preserve the slices whole, so as to present an appetizing appearance. Both this and the plain oatmeal mush are best eaten with toasted whole-wheat wafers or some other hard food. Oatmeal Blancmange No. 1. —Soak a cupful of coarse oatmeal over night in...
3 minute read
Description. —Barley is stated by historians to be the oldest of all cultivated grains. It seems to have been the principal bread plant among the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. The Jews especially held the grain in high esteem, and sacred history usually uses it interchangeably with wheat, when speaking of the fruits of the Earth. Among the early Greeks and Romans, barley was almost the only food of the common people and the soldiers. The flour was made into gruel, after the following recipe: "Dry, near the fire or in the oven, twenty pounds of barley flour, then parch it. Add three pounds of linseed meal, half a pound of coriander seeds, two ounces of salt, and the water necessary." If an especially delectable dish was desired, a little millet was also added to give the paste more "cohesion and delicacy." Barley was also used whole as a food,...
54 minute read
Baked Barley. —Soak six tablespoonfuls of barley in cold water over night. In the morning, turn off the water, and put the barley in an earthen pudding dish, and pour three and one half pints of boiling water over it; add salt if desired, and bake in a moderately quick oven about two and one half hours, or till perfectly soft, and all the water is absorbed. When about half done, add four or five tablespoonfuls of sugar mixed with grated lemon peel. It may be eaten warm, but is very nice molded in cups and served cold with cream. Pearl Barley with Raisins. —Carefully look over and wash a cupful of pearl barley. Cook in a double boiler in five cups of boiling water for four hours. Just before serving, add a cupful of raisins which have been prepared by pouring boiling water over them and allowing them to...
2 minute read
Description. —Rice is one of the most abundantly used and most digestible of all the cereals. It grows wild in India, and it is probable that this is its native home. It is, however, now cultivated in most tropical and sub-tropical climates, and is said to supply the principal food for nearly one third of the human race. It is mentioned in history several hundred years before Christ. According to Soyer, an old writer on foods, the Greeks and Romans held rice in high esteem, believing it to be a panacea for chest and lung diseases. The grain is so largely grown and used by the Chinese that "fan," their word for rice, has come to enter into many compound words. A beggar is called a "tou-fan-tee," that is, "the rice-seeking one." The ordinary salutation, "Che-fan," which answers to our "How do you do?" means, "Have you eaten your rice?"...
2 minute read
Steamed Rice. —Soak a cup of rice in one and a fourth cups of water for an hour, then add a cup of milk, turn into an earthen dish suitable for serving it from at table, and place in a steam-cooker or a covered steamer over a kettle of boiling water, and steam for an hour. It should be stirred with a fork occasionally, for the first ten or fifteen minutes. Boiled Rice (Japanese method).—Thoroughly cleanse the rice by washing in several waters, and soak it overnight. In the morning, drain it, and put to cook in an equal quantity of boiling water, that is, a pint of water for a pint of rice. For cooking, a stewpan with tightly fitting cover should be used. Heat the water to boiling, then add the rice, and after stirring, put on the cover, which is not again to be removed during the...
27 minute read
Description. —Rye is much more largely grown and used in European countries that in America. In appearance it closely resembles wheat, although somewhat darker in color and smaller in size. Bread made from rye constitutes the staple food of the people in many parts of Europe. In nutritive value such bread nearly equals that made from wheat, but it has an acid taste not relished by persons unaccustomed to its use. Rye is found in market deprived of its husk and crushed or rolled, and also in the form of meal and flour....
27 minute read
Rolled Rye. —Into three parts water boiling in the inner dish of a double boiler, stir one part rolled rye. Boil rapidly until set, stirring meanwhile, then place in the outer boiler, and cook for three or more hours. Rye Mush. —Stir a cupful of rye meal to a smooth batter with a cupful of water, then turn it slowly into three cupfuls of water, which should be boiling on the range, in the inner dish of a double boiler. Stir until thickened, then place in the outer boiler, and cook for an hour or longer....
2 minute read
Description. —There can be little doubt that maize is of American origin. The discoverers of the new world found it cultivated by the aborigines, and from the fact that corn was the generic term then largely used to designate grain (in old English, "corn" means grain), they named it "Indian corn." Since that time it has been carried to nearly every part of the globe, and probably it is more extensively used than any other one of the cereals, with the exception of rice. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that it is the most prolific of the grains, and is adapted to the widest range of climate. Maize was the chief food of the slaves of Brazil, as it used to be of those in our own Southern States, and is very largely consumed in Mexico and Peru. It was used very little in Europe until the Irish...
4 minute read
Corn meal mush. —stir together one pint of cornmeal, one tablespoonful of flour, and one pint of cold milk. Turn this slowly, stirring well meanwhile, into one quart of boiling water, which should not cease to boil during the introduction of the batter. Cook three or four hours. If milk is not obtainable, water alone may be used, in which case two tablespoonfuls of flour will be needed. Cook in a double boiler. Corn Meal Mush with Fruit. —Mush prepared in the above manner may have some well-steamed raisins or chopped figs added to it just before serving. Corn meal cubes. —Left-over corn meal mush may be made into an appetizing dish by first slicing into rather thick slices, then cutting into cubes about one inch squares. Put the cubes into a tureen and turn over them a quantity of hot milk or cream. Cover the dish, let them stand...
2 minute read
Description. —Macaroni is a product of wheat prepared from a hard, clean, glutenous grain. The grain is ground into a meal called semolina , from which the bran is excluded. This is made into a tasty dough by mixing with hot water in the proportion of two thirds semolina to one third water. The dough after being thoroughly mixed is put into a shallow vat and kneaded and rolled by machinery. When well rolled, it is made to assume varying shapes by being forced by a powerful plunger through the perforated head of strong steel or iron cylinders arranged above a fire, so that the dough is partially baked as it issues from the holes. It is afterwards hung over rods or laid upon frames covered with cloth, and dried. It is called by different names according to its shape. If in the shape of large, hollow cylinders, it is...
3 minute read
Home-Made Macaroni. —To four cupfuls of flour, add one egg well beaten, and enough water to make a dough that can be rolled. Roll thin on a breadboard and cut into strips. Dry in the sun. The best arrangement for this purpose is a wooden frame to which a square of cheese-cloth has been tightly tacked, upon which the macaroni may be laid in such a way as not to touch, and afterwards covered with a cheese-cloth to keep off the dust during the drying. Boiled Macaroni. —Break sticks of macaroni into pieces about an inch in length, sufficient to fill a large cup; put it into boiling water and cook until tender. When done, drained thoroughly, then add a pint of milk, part cream if it can be afforded, a little salt and one well-beaten egg; stir over the fire until it thickens, and serve hot. Macaroni with Cream...
18 minute read
Sir Isaac Newton, when writing his grail work, "Principia," lived wholly upon a vegetable, diet. ROBERT COLLYER once remarked; "One great reason why I never had a really sick day in my life was that as boy I lived on oatmeal and milk and brown bread, potatoes and a bit of meat when I could get it, and then oatmeal again." HOT-WEATHER DIET.—The sultry period of our summer, although comparatively slight and of short duration, is nevertheless felt by some people to be extremely oppressive, but this is mainly due to the practice of eating much animal food or fatty matters, conjoined as it often is with the habit of drinking freely of fluids containing more or less alcoholics. Living on cereals, vegetables, and fruits, and abstaining from alcoholic drinks, the same persons would probably enjoy the temperature, and be free from the thirst which is the natural result of...
38 minute read
For general use, the most convenient form of bread is usually considered to be that made from wheat flour, raised or made light by some method of fermentation, although in point of nutritive value and healthfulness, it does not equal light, unfermented, or aërated bread made without the aid of chemicals. The Process of Fermentation. —Fermentation is a process of decomposition, and hence more or less destructive to the substances subjected to its influence. When animal and vegetable substances containing large amounts of nitrogenous elements are in a moist state and exposed to air, they very soon undergo a change, the result of which is decomposition or decay. This is occasioned by the action of germs, which feed upon nitrogenous substances, as do the various species of fungi. Meat, eggs, milk, and other foods rich in nitrogenous elements can be preserved but a short time if exposed to the atmosphere....
3 minute read
Raw Potato Yeast. —Mix one fourth of a cup of flour, the same of white sugar, and a teaspoonful of salt to a paste with a little water. Pare three medium-size, fresh, and sound potatoes, and grate them as rapidly as possible into the paste; mix all quickly together with a silver spoon, then pour three pints of boiling water slowly over the mixture, stirring well at the same time. If this does not rupture the starch cells of the flour and potatoes so that the mixture becomes thickened to the consistency of starch, turn it into a granite-ware kettle and boil up for a minute, stirring well to keep it from sticking and burning. If it becomes too much thickened, add a little more boiling water. It is impossible to give the exact amount of water, since the quality of the flour will vary, and likewise the size of...
5 minute read
In the preparation of breads after the following recipes, the measure of flour should be heaping....
13 minute read
Milk Bread With White Flour. —Scald and cool on pint of unskimmed milk. Add to the milk when lukewarm, one fourth of a cup, or three tablespoonfuls, of liquid yeast, and three cups of flour. Give the batter a vigorous beating, turn it into a clean bread bowl or a small earthen crock, cover, and let it rise over night. In the morning, when well risen, add two or three cupfuls of warm flour, or sufficient to knead. Knead well until the dough is sufficiently elastic to rebound when struck forcibly with the fist. Allow it to rise again in mass; then shape into loaves; place in pans; let it stand until light, and bake. If undesirable to set the bread over night, and additional tablespoonfuls or two of cheese may be used, to facilitate the rising. Vienna Bread. —Into a pint of milk sterilized by scalding, turn a cup...
11 minute read
The earliest forms of bread were made without fermentation. Grain was broken as fine as possible by pounding on smooth stones, made into dough with pure water, thoroughly kneaded, and baked in some convenient way. Such was the "unleavened breads" or "Passover cakes" of the Israelites. In many countries this bread is the only kind used. Unleavened bread made from barley and oats is largely used by the Irish and Scotch peasantry. In Sweden an unleavened bread is made of rye meal and water, flavored with anise seed, and baked in large, thin cakes, a foot or more in diameter. Some savage tribes subsists chiefly upon excellent corn bread, made simply of meal and water. Unleavened bread made of corn, called tortillas , forms the staple diet of the Mexican Indians. The corn, previously softened by soaking in lime water, is ground to a fine paste between a stone slab...
14 minute read
Whole-Wheat Puffs. —Put the yolk of an egg into a basin, and beat the white in a separate dish to a stiff froth. Add to the yolk, one half a cupful of rather thin sweet cream and one cupful of skim milk. Beat the egg, cream, and milk together until perfectly mingled and foamy with air bubbles; then add, gradually, beating well at the same time, one pint of wheat berry flour. Continue the beating vigorously and without interruption for eight or ten minutes; then stir in, lightly, the white of the egg. Do not beat again after the white of the egg is added, but turn at once into heated, shallow irons, and bake for an hour in a moderately quick oven. If properly made and carefully baked, these puffs will be of a fine, even texture throughout, and as light as bread raised by fermentation. Whole-Wheat Puffs No....
7 minute read
Behind the nutty loaf is the mill wheel; behind the mill is the wheat field; on the wheat field rests the sunlight; above the sun is God.— James Russell Lowell. Bread forms one of the most important parts of the ration of the German soldier. In time of peace, the private soldier is supplied day by day with one pound and nine ounces of bread; when fighting for the Fatherland, every man is entitled to a free ration of over two pounds of bread, and field bakery trains and steam ovens for providing the large amount of bread required, form a recognized part of the equipment of the German army. The wandering Arab lives almost entirely upon bread, with a few dates as a relish. According to Count Rumford, the Bavarian wood-chopper, one of the most hardy and hard-working men in the world, receives for his weekly rations one large...
20 minute read
[Table Note A: Small quantities of albumen, citric acid, citrate of potash, cellulose, etc.] [Table Note B: Sugar and pectose.] [Table Note C: Starch, pectose, etc.] There is a prevailing notion that the free use of fruits, especially in summer, excites derangement of the digestive organs. When such derangement occurs, it is far more likely to have been occasioned by the way in which the fruit was eaten than by the fruit itself. Perhaps it was taken as a surfeit dish at the end of a meal. It may have been eaten in combi nation with rich, oily foods, pastry, strong coffee, and other indigestible viands, which, in themselves, often excite an attack of indigestion. Possibly it was partaken of between meals, or late at night, with ice cream and other confections, or it was swallowed without sufficient mastication. Certainly, it is not marvelous that stomach and bowel disorders do...
1 minute read
All fruit for serving should be perfectly ripe and sound. Immature fruit is never wholesome, and owing to the large percentage of water in its composition, fruit is very prone to change; hence over-ripe fruit should not be eaten, as it is liable to ferment and decompose in the digestive tract. Fruit which has begun, however slightly, to decay, should be rejected. Juice circulates through its tissues in much the same manner as the blood circulates through animal tissues, though not so rapidly and freely. The circulation is sufficient, however, to convey to all parts the products of decomposition, when only a small portion has undergone decay, and although serious results do not always follow the use of such fruit, it certainly is not first-class food. If intended to be eaten raw, fruit should be well ripened before gathering, and should be perfectly fresh. Fruit that has stood day after...
5 minute read
Apples. —In serving these, the "queen of all fruits," much opportunity is afforded for a display of taste in their arrangement. After wiping clean with a damp towel, they may be piled in a fruit basket, with a few sprigs of green leaves here and there between their rosy cheeks. The feathery tops of carrots and celery are pretty for this purpose. Oranges and apples so arranged, make a highly ornamental dish. Raw mellow sweet apples make a delicious dish when pared, sliced, and served with cream. Bananas. —Cut the ends from the fruit and serve whole, piled in a basket with oranges, grapes, or plums. Another way is to peel, slice, and serve with thin cream. Bananas are also very nice sliced, sprinkled lightly with sugar, and before it had quite dissolved, covered with orange juice. Sliced bananas, lightly sprinkled with sugar, alternating in layers with sections of oranges,...
5 minute read
Of the numerous varieties of fruits grown in this country, apples and pears are about the only ones that can be kept for any length of time without artificial means. As soon as fruit has attained its maturity, a gradual change or breaking down of tissues begins. In some fruits this process follows rapidly; in other it is gradual. There is a certain point at which the fruits are best suited for use. We call it mellowness, and say that the fruit is in "good eating condition." When this stage has been reached, deterioration and rotting soon follow. In some fruits, as the peach, plum, and early varieties of apples and pears, these changes occur within a few days after maturity, and it is quite useless to attempt to keep them; in others, like the later varieties of apples and pears, the changes are slow but none the less certain....
2 minute read
Perfectly ripe fruit is, as a rule, more desirable used fresh than in any other way. Fruits which are immature, require cooking. Stewing and baking are the simplest methods of preparation. General Suggestions for Cooking Fruit. —The utensils for stewing should be porcelain-lined, or granite ware. Fruit cooked in tin loses much of its delicate flavor; while if it be acid, and the tin of poor quality, there is always danger that the acid of the fruit acting upon the metal will form a poisonous compound. Cover with a china plate or granite-ware cover, never with a tin one, as the steam will condense and run down into the kettle, discoloring the contents. Use only silver knives for preparing the fruit, and silver or wooden spoons for stirring. Prepare just before cooking, if you would preserve the fruit perfect in flavor, and unimpaired by discoloration. In preparing apples, pears, and...
13 minute read
Baked Apples. —Moderately tart apples or very juicy sweet ones are best for baking. Select ripe apples, free from imperfections, and of nearly equal size. Wipe carefully and remove the blossom ends. Water sufficient to cover bottom of the baking dish, should be added if the fruit is not very juicy. If the apples are sour and quite firm, a good way is to pare them before baking, and then place them in an earthen pie dish with a little hot water. If they incline to brown too quickly, cover the tops with a granite-ware pie dish. If the syrup dries out, add a little more hot water. When done, set them away till nearly cold, then transfer to a glass dish, pour the syrup, which should be thick and amber colored, over them. Sour apples are excellent pared, cored, and baked with the centers filled with sugar, jelly, or...
1 minute read
Fresh fruit is so desirable, while at the same time the season during which most varieties can be obtained is so transient, that various methods are resorted to for preserving it in as nearly a natural state as possible. The old-fashioned plans of pickling in salt, alcohol, or vinegar, or preserving in equal quantities of sugar, are eminently unhygienic. Quite as much to be condemned is the more modern process of keeping fruit by adding to it some preserving agent, like salicylic acid or other chemicals. Salicylic acid is an antiseptic, and like many other substances, such as carbolic acid, creosote, etc., has the power of preventing the decay of organic substances. Salicylic acid holds the preference over other drugs of this class, because it imparts no unpleasant flavor to the fruit. It is nevertheless a powerful and irritating drug, and when taken, even in small doses, produces intense burning...
11 minute read
Canning consists in sealing in air-tight cans or jars, fruit which has been previously boiled. It is a very simple process, but requires a thorough understanding of the scientific principles involved, and careful management, to make it successful. The result of painstaking effort is so satisfactory, however, it is well worth all the trouble, and fruit canning need not be a difficult matter if attention is given to the following details:— Select self-sealing glass cans of some good variety. Tin cans give more trouble filling and sealing, are liable to affect the flavor of the fruit, and unless manufactured from the best of material, to impair its wholesomeness. Glass cans may be used more than once, and are thus much more economical. Those with glass covers, or porcelain-lined covers, are best. Test the cans to see if they are perfect, with good rubbers and covers that fit closely, by partly...
9 minute read
To Can Strawberries. —These are generally considered more difficult to can than most other berries. Use none but sound fruit, and put up the day they are picked, if possible. Heat the fruit slowly to the boiling point, and cook fifteen minutes or longer, adding the sugar hot, if any be used, after the fruit is boiling. Strawberries, while cooking, have a tendency to rise to the top, and unless they are kept poshed down, will not be cooked uniformly, which is doubtless one reason they sometimes fail to keep well. The froth should also be kept skimmed off. Fill the cans as directed on page 197 , taking special care to let out every air bubble, and to remove every particle of froth from the top of the can before sealing. If the berries are of good size, the may be cooked in the cans, adding a boiling syrup...
4 minute read
The excess of sugar commonly employed in preparing jellies often renders them the least wholesome of fruit preparations, and we cannot recommend our readers to spend a great amount of time in putting up a large stock of such articles. The juice of some fruits taken at the right stage of maturity may be evaporated to a jelly without sugar, but the process is a more lengthy one, and requires a much larger quantity of juice than when sugar is used. Success in the preparation of fruit jellies depends chiefly upon the amount of pectose contained in the fruit. Such fruits as peaches, cherries, and others containing but a small proportion of pectose, cannot be made into a firm jelly. All fruit for jelly should, if possible, be freshly picked, and before it is over-ripe, as it has then a much better flavor. The pectose, the jelly-producing element, deteriorates with...
4 minute read
Apple Jelly. —Cut nice tart apples in quarters, but unless wormy, do not peel or core. Put into a porcelain kettle with a cup of water for each six pounds of fruit, and simmer very slowly until the apples are thoroughly cooked. Turn into a jelly-bag, and drain off the juice. If very tart, allow three fourths of a pound of sugar to each pint of juice. If sub-acid, one half pound will be sufficient. Put the sugar into the oven to heat. Clean the kettle, and boil the juice therein twenty minutes after it begins to boil thoroughly. Add the sugar, stirring until well dissolved, let it boil up once again, and remove from the fire. The juice of one lemon may be used with the apples, and a few bits of lemon rind, the yellow portion only, cooked with them to give them a flavor, if liked. One...
1 minute read
As sauces for desserts and for summer beverages for sick or well, the pure juices of fruits are most wholesome and delicious. So useful are they and so little trouble to prepare, that no housewife should allow the fruit season to pass by without putting up a full stock. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, grapes, and cherries are especially desirable. In preparing them, select only the best fruit, ripe, but not over-ripe. Extract the juice by mashing the fruit and slowly heating in the inner cup of a double boiler, till the fruit is well scalded; too long heating will injure its color. Strain through a jelly bag and let it drain slowly for a long time, but do not squeeze, else some of the pulp will be forced through. Reheat slowly to boiling and can the same as fruit. It may be put up with or without sugar. If sugar...
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Grape Juice, or Unfermented Wine. —Take twenty-five pounds of some well ripened very juicy variety of grapes, like the Concord. Pick them from the stems, wash thoroughly, and scald without the addition of water, in double boilers until the grapes burst open; cool, turn into stout jelly bags, and drain off the juice without squeezing. Let the juice stand and settle; turn off the top, leaving any sediment there may be. Add to the juice about four pounds of best granulated sugar, reheat to boiling, skim carefully, and can the same as fruit. Keep in a cool, dark place. The wine, if to be sealed in bottles, will require a corker, and the corks should first be boiled in hot water and the bottles well sterilized. Grape Juice No. 2. —Take grapes of the best quality, picked fresh from the vines. Wash well after stripping from the stems, rejecting any...
1 minute read
This method of preserving fruit, except in large establishments where it is dried by steam, is but little used, since canning is quicker and superior in every way. Success in drying fruits is dependent upon the quickness with which, they can be dried, without subjecting them to so violent a heat as to burn them or injure their flavor. Pulpy fruits, such as berries, cherries, plums, etc., should be spread on some convenient flat surface without contact with each other, and dried in the sun under glass, or in a moderate oven. They should be turned daily. They will dry more quickly if first scalded in a hot oven. Cherries should be first stoned and cooked until well heated through and tender, then spread on plates, and the juice (boiled down to a syrup) poured over them. When dried, they will be moist. Pack in jars. Large fruit, such as...
5 minute read
The nuts, or shell fruits, as they are sometimes termed, form a class of food differing greatly from the succulent fruits. They are more properly seeds, containing, in general, no starch, but are rich in fat and nitrogenous elements in the form of vegetable albumen and casein. In composition, the nuts rank high in nutritive value, but owing to the oily matter which they contain, are difficult of digestion, unless reduced to a very minutely divided state before or during mastication. The fat of nuts is similar in character to cream, and needs to be reduced to the consistency of cream to be easily digested. Those nuts, such as almonds, filberts, and pecans, which do not contain an excess of fat, are the most wholesome. Nuts should be eaten, in moderation, at the regular mealtime, and not partaken of as a tidbit between meals. It is likewise well to eat...
1 minute read
To Blanch Almonds. —Shell fresh, sweet almonds, and pour boiling water over them; let them stand for two or three minutes, skim out, and drop into cold water. Press between the thumb and finger, and the kernels will readily slip out of the brown covering. Dry between clean towels. Blanched almonds served with raisins make an excellent dessert. Boiled Chestnuts. —The large variety, knows as the Italian chestnut, is best for this purpose. Remove the shells, drop into boiling water, and boil for ten minutes, take out, drop into cold water, and rub off the brown skin. Have some clean water boiling, turn the blanched nuts into it, and cook until they can be pierced with a fork. Drain thoroughly, put into a hot dish, dry in the oven for a few minutes, and serve. A cream sauce or tomato sauce may be served with them if liked. Mashed Chestnuts....
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Who lives to eat, will die by eating.— Sel. Fruit bears the closest relation to light. The sun pours a continuous flood of light into the fruits, and they furnish the best portion of food a human being requires for the sustenance of mind and body.— Alcott. The famous Dr. John Hunter, one of the most eminent physicians of his time, and himself a sufferer from gout, found in apples a remedy for this very obstinate and distressing malady. He insisted that all of his patients should discard wine and roast beef, and make a free use of apples. Do not too much for your stomach, or it will abandon you.— Sel. The purest food is fruit, next the cereals, then the vegetables. All pure poets have abstained almost entirely from animal food. Especially should a minister take less meat when he has to write a sermon. The less meat...
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Description. —The common garden pea is probably a native of countries bordering on the Black Sea. A variety known as the gray pea ( pois chiche ) has been used since a very remote period. The common people of Greece and Rome, in ancient times made it an ordinary article of diet. It is said that peas were considered such a delicacy by the Romans that those who coveted public favor distributed them gratuitously to the people in order to buy votes. Peas were introduced into England from Holland in the time of Elizabeth, and were then considered a great delicacy. History tells us that when the queen was released from her confinement in the tower, May 19, 1554, she went to Staining to perform her devotions in the church of Allhallows, after which she dined at a neighboring inn upon a meal of which the principal dish was boiled...
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Stewed Split Peas. —Carefully examine and wash the peas, rejecting any imperfect or worm-eaten ones. Put into cold water and let them come to a boil; then place the stewpan back on the range and simmer gently until tender, but not mushy. Season with salt and a little cream if desired. Peas Puree. —Soak a quart of Scotch peas in cold water over night. In the morning, drain and put them to cook in boiling water. Cook slowly until perfectly tender, allowing them to simmer very gently toward the last until they become as dry as possible. Put through a colander to render them homogeneous and remove the skins. Many of the skins will be loosened and rise to the top during the cooking, and it is well to remove these with a spoon so as to make the process of rubbing through the colander less laborious. Season with salt...
1 minute read
Description. —Some variety of the bean family has been cultivated and used for culinary purposes from time immemorial. It is frequently mentioned in Scripture; King David considered it worthy of a place in his dietary, and the prophet Ezekiel was instructed to mix it with the various grains and seeds of which he made his bread. Among some ancient nations the bean was regarded as a type of death, and the priests of Jupiter were forbidden to eat it, touch it, or even pronounce its name. The believer in the doctrine of transmigration of souls carefully avoided this article of food, in the fear of submitting beloved friends to the ordeal of mastication. At the present day there is scarcely a country in hot or temperate climates where the bean is not cultivated and universally appreciated, both as a green vegetable and when mature and dried. The time required to...
4 minute read
Baked Beans. —Pick over a quart of best white beans and soak in cold water over night. Put them to cook in fresh water, and simmer gently till they are tender, but not broken. Let them be quite juicy when taken from the kettle. Season with salt and a teaspoonful of molasses. Put them in a deep crock in a slow oven. Let them bake two or three hours, or until they assume a reddish brown tinge, adding boiling water occasionally to prevent their becoming dry. Turn, into a shallow dish, and brown nicely before sending to the table. Boiled Beans. —Pick over some fresh, dry beans carefully, and wash thoroughly. Put into boiling water and cook gently and slowly until tender, but not broken. They should be moderately juicy when done. Serve with lemon juice, or season with salt and a little cream as preferred. The colored varieties, which...
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Description. —Several varieties of the lentil are cultivated for food, but all are nearly alike in composition and nutritive value. They have long been esteemed as an article of diet. That they were in ordinary use among the Hebrews is shown by the frequent mention of them in Scripture. It is thought that the red pottage of Esau was made from the red variety of this legume. The ancient Egyptians believed that a diet of lentils would tend to make their children good tempered, cheerful, and wise, and for this reason constituted it their principal food. A gravy made of lentils is largely used with their rice by the natives of India, at the present day. The meal which lentils yield is of great richness, and generally contains more casein than either beans or peas. The skin, however, is tough and indigestible, and being much smaller than peas, when served...
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Lentil Puree. —Cook the lentils and rub through a colander as for peas puree . Season, and serve in the same manner. Lentils Mashed with Beans. —Lentils may be cooked and prepared in the same manner as directed for mashed peas, but they are less strong in flavor if about one third to one half cooked white beans are used with them. Lentil Gravy with Rice. —Rub a cupful of cooked lentils through a colander to remove the skins, add one cup of rich milk, part cream if it can be afforded, and salt if desired. Heat to boiling, and thicken with a teaspoonful of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold milk. Serve hot on nicely steamed or boiled rice, or with well cooked macaroni....
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The men who kept alive the flame of learning and piety in the Middle Ages were mainly vegetarians.— Sir William Axon. According to Xenophon, Cyrus, king of Persia, was brought up on a diet of water, bread, and cresses, till his fifteenth year, when honey and raisins were added; and the family names of Fabii and Lentuli were derived from their customary diet. Thomson, in his poem, "The Seasons," written one hundred and sixty years ago, pays the following tribute to a diet composed of seeds and vegetable products:— Most assuredly I do believe that body and mind are much influenced by the kind of food habitually depended upon. I can never stray among the village people of our windy capes without now and then coming upon a human being who looks as if he had been split, salted, and dried, like the salt fish which has built up his...
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If salt is to be used to season, one third of a teaspoonful for each pint of cooked vegetables is an ample quantity....
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Description. —The potato, a plant of the order Solanaceae , is supposed to be indigenous to South America. Probably it was introduced into Europe by the Spaniards early in the sixteenth century, but cultivated only as a curiosity. To Sir Walter Raleigh, however, is usually given the credit of its introduction as a food, he having imported it from Virginia to Ireland in 1586, where its valuable nutritive qualities were first appreciated. The potato has so long constituted the staple article of diet in Ireland, that it has come to be commonly, though incorrectly, known as the Irish potato. The edible portion of the plant is the tuber, a thick, fleshy mass or enlarged portion of an underground stem, having upon its surface a number of little buds, or "eyes," each capable of independent growth. The tuber is made up of little cells filled with starch granules, surrounded and permeated...
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Boiled Potatoes (in Jackets). —Choose potatoes of uniform size, free from specks. Wash and scrub them well with a coarse cloth or brush; dig out all eyes and rinse in cold water; cook in just enough water to prevent burning, till easily pierced with a fork, not till they have burst the skin and fallen in pieces. Drain thoroughly, take out the potatoes, and place them in the oven for five minutes, or place the kettle back on the range; remove the skins, and cover with a cloth to absorb all moisture, and let them steam three or four minutes. By either method they will be dry and mealy. In removing the skins, draw them off without cutting the potatoes. Boiled Potatoes (without Skins). —Pare very thin, and wash clean. If not of an equal size, cut the larger potatoes in two. Cook in only sufficient water to prevent burning...
1 minute read
Description. —The sweet potato is a native of the Malayan Archipelago, where it formerly grew wild; thence it was taken to Spain, and from Spain to England and other parts of the globe. It was largely used in Europe as a delicacy on the tables of the rich before the introduction of the common potato, which has now taken its place and likewise its name. The sweet potato is the article referred as potato by Shakespeare and other English writers, previous to the middle of the seventeenth century. Preparation and Cooking. —What has been said in reference to the common potato, is generally applicable to the sweet potato; it may be prepared and cooked in nearly all the ways of the Irish potato. In selecting sweet potatoes, choose firm, plump roots, free from any sprouts; if sprouted they will have a poor flavor, and are likely to be watery. The...
2 minute read
Baked Sweet Potatoes. —Select those of uniform size, wash clean, cutting out any imperfect spots, wipe dry, put into moderately hot oven, and bake about one hour, or until the largest will yield to gentle pressure between the fingers. Serve at once without peeling. Small potatoes are best steamed, since if baked, the skins will take up nearly the whole potato. Baked Sweet Potato No. 2. —Select potatoes of medium size, wash and trim but do not pare, and put on the upper grate of the oven. For a peek of potatoes, put in the lower part of the oven in a large shallow pan a half pint of hot water. The water may be turned directly upon the oven bottom if preferred. Bake slowly, turning once when half done. Serve in their skins, or peel, slice, and return to the oven until nicely browned. Boiled Sweet Potatoes. —Choose potatoes...
1 minute read
Description. —The turnip belongs to the order Cruciferæ , signifying "cross flowers," so called because their four petals are arranged in the form of a cross. It is a native of Europe and the temperate portions of Asia, growing wild in borders of fields and waste places. The ancient Roman gastronomists considered the turnip, when prepared in the following manner, a dish fit for epicures: "After boiling, extract the water from them, and season with cummin, rue or benzoin, pounded in a mortar; afterward add honey, vinegar, gravy, and boiled grapes. Allow the whole to simmer, and serve." Under cultivation, the turnip forms an agreeable culinary esculent; but on account of the large proportion of water entering into its composition, its nutritive value is exceedingly low. The Swedish, or Rutabaga, variety is rather more nutritive than the white, but its stronger flavor renders it less palatable. Unlike the potato, the...
3 minute read
Boiled Turnips. —Turnips, like other vegetables, should be boiled in as small an amount of water as possible. Great care must be taken, however, that the kettle does not get dry, as scorched turnip is spoiled. An excellent precaution, in order to keep them from scorching in case the water becomes low, is to place an inverted saucer or sauce-dish in the bottom of the kettle before putting in the turnips. Put into boiling water, cook rapidly until sufficiently tender to pierce easily with a fork; too much cooking discolors and renders them strong in flavor. Boiled turnips should be drained very thoroughly, and all water pressed out before preparing for the table. The age, size, and variety of the turnip will greatly vary the time necessary for its cooking. The safest rule is to allow plenty of time, and test with a fork. Young turnips will cook in about...
1 minute read
Description. —The common garden parsnip is derived by cultivation from the wild parsnip, indigenous to many parts of Europe and the north of Asia, and cultivated since Roman times. It is not only used for culinary purposes, but a wine is made from it. In the north of Ireland a table beer is brewed from its fermented product and hops. The percentage of nutritive elements contained in the parsnip is very small; so small, indeed, that one pound of parsnips affords hardly one fifth of an ounce of nitrogenous or muscle-forming material. The time required for its digestion, varies from two and one half to three and one half hours. Preparation and Cooking. —Wash and trim off any rough portions: scrape well with a knife to remove the skins, and drop at once into cold water to prevent discoloration. If the parsnips are smooth-skinned, fresh, and too small to need...
2 minute read
Baked Parsnips. —Wash, thoroughly, but do not scrape the roots; bake the same as potatoes. When tender, remove the skins, slice, and serve with cream or an egg sauce prepared as directed for Parsnips with Egg Sauce. They are also very nice mashed and seasoned with cream. Baked and steamed parsnips are far sweeter than boiled ones. Baked Parsnips No. 2. —Wash, scrape, and divide; drop into boiling water, a little more than sufficient to cook them, and boil gently till thoroughly tender. There should remain about one half pint of the liquor when the parsnips are done. Arrange on an earthen plate or shallow pudding dish, not more than one layer deep; cover with the juice, and bake, basting frequently until the juice is all absorbed, and the parsnips delicately browned. Serve at once. Boiled Parsnips. —Clean, scrape, drop into a small quantity of boiling water, and cook until...
1 minute read
Description. —The garden carrot is a cultivated variety of a plant belonging to the Umbettiferæ , and grows wild in many portions of Europe. The root has long been used for food. By the ancient Greeks and Romans it was much esteemed as a salad. The carrot is said to have been introduced into England by Flemish refugees during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. Its feathery leaves were used by the ladies as an adornment for their headdresses, in place of plumes. Carrots contain sugar enough for making a syrup from them; they also yield by fermentation and distillation a spirituous liquor. In Germany they are sometimes cut into small pieces, and roasted as a substitute for coffee. Starch does not enter into the composition of carrots, but a small portion of pectose is found instead. Carrots contain more water than parsnips, and both much cellulose and little...
39 minute read
Boiled Carrots. —Clean, scrape, drop into boiling water, and cook till tender; drain thoroughly, slice, and serve with a cream sauce. Varieties with strong flavor are better parboiled for fifteen or twenty minutes, and put into fresh boiling water to finish. Carrots with Egg Sauce. —Wash and scrape well; slice and throw into boiling water, or else steam. When tender, drain thoroughly, and pour over them a sauce prepared the same as for parsnips ( page 244 ), with the addition of a tablespoonful of sugar. Let them boil up once, and serve. Stewed Carrots. —Prepare young and tender carrots, drop into boiling water, and cook for fifteen or twenty minutes. Drain, slice, and put into a stewpan with rich milk or cream nearly to cover; simmer gently until tender; season with salt and a little chopped parsley....
1 minute read
Description. —The beet is a native of the coasts of the Mediterranean, and is said to owe its botanical name, beta , to a fancied resemblance to the Greek letter B. Two varieties are in common use as food, the white and the red beet; while a sub-variety, the sugar beet, is largely cultivated in France, in connection with the beet-sugar industry in that country. The same industry has recently been introduced into this country. It is grown extensively in Germany and Russia, for the same pose, and is also used there in the manufacture of alcohol. The beet root is characterized by its unusual amount of sugar. It is considered more nutritive than any other esculent tuber except the potato, but the time required for its digestion exceeds that of most vegetables, being three and three fourths hours. Preparation and Cooking. —Beets, like other tubers, should be fresh, unshriveled,...
2 minute read
Baked Beets. —Beets are far better baked than boiled, though it takes a longer time to cook properly. French cooks bake them slowly six hours in a covered dish, the bottom of which is lined with well-moistened rye straw; however, they may be baked on the oven grate, like potatoes. Wipe dry after washing, and bake slowly. They are very nice served with a sauce made of equal quantities of lemon juice and whipped cream, with a little salt. Baked Beets No. 2. —Wash young and tender beets, and place in an earthen baking dish with a very little water; as it evaporates, add more, which must be of boiling temperature. Set into a moderate oven, and according to size of the beets, bake slowly from two to three hours. When tender, remove the skins and dress with lemon juice or cream sauce. Beets and Potatoes. —Boil newly matured potatoes...
2 minute read
Description. —The common white garden cabbage is one of the oldest of cultivated vegetables. A variety of the plant known as red cabbage was the delight of ancient gourmands more than eighteen centuries ago. The Egyptians adored it, erected altars to it, and made it the first dish at their repasts. In this they were imitated by the Greeks and Romans. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, considered the cabbage one of the most valuable of remedies, and often prescribed a dish of boiled cabbage to be eaten with salt for patients suffering with violent colic. Erasistratus looked upon it as a sovereign remedy against paralysis, while Cato in his writings affirmed it to be a panacea for all diseases, and believed the use the Romans made of it to have been the means whereby they were able, during six hundred years, to do without the assistance of physicians, whom they...
2 minute read
Baked Cabbage. —Prepare and chop a firm head of young white cabbage, boil until tender, drain, and set aside until nearly cold. Then add two well-beaten eggs, salt to taste, and a half cup of thin cream or rich milk. Mix and bake in a pudding dish until lightly browned. Boiled Cabbage. —Carefully clean a nice head of cabbage, divide into halves, and with a sharp knife slice very thin, cutting from the center of the head outward. Put into boiling water, cover closely, and cook rapidly until tender; then turn into a colander and drain, pressing gently with the back of a plate. Return to the kettle, add salt to taste, and sufficient sweet cream to moisten well, heat through if at all cooled, dish, and serve at once. If preferred, the cream may be omitted, and the cabbage served with tomato sauce or lemon juice as a dressing....
1 minute read
Description. —These vegetables are botanically allied to the cabbage, and are similar in composition. They are entirely the product of cultivation, and constitute the inflorescence of the plant, which horticultural art has made to grow into a compact head of white color in the cauliflower, and of varying shades of buff, green, and purple in the broccoli. There is very little difference between the two aside from the color, and they are treated alike for culinary purposes. They were known to the Greeks and Romans, and highly appreciated by connoisseurs. They are not as nutritious as the cabbage, but have a more delicate and agreeable flavor. Preparation and Cooking. —The leaves should be green and fresh, and the heads of cauliflower creamy white; when there are dark spots, it is wilted. The color of broccoli will depend upon the variety, but the head should be firm, with no discolorations. To...
1 minute read
(The recipes given are applicable to both broccoli and cauliflower.) Boiled Cauliflower. —Prepare, divide into neat branches, and tie securely in a net. Put into boiling milk and water, equal quantities, and cook until the main stalks are tender. Boil rapidly the first five minutes, afterward more moderately, to prevent the flower from becoming done before the stalks. Serve on a hot dish with cream sauce or diluted lemon juice. Browned Cauliflower. —Beat together two eggs, a little salt, four tablespoonfuls of sweet cream, and a small quantity of grated bread crumbs well moistened with a little milk, till of the consistency of batter. Steam the cauliflower until tender, separate it into small bunches, dip each top in the mixture, and place in nice order in a pudding dish; put in the oven and brown. Cauliflower with Egg Sauce. —Steam the cauliflower until tender, separate into small portions, dish, and...
1 minute read
Description. —This plant is supposed to be a native of western Arabia. There are several varieties which are prepared and served as "greens." Spinach is largely composed of water. It is considered a wholesome vegetable, with slightly laxative properties. Preparation and Cooking. —Use only tender plants or the tender leaves of the older stalks, and be sure to have enough, as spinach shrinks greatly. A peck is not too much for a family of four or five. Pick it over very carefully, trim off the roots and decayed leaves, and all tough, stringy stalks, and the coarse fibers of the leaves, as those will not cook tender until the leaves are overdone. Wash in several waters, lifting grit. Shake each bunch well. Spinach is best cooked in its own juices; this may be best accomplished by cooking it in a double boiler, or if placed in a pot and slowly...
27 minute read
Description. —The common celery is a native of Great Britain. In its wild state it has a strong, disagreeable taste and smell, and is known as smallage . By cultivation it becomes more mild and sweet. It is usually eaten uncooked as a salad herb, or introduced into soups as a flavouring. In its raw state, it is difficult of digestion. Celery from the market may be kept fresh for some time by wrapping the bunches in brown paper, sprinkling them with water, then wrapping in a damp cloth and putting in some cool, dark place....
1 minute read
Celery Salad. —Break the stems apart, cut off all green portions, and after washing well put in cold water for an hour or so before serving. Stewed Celery. —Cut the tender inner parts of celery heads into pieces about a finger long. The outer and more fibrous stalks may be saved to season soups. Put in a stewpan, and add sufficient water to cover; then cover the pan closely, and set it where it will just simmer for an hour, or until the celery is perfectly tender. When cooked, add a pint of rich milk, part cream if you have it, salt to taste, and when boiling, stir in a tablespoon of flour rubbed smooth in a little milk. Boil up once and serve. Stewed Celery No. 2. —Cut the white part of fine heads of celery into small pieces, blanch in boiling water, turn into a colander, and drain....
3 minute read
Description. —The asparagus is a native of Europe, and in its wild state is a sea-coast plant. The young shoots form the edible portion. The plant was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who not only used it as a table delicacy but considered it very useful in the treatment of internal diseases. Roman cooks provided themselves with a supply of the vegetable for winter use by cutting fine heads and drying them. When wanted, they were put into hot water and gently cooked. The asparagus is remarkable as containing a crystalline alkaloid called asparagin , which is thought to possess diuretic properties. Preparation and Cooking. —Select fresh and tender asparagus. Those versed in its cultivation, assert that it should be cut at least three times a week, and barely to the ground. If it is necessary to keep the bunches for some time before cooking, stand them, tops...
17 minute read
Description. —This plant, a native of Britain, and much esteemed as a vegetable in England and on the Continent, is also in its wild state a sea-coast plant. When properly cooked, it is nutritious and easy of digestion. In appearance and flavor it greatly resembles asparagus, and the suggestions for cooking and recipes given for that vegetable are applicable to sea-kale....
1 minute read
Description. —These two vegetables, although wholly different, the one being the leaf of a plant, the other the root, are both so commonly served as relishes that we will speak of them together. Both have long been known and used. Wild lettuce is said to be the bitter herb which the Hebrews ate with the Paschal lamb. The ancient Greek and Roman epicures valued lettuce highly, and bestowed great care upon its cultivation, in some instances watering the plants with sweet wine instead of water, in order to communicate to them a delicate perfume and flavor. The common garden lettuce of the present day is a hardy plant, which supplies an agreeable, digestible, and, when served with a wholesome dressing, unobjectionable salad. The common radish is supposed to be indigenous to China. Ancient writers on foods mention the radish as used by the early Greeks and Romans, who fancied that...
45 minute read
Lettuce. —Wash well, put into cold water, and set on ice or on the cellar bottom for an hour or more before using. Dry the leaves with a soft towel and use whole or tear into convenient pieces with a silver fork; never cut with a knife. Serve with a dressing prepared of equal quantities of lemon juice and sugar, diluted with a little ice water; or, with a dressing of cream and sugar, in the proportion of three or four tablespoonfuls of thin cream to a teaspoonful of sugar. The dressing may be prepared, and after the sugar is dissolved, a very little lemon juice (just enough to thicken the cream slightly, but not sufficient to curdle it) may be added if desired. Radishes. —Wash thoroughly young and tender radishes, and arrange in a glass dish with the taper ends meeting. Scatter bits of cracked ice among them. An...
39 minute read
Description. —The vegetable marrow (sometimes called cymling) is thought to be a variety of the common gourd, from which also the pumpkin and winter squash appear to have been derived. It is easily digested, but on account of the abundance of water in its composition, its nutritive value is very low. Preparation and Cooking. —When very young, most varieties need no preparation for cooking, aside from washing thoroughly. After cooking, the skin can be easily rubbed off and the seeds removed. If more mature, pare thinly, and if large, divide into halves or quarters and scoop out the seeds. Summer squashes are better steamed than boiled. If boiled, they should be cooked in so little water that it will be quite evaporated when they are tender. From twenty to sixty minutes will be required for cooking....
44 minute read
Mashed Squash. —Wash, peel, remove seeds, and steam until tender. Place the squash in a clean cloth, mash thoroughly, squeeze until the squash is quite dry, or rub through a fine colander and afterward simmer until neatly dry; season with cream, and a little salt if desired, and heat again before serving. A teaspoonful of sugar may be added with the cream, if desired. Squash with Egg Sauce. —Prepare, steam till tender, cut into pieces, and serve with an egg sauce made the same as directed for asparagus, page 256 . Stewed Squash. —Prepare, cut into pieces, and stew until tender in a small quantity of boiling water; drain, pressing out all the water; serve on toast with cream or white sauce. Or, divide in quarters, remove the seeds, cook in a double boiler, in its own juices, which when done may be thickened with a little flour. Season with...
21 minute read
The winter squash and pumpkin are allied in nature to the summer squash. Preparation and Cooking. —Select squashes of a firm texture, wash, break in pieces with a hatchet if hard-shell, or if the shell is soft, divide with a knife; remove all seeds, and boil, stew, steam, or bake, as preferred. To boil or steam, from thirty minutes to one hour's time will be needed; to bake, one to two hours....
28 minute read
Baked Squash.. —The hard-shell varieties are best for baking. Wash, divide, and lay, shells downward, on the top grate of the oven, or place in a shallow baking dish with a little boiling water. Boil until tender, serve in the shell, or scrape out the soft part, mash and serve with two largo tablespoonful of cream to a pint of squash. If preferred, the skins may be removed before baking, and the squash served the same as sweet potato, for which it makes a good substitute. Steamed Squash. —Prepare the squash, and steam until tender. Mash and season as for baked squash....
25 minute read
Description. —When our forefathers came to this country, they found the pumpkin growing in the Indian cornfields, and at once made use of it. Although as food it did not supply what its handsome exterior promised, yet in the absence of other fruits and relishes, of which the exigencies of a new country deprived them, they soon found the pumpkin quite palatable; and the taste, cultivated through necessity, has been handed down through generations, until the pumpkin stewed and baked in pies, has become an established favorite....
53 minute read
Baked Pumpkin. —Wash the pumpkin well on the outside, divide into quarters if small, into sixths or eighths if large; remove the seeds but not the rind. Bake as directed for squash. Serve in the rind, dishing it out by spoonfuls. Stewed Pumpkin —Select a good, ripe pumpkin, and cut in halves; remove the seeds, slice halfway around, pare, cut into inch pieces, put over the fire in a kettle containing a small quantity of boiling water, and stew gently, stirring frequently until it breaks to pieces. Cool, rub through a colander, and place where it will just simmer, but not burn, until the water is all evaporated and the pumpkin dry. Pumpkin for pies is much richer baked like squash, and rubbed through a colander after the skin has been removed. Dried Pumpkin. —Pumpkin may be dried and kept for future use. The best way is first to cut...
57 minute read
Description. —The tomato, or "love apple," as it was called in the early part of the century, is a native of South America and Mexico. It was formerly regarded as poisonous, and though often planted and prized as a curiosity in the flower garden, it has only within the last half century come to be considered as a wholesome article of diet. Botanically, it is allied to the potato. It is an acid fruit, largely composed of water, and hence of low nutritive value; but it is justly esteemed as a relish, and is very serviceable to the cook in the preparation of soups and various mixed dishes. Preparation and Cooking. —Tomatoes to be served in an uncooked state should be perfectly ripe and fresh. The medium-sized, smooth ones are the best. To peel, pour scalding water over them; let them remain for half a minute, plunge into cold water,...
2 minute read
Baked Tomatoes. —Fill a pudding dish two thirds full of stewed tomatoes; season with salt, and sprinkle grated crumbs of good whole-wheat or Graham bread over it until the top looks dry. Brown in the oven, and serve with a cream dressing. Baked Tomatoes No. 2. Wash and wipe a quantity of smooth, even-sized tomatoes; remove the stems with a sharp-pointed knife. Arrange on an earthen pudding or pie dish, and bake whole in a moderate oven. Serve with cream. Scalloped Tomatoes. —Take a pint of stewed tomatoes, which have been rubbed through a colander, thicken with one and one fourth cups of lightly picked crumbs of Graham or whole-wheat bread, or a sufficient quantity to make it quite thick, add salt if desired, and a half cup of sweet cream, mix well, and bake for twenty minutes. Or, fill a pudding dish with alternate layers of peeled and sliced...
14 minute read
Description. —The egg plant, a vegetable indigenous to the East Indies, is somewhat allied in character to the tomato. In shape, it resembles an egg, from which fact it doubtless derives its name. It ranks low in nutritive value. When fresh, the plant is firm and has a smooth skin....
52 minute read
Scalloped Egg Plant. —Pare a fresh egg plant. If large, divide in quarters, if small, in halves, and put to cook in boiling water. Cook until it can be easily pierced with a straw, and drain in a colander. Turn into a hot dish, and beat with a silver fork until finely broken. Measure the egg plant, and add to it an equal quantity of graded bread crumbs, a little salt, and a tablespoonful of thick sweet cream. Lastly, add one well beaten egg. Put in an earthen pudding dish, and brown in the oven until the egg is set, and the whole is heated throughout but not dry. Baked Egg Plant. —Wash and cook whole in boiling water until tender. Divide in halves, remove the inside with a spoon, taking care not to break the skin. Beat the egg plant smooth with a fork. Season with salt and cream,...
40 minute read
Description. —The cucumber is a native of Southern Asia, although it is quite commonly cultivated in most civilized countries. It formed a part of the dietary of the Israelites when in Egypt, where it grew very plentifully. The ancient Greeks held the cucumber in high esteem, and attributed to it wonderful properties. The cucumber is not a nutritious vegetable, and when served in its raw state, as it so generally is, dressed with salt, vinegar, pepper, and similar condiments, it is an exceedingly indigestible article. If it is to be eaten at all, it should first be cooked. It may be pared, divided in quarters, the seeds removed, and cooked in a small quantity of water until perfectly tender, and served on toast with an egg sauce or a cream sauce; or it may be prepared the same as directed for Escalloped Egg Plant....
45 minute read
Description. —The vegetable oyster plant, sometimes called purple goat's-beard, or salsify, is indigenous to some portions of Great Britain. The long, slender root becomes fleshy and tender under cultivation, with a flavor, when cooked, somewhat resembling that of the mollusk for which it is named. On this account, it is much esteemed for soups. A variety of the plant grows near the line of perpetual snow, and forms the principal article of fresh vegetable food in the dietary of Kurdistan. Preparation and Cooking. —Select fresh and unshriveled roots, wash and scrape well, dropping into cold water as soon as cleaned, to prevent discoloration. If the roots are covered with cold water for a half hour or more before scraping, they can be cleaned much easier. Use a porcelain-lined kettle, for cooking, as an iron one will discolor it and injure its flavor. From twenty minutes to one hour, according to...
1 minute read
Scalloped Vegetable Oysters. —Boil two quarts of sliced vegetable oysters in about two quarts of water until very tender. Skim them out, and fill a pudding dish with alternate layers of crumbs and oysters, having a layer of crumbs for the top. To the water in which they were boiled, add a pint and a half of thin cream, salt to taste, boil up, and thicken with a heaping tablespoonful or two of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold cream. Pour this over the oysters and crumbs, and bake a half hour. If this is not enough to cover well, add more cream or milk. Stewed tomatoes are a nice accompaniment for escalloped vegetable oysters. Stewed Vegetable Oysters. —Wash, scrape, and cut into slices not more than one half inch in thickness. Put into a small quantity of boiling water and cook until tender. If a large quantity of...
43 minute read
Description. —Corn, peas, and beans in their immature state are so nearly allied to vegetables, that we give in this connection recipes for cooking green corn, green beans, and green peas. A general rule applicable to all is that they should, when possible, be cooked and eaten the day they are gathered, as otherwise they lose much of their sweetness and flavor. For corn, select young, tender, well-filled ears, from which the milk will spurt when the grain is broken with the finger nail. Beans and peas are fresh only when the pods are green, plump, snap crisply when broken, and have unshriveled stems. If the pods bend and appear wilted, they are stale. Corn, peas, and beans are wholesome and nutritious foods when thoroughly cooked and sufficiently masticated, but they are almost indigestible unless the hull, or skin, of each pea, bean, or grain of corn, be broken before...
4 minute read
Baked Corn. —Select nice fresh ears of tender corn of as nearly equal size as possible. Open the husks and remove all the silk from the corn; replace and tie the husks around the ears with a thread. Put the corn in a hot oven, and bake thirty minutes or until tender. Remove the husks before serving. Baked Corn No. 2. —Scrape enough corn from the cob (as directed below for Corn Pulp) to make one and a half quarts. Put into a baking dish, season with salt if desired, add enough milk, part cream if convenient, barely to cover the corn, and bake in a hot oven twenty-five or thirty minutes. Boiled Green Corn. —Remove the husks and every thread of the silk fiber. Place in a kettle, the larger ears at the bottom, with sufficient boiling water nearly to cover. Cover with the clean inner husks, and cook...
51 minute read
Stewed Peas. —If from the garden, pick and shell the peas with clean hands; if from the market, wash the pods before shelling, so that the peas will not require washing, as they are much better without. When shelled, put into a colander and sift out the fine particles and undeveloped blossoms. If not of equal growth, sort the peas and put the older ones to cook ten minutes before the others. Use a porcelain kettle, with one half pint of boiling water for each quart of peas, if young and tender; older ones, which require longer stewing, need more. Cover closely, and simmer gently till tender. The time required for young peas is from twenty-five to thirty minutes; older ones require forty to fifty minutes. Serve without draining, season with salt and enough sweet cream to make them as juicy as desired. If preferred, the juice may be thickened...
1 minute read
Lima Beans. —Lima beans are not good until they are full grown and have turned white. Shell, wash, cover with boiling water, and cook about one hour or until tender. Let the water nearly evaporate, and add milk or cream thickened with a little flour. Season with salt to taste, boil up once, and serve. Shelled Beans. —Shell, wash, drop into boiling water sufficient to cover, and cook until tender. Let the water boil nearly away, and serve without draining. Season with thin cream, and salt if desired. String Beans. —Wash well in cold water. Remove the strong fiber, or strings, as they are called, by paring both edges with a sharp knife; few cooks do this thoroughly. Break off stems and points, carefully rejecting any imperfect or diseased pods. Lay a handful evenly on a board and cut them all at once into inch lengths. Put in a porcelain...
31 minute read
The onion belongs to a class of foods containing an acrid oil of a strongly irritating character, on which account it cannot be considered a wholesome food when eaten raw, as it so generally is. The essential oil is, however, quite volatile, so that when cooked, after being first parboiled in two or three waters, its irritating properties are largely removed. The varieties grown in warm climates are much milder and sweeter than those grown in colder countries. The onion is valuable for flavoring purposes. It may also be boiled and served whole with a cream sauce, or cut in quarters and prepared as directed for Scalloped Turnips, page 242 ....
30 minute read
Most housekeepers experience more difficulty in canning and keeping vegetables than fruit. This is frequently owing to lack of care to secure perfect cans, covers, and rubbers, and to cook the vegetables thoroughly. Whatever is to be canned must be cooked sufficiently to be eaten, and must be boiling at the time it is put into the cans. Care as to the cleanliness of the cans and their sterilization is also important, and after the canning process is completed, all vegetables put up in glass should be kept in a cool, dark place. The general directions given for canning fruits should be followed in canning vegetables....
3 minute read
Canned Corn. —Select corn just ripe enough for table use, and prepare as directed for stewed corn. It will require from twelve to fifteen ears to fill sufficiently each quart can. To insure success, the cans should be so full that when the corn is shrunken by the cooking, the can will still be well filled. Pack the corn in the cans, working it down closely by means of the small end of a potato masher, so the milk will cover the corn and completely fill the can; heap a little more corn loosely on the top, and screw the covers on sufficiently tight to prevent water from getting into the can. Place the cans in a boiler, on the bottom of which has been placed some straw or a rack; also take care not to let the cans come in contact with each other, by wrapping each in a...
10 minute read
The word "vegetarian" is not derived from "vegetable," but from the Latin, homo vegetus , meaning among the Romans a strong, robust, thoroughly healthy man. AN INTELLECTUAL FEAST.—Professor Louis Agassiz in his early manhood visited Germany to consult Oken, the transcendentalist in zoölogical classification. "After I had delivered to him my letter of introduction," he once said to a friend, "Oken asked me to dine with him, and you may suppose with what joy I accepted the invitation. The dinner consisted only of potatoes, boiled and roasted; but it was the best dinner I ever ate; for there was Oken. Never before were such potatoes grown on this planet; for the mind of the man seemed to enter into what we ate sociably together, and I devoured his intellect while munching his potatoes." Dr. Abernethy's recipe for using cucumbers: "Peel the cucumber, slice it, pepper it, put vinegar to it,...
24 minute read
Asparagus Soup. —Wash two bunches of fresh asparagus carefully, and cut into small pieces. Put to cook in a quart of boiling water, and simmer gently till perfectly tender, when there should remain about a pint of the liquor. Turn into a colander, and rub all through except the hard portion. To a pint of asparagus mixture add salt and one cup of thin cream and a pint of milk; boil up for a few minutes, and serve. Baked Bean Soup. —Soak a half pint of white beans over night. In the morning turn off the water, and place them in an earthen dish with two or two and one half quarts of boiling water; cover and let them simmer in a moderate oven four or five hours. Also soak over night a tablespoonful of pearl tapioca in sufficient water to cover. When the beans are soft, rub through a...
6 minute read
Soup rejoices the stomach, and disposes it to receive and digest other food.— Brillat Savarin. To work the head, temperance must be carried into the diet.— Beecher. To fare well implies the partaking of such food as does not disagree with body or mind. Hence only those fare well who live temperately.— Socrates. The aliments to which the cook's art gives a liquid or semi-liquid form, are in general more digestible.— Dictionaire de Medicine. In the most heroic days of the Grecian army, their food was the plain and simple produce of the soil. When the public games of ancient Greece were first instituted, the athleta , in accordance with the common dietetic habits of the people, were trained entirely on vegetable food. The eating of much flesh fills us with a multitude of evil diseases and multitudes of evil desires.— Perphyrises, 233 A.D. A good breakfast is the best...
6 minute read
Apple Toast. —Fresh, nicely flavored apples stewed in a small quantity of water, rubbed through, a colander, sweetened, then cooked in a granite-ware dish in a slow oven until quite dry, make a nice dressing for toast. Baked sweet or sour apples rubbed through a colander to remove cores and skins, are also excellent. Soften slices of zwieback in hot cream, and serve with a spoonful or two on each slice. If desired, the apple may be flavored with a little pineapple or lemon, or mixed with grape, cranberry, or apricot, thus making a number of different toasts. Apricot Toast. —Stew some nice dried apricots as directed on page 191 . When done, rub through a fine colander to remove all skins and to render them homogeneous. Add sugar to sweeten, and serve as a dressing on slices of zwieback which have been previously softened in hot cream. One half...
3 minute read
Brewis. —Heat a pint of rich milk to boiling, remove from fire, and beat into it thoroughly and quickly a cup of very fine stale rye or Graham bread crumbs. Serve at once with cream. Blackberry Mush. —Rub a pint of canned or fresh stewed and sweetened blackberries, having considerable juice, through a fine colander or sieve to remove the seeds. Add water to make a pint and a half cupful in all, heat to boiling, and sprinkle into it a cupful of sifted Graham flour, or sufficient to make a mush of desired thickness. Cook as directed for Graham Mush, page 90 . Serve hot with cream. Dry Granola. —This prepared food, made from wheat, corn, and oats, and obtainable from the Sanitarium Food Co., Battle Creek, Mich., forms an excellent breakfast dish eaten with cold or hot milk and cream. Wheatena, prepared wholly from wheat; Avenola, made from...
3 minute read
The lightest breakfast is the best.— Oswald. A NEW NAME FOR BREAKFAST.—"Tum, mamma, leth's go down to tupper," said a little toddler to her mother, one morning, recently. "Why, we don't have supper in the morning," replied the mother. "Den leth's do down to dinner," urged the little one. "But we don't have dinner in the morning," corrected the mother. "Well, den, leth's do down any way," pleaded the child. "But try and think what meal we have in the morning," urged mamma. "I know," said the toddler, brightening up. "What meal do we have in the morning?" "Oatmeal. Tum on; leth's do."— Sel. Seneca, writing to a friend of his frugal fare which he declares does not cost a sixpence a day, says:— "Do you ask if that can supply due nourishment? Yes; and pleasure too. Not indeed, that fleeting and superficial pleasure which needs to be perpetually recruited,...
2 minute read
In the preparation of desserts, as in that of all other foods it is essential that all material used shall be thoroughly good of its kind. If bread is to be used, the crumbs should be dry and rather stale, but on no account use that which is sour or moldy. Some housekeepers imagine that if their bread happens to spoil and become sour, although it is hardly palatable enough for the table, it may be advantageously used to make puddings. It is indeed quite possible to combine sour bread with other ingredients so as to make a pudding agreeable to the palate; but disguising sour bread makes sweets and flavors by no means changes it into a wholesome food. It is better economy to throw sour bread away at once than to impose it upon the digestive organs at the risk of health and strength. Bread which has begun...
2 minute read
To Prepare Almond Paste. —Blanch the nuts according to directions given on page 215 . Allow them to dry thoroughly, and pound in a mortar to a smooth paste. They can be reduced much easier if dried for a day or two after blanching. During the pounding, sprinkle with a few drops of cold water, white of egg, rose water, or lemon juice, to prevent them from oiling. Cocoanut Flavor. —Cocoanut, freshly grated or desiccated, unless in extremely fine particles, is a very indigestible substance, and when its flavor is desired for custards, puddings, etc., it is always better to steep a few tablespoonfuls in a pint of milk for twenty minutes or a half hour, and strain out the particles. The milk should not be allowed to boil, as it will be likely to curdle. One tablespoonful of freshly grated cocoanut or two of the desiccated will give a...
5 minute read
Apple Dessert. —Pare some large tart apples, remove the cores, put into the cavities a little quince jelly, lemon flavored sugar, or grated pineapple and sugar, according to the flavor desired. Have as many squares of bread with the crust taken off as there are apples, and place a filled apple on each piece of bread, on earthen pie plates; moisten well with a little quince jelly dissolved in water, lemon juice, or pineapple juice, according to the filling used. Cover closely, and bake in a rather quick oven till the apples are tender. Serve with whipped cream and sugar. Apple Meringue Dessert. —Pare and core enough tart, easy-cooking apples to make a quart when stewed. Cover closely and cook slowly till perfectly tender, when they should be quite dry. Mash through a colander, add a little sugar and a little grated pineapple or lemon peel. Beat light with a...
17 minute read
Apple Sandwich. —Mix half a cup of sugar with the grated yellow rind of half a lemon. Stir half a cup of cream into a quart of soft bread crumbs; prepare three pints of sliced apples, sprinkled with the sugar; fill a pudding dish with alternate layers of moistened crumbs and sliced apples, finishing with a thick layer of crumbs. Unless the apples are very juicy, add half a cup of cold water, and unless quite tart, have mixed with the water the juice of half a lemon. Cover and bake about one hour. Remove the cover toward the last, that the top may brown lightly. Serve with cream. Berries or other acid fruits may be used in place of apples, and rice or cracked wheat mush substituted for bread crumbs. Apple Sandwich No. 2. —Prepare and stew some apples as for sauce, allowing them to become quite dry; flavor...
31 minute read
Both pearl and flake tapioca are suitable for these desserts. They should be soaked for some hours before using, and it is always best to soak over night if convenient. The flake tapioca requires longer soaking and cooking than the pearl tapioca. For soaking, use one and a half cups of water for each cup of flake tapioca, and one pint of water for a cup of pearl tapioca. For cooking, three or four additional cups of water will be required for each cup of tapioca, depending upon, the articles used with it. A double boiler should be used for the cooking....
8 minute read
Apple Tapioca. —Soak a cupful of pearl tapioca over night. In the morning simmer in a quart of boiling water until transparent and thickened. Arrange in the bottom of a pudding dish four or five good-sized tart apples, which have been pared, cored, and the cavities filled with sugar. Squeeze the juice of a lemon and grate a very little of the rind over the apples. Pour the tapioca over the fruit. Set the dish inside a pan filled with hot water, cover, and bake one hour, or until the apples are done. Serve with sugar and cream. It is best nearly cold. Fresh peaches, pared and stewed, may be used in place of apples, if preferred. Apple Tapioca No. 2. —Soak a half cup of tapioca in a cap of tepid water, for at least three hours. Pare, core, and quarter nice tart apples to fill a two-quart pudding...
2 minute read
Gelatine is an article largely employed in making delicate and dainty dishes. It is economical and convenient, because the dessert can be prepared several hours before needed; but it must be stated that it has in itself little or no food value, and there is great liability of its being unwholesome. A writer in the Anti-Adulteration Journal , a short time since, speaking of the use of gelatine, says:— "The nutritive value of pure gelatine has been shown to be very low in the scale of foods. The beef gelatine of the markets that is used by bakers, is far from being pure gelatine. It frequently has a very disagreeable, fetid odor, and has evidently begun to decompose during the process of manufacture. After a thorough drying, putrefaction does not take place as long as it remains dry. But suppose that gelatine which has thus begun to decompose during the...
8 minute read
Apples in Jelly. —Pare and core without cutting open, a half dozen medium-sized tart apples of the same degree of hardness. Fill the centers with a little grated lemon rind and sugar. Steam until tender but not broken. Have ready half a package of gelatine which has been soaked for an hour in just enough water to cover. Prepare a syrup with one cup of sugar and a pint of water. When boiling, turn the syrup over the gelatine, stirring well to dissolve it, and add the juice of half a lemon. Strain, place the apples in a deep dish with a little space between each; turn the mixture over them, and set in the ice box to cool. Serve with or without a little whipped cream. Apple Shape. —Steam some nice tart apples. When tender, rub through a colander. Have two thirds of a box of gelatine soaked in...
3 minute read
Apple Tart. —Pare and slice some quick-cooking, tart apples, and place them in the bottom of a pudding dish, with a tablespoonful of water. Cover with a crust prepared in the following manner: Into a cup of thin cream stir a gill of yeast and two cups of flour; let this become very light, then add sufficient flour to mix soft. Knead for fifteen or twenty minutes very thoroughly, roll evenly, and cover the apples; put all in a warm place until the crust has become very light, then bake. If the apples do not bake easily, they may be partially cooked before putting on the crust. Dish so that the fruit will be uppermost, and serve cold with cream and sugar, cocoanut sauce, or mock cream. Gooseberry Tart. —Fill a pudding dish with well prepared green gooseberries, adding a tablespoonful or two of water. Cover with a crust as...
1 minute read
Very much depends upon the baking in all puddings made with milk and eggs. A custard pudding made with one egg, and slowly baked, will be much thicker and nicer than one made with more eggs, baked in too hot an oven. A custard pudding baked too quickly or too long will have the eggs mixed with the farinaceous substance and the milk turned to whey, while one more carefully baked will have eggs and milk formed into a thick custard on the top. Custard puddings and all other baked puddings which require to be cooked slowly, are best cooked in an earthen dish set in the oven in a pan of hot water, and baked only till the pudding is set. If it is desirable to use with eggs any ingredient which requires a lengthy cooking, it is much better to cook it partially before adding the eggs. Many...
28 minute read
Apple Custard. —Bake good tart apples; when done, remove the pulp, and rub through a sieve; sweeten, and flavour with grated pineapple or grated orange or lemon rind. Put in a glass dish, and cover with a plain custard prepared as directed on page 328 . Bits of jelly may be scattered over the top of the custard. Apple Custard No. 2. —Peel, halve, and core eight or ten medium-sized sour apples. Have prepared a syrup made with a cup of water, the juice of one lemon, a little grated rind, and a half cup of sugar. When the sugar is dissolved, add the fruit, and simmer till tender but not fallen to pieces. Skim out the apples, draining thoroughly, and lay them in a glass dish. Boil up the syrup until thick, and poor it over the apples. Make a soft boiled custard with a pint of milk, yolks...
18 minute read
The following precautions are necessary to be observed in steaming puddings or desserts of any sort:— 1. Have the water boiling rapidly when the pudding is placed in the steamer, and keep it constantly boiling. 2. Replenish, if needed, with boiling water, never with cold. 3. Do not open the steamer and let in the air upon the pudding, until it is done....
2 minute read
Batter Pudding. —Beat four eggs thoroughly; add to them a pint of milk, and if desired, a little salt. Sift a teacupful of flour and add it gradually to the milk and eggs, beating lightly the while. Then pour the whole mixture through, a fine wire strainer into a small pail with cover, in which it can be steamed. This straining is imperative. The cover of the pail should be tight fitting, as the steam getting into the pudding spoils it. Place the pail in a kettle of boiling water, and do not touch or move it until the pudding is done. It takes exactly an hour to cook. If moved or jarred during the cooking, it will be likely to fall. Slip it out of the pail on a hot dish, and serve with cream sauce. A double boiler with tightly fitting cover is excellent for cooking this pudding....
5 minute read
So much has been said and written about the dietetic evils of these articles that their very names have been almost synonymous with indigestion and dyspepsia. That they are prolific causes of this dire malady cannot be denied, and it is doubtless due to two reasons; first, because they are generally compounded of ingredients which are in themselves unwholesome, and rendered doubly so by their combination; and secondly, because tastes have become so perverted that an excess of these articles is consumed in preference to more simple and nutritious food. As has been elsewhere remarked, foods containing an excess of fat, as do most pastries and many varieties of cake, are exceedingly difficult of digestion, the fat undergoing in the stomach no changes which answer to the digestion of other elements of food, and its presence interferes with the action of the gastric juice upon other elements. In consequence, digestion...
15 minute read
Paste for Pies. —Sift together equal parts of Graham grits and white flour (Graham flour will do if the grits are not obtainable, but the grits will produce a more crisp and tender crust), and wet with very cold, thin sweet cream. Have the flour also as cold as possible, since the colder the material, the more crisp the paste; mix together very quickly into a rather stiff dough. Do not knead at all, but gather the fragments lightly together, roll out at once, fill and bake quickly, since much of the lightness of the crust depends upon the dispatch with which the pie is gotten into the oven after the materials are thrown together. If for any reason it is necessary to defer the baking, place the crust in the ice-chest till needed. Corn Meal Crust. —Equal parts of sifted white corn meal and flour, mixed together lightly with...
2 minute read
General Suggestions. —Always sift the flour for cake before measuring out the amount required. Use the best granulated white sugar. Eggs for use in cake are better to have the yolks and whites beaten separately. Beat the former until they cease to froth and begin to thicken as if mixed with flour. Beat the whites until stiff enough to remain in the bowl if inverted. Have the eggs and dishes cool, and if practicable, beat in a cool room. Use earthen or china bowls to beat eggs in. If fruit is to be used, it should be washed and dried according to directions given on page 298 , and then dusted with flour, a dessertspoonful to the pound of fruit. For use in cup cake or any other cake which requires a quick baking, raisins should be first steamed. If you have no patent steamer, place them in a close...
9 minute read
Apple Cake. —Scald a cup of thin cream and cool to blood heat, add one and a half cups of sifted white flour, one fourth of a cup of sugar, and a gill of liquid yeast or one half cake of compressed yeast dissolved in a gill of thin cream. Beat well together, set in a warm place, and let it rise till perfectly light. When well risen, add one half cup of sugar mixed with one half cup of warm flour. Beat well and set in a warm place to rise again. When risen a second time, add two eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately, and about one tablespoonful of flour. Turn the whole into three round shallow baking tins, which have been previously oiled and warmed, and place where it will rise again for an hour, or until it is all of a foam. Bake quickly in a...
3 minute read
If families could be induced to substitute the apple—sound, ripe, and luscious—for the pies, cakes, candies, and other sweetmeats with which children are too often stuffed, there would be a diminution of doctors' bills, sufficient in a single year to lay up a stock of this delicious fruit for a season's use.— Prof. Faraday. Food for repentance—mince pie eaten late at night. Young Student —"This cook book says that pie crust needs plenty of shortening. Do you know what that means, pa?" Father —"It means lard." "But why is lard called shortening, pa?" "Because it shortens life." The health journals and the doctors all agree that the best and most wholesome part of the New England country doughnut is the hole. The larger the hole, they say, the better the doughnut. An old gentleman who was in the habit of eating a liberal slice of pie or cake just before...
1 minute read
Brown Sauce. —Heat a pint of thin cream, and when boiling, add half a teaspoonful of salt and a tablespoonful of flour browned in the oven as directed on page 274 , and rubbed to a smooth paste with a little cold milk. Allow it to boil rapidly, stirring constantly until thickened; then cook more slowly, in a double boiler, for five or ten minutes. If desired, the milk may be flavored with onion before adding the flour. This makes a good dressing for potatoes. Cream or White Sauce. —Heat a pint of rich milk, part cream if it can be afforded, to boiling, and stir into it one tablespoonful of flour previously rubbed smooth in a little milk. Season with salt, and cook in a double boiler five or ten minutes, stirring frequently that no lumps be formed. If lumps are found in the sauce, turn it quickly through...
7 minute read
Almond Sauce. —Heat a pint of rich milk in the inner cup of a double boiler, placed directly upon the stove. When the milk is boiling, stir into it a heaping tablespoonful of flour which has been rubbed to a cream in a little cold milk. Boil rapidly until thickened, stirring constantly; then add three tablespoonfuls of almondine; place in the outer boiler, and cook for five or ten minutes longer. Caramel Sauce. —Stir a cup of sugar in a saucepan over the fire until melted and lightly browned. Add one cup of boiling water, and simmer ten minutes. Cocoanut Sauce. —Flavor a pint of new milk with cocoanut, as directed on page 298 . Skim out the cocoanut, and add enough fresh milk to make one pint. Heat the milk to boiling, add two tablespoonfuls of sugar, thicken with two even spoonfuls of cornstarch, and proceed in the same...
5 minute read
Whether or not life is worth living, all depends upon the liver.— Sel. Diet cures mair than doctors.— Scotch Proverb. According to the ancient Hindu Scriptures, the proper amount of food is half of what can be conveniently eaten. Every hour you steal from digestion will be reclaimed by indigestion.— Oswald. "Very few nations in the world," says a sagacious historian, "produce better soldiers than the Russians. They will endure the greatest fatigues and sufferings with patience and calmness. And it is well know that the Russian soldiers are from childhood nourished by simple and coarse vegetable food. The Russian Grenadiers are the finest body of men I ever saw,—not a man is under six feet high. Their allowance consists of eight pounds of black bread, and four pounds of oil per man for eight days." Colonel Fitzgibbon was, many years ago, colonial agent at London for the Canadian Government,...
2 minute read
Beet Coffee. —Wash best beets thoroughly, but do not scrape; slice, and brown in a moderate oven, taking care not to burn. When brown, break in small pieces and steep the same as ordinary coffee. Caramel Coffee. —Take three quarts best bran, one quart corn meal, three tablespoonfuls of molasses; mix and brown in the oven like ordinary coffee. For every cup of coffee required, use one heaping tablespoonful of the caramel. Pour boiling water over it, and steep, not boil, for fifteen or twenty minutes. Caramel Coffee No. 2. —Take one cup each of white flour, corn meal, unsifted Graham flour, and molasses. Mix well, and form into cakes half an inch thick and a little larger around than a silver dollar. If the molasses is not thin enough to take up all the dry material, one fourth or one half a cup of cold water may be added...
4 minute read
Blackberry Beverage. —Crush a quart of fresh blackberries, and pour over them a quart of cold water; add a slice of lemon and a teaspoonful of orange water, and let it stand three or four hours. Strain through a jelly bag. Sweeten to taste with a syrup prepared by dissolving white sugar in hot water, allowing it to become cold before using. Serve at once with bits of broken ice in the glasses, or place the pitcher on ice until ready to serve. Fruit Beverage. —A great variety of pleasant, healthful drinks may be made by taking equal quantities of water and the juice of currants, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, or a mixture of two kinds, as raspberries and currants, sweetening to taste, and putting into each glass a small lump of ice. Directions for the preparation of fruit juices will be found on page 209 . Fruit Beverage No. 2....
1 minute read
The nervousness and peevishness of our times are chiefly attributable to tea and coffee. The digestive organs of confirmed coffee drinkers are in a state of chronic derangement which reacts on the brain, producing fretful and lachrymose moods. The snappish, petulant humor of the Chinese can certainly be ascribed to their immoderate fondness for tea.— Dr. Bock. Dr. Ferguson, an eminent physician who has carefully investigated the influence of tea and coffee upon the health and development of children, says he found that children who were allowed these beverages gained but four pounds a year between the ages of thirteen and sixteen, while those who had been allowed milk instead, gained fifteen pounds in weight during the same period. Dr. Richardson, the eminent English physician and scientist, asserts that the misery of the women of the poorer classes of the population in England is more than doubled by the use...
9 minute read
C hemically considered, the constituents of milk are nitrogenous matter (consisting of casein and a small proportion of albumen), fat, sugar of milk, mineral matter, and water, the last constituting from sixty-five to ninety per cent of the whole. The proportion of these elements varies greatly in the milk of different animals of the same species and of the same animals at different times, so that it is not possible to give an exact analysis. The analysis of an average specimen of cow's milk, according to Letheby, is:— If a drop of milk be examined with a microscope, it will be seen as a clear liquid, holding in suspension a large number of minute globules, which give the milk its opacity or white color. These microscopic globules are composed of fatty matter, each surrounded by an envelope of casein, the principal nitrogenous element found in milk. They are lighter than...
2 minute read
Cream varies in composition according to the circumstances under which it rises. The composition of an average specimen as given by Letherby is:— In the process of churning; the membranes of casein which surround each of the little globules constituting the cream are broken, and the fat of which they are composed becomes a compact mass known as butter. The watery looking residue containing casein, sugar of milk, mineral matter, and a small proportion of fat, comprises the buttermilk. Skim-milk, or milk from which the cream has been removed, and buttermilk are analogous in chemical composition. The composition of each, according to Dr. Edward Smith, is:— Skim-milk and buttermilk, when the butter is made from sweet cream and taken fresh, are both excellent foods, although lacking the fat of new milk. Cream is more easily digested than butter, and since it contains other elements besides fat, is likewise more nutritious....
5 minute read
Of all foods wholly composed of fat, good fresh butter is the most wholesome. It should, however, be used unmelted and taken in a finely divided state, and only in very moderate quantities. If exposed to great heat, as on hot buttered toast, meats, rich pastry, etc., it is quite indigestible. We do not recommend its use either for the table or for cooking purposes when cream can be obtained, since butter is rarely found in so pure a state that it is not undergoing more or less decomposition, depending upon its age and the amount of casein retained in the butter through the carelessness of the manufacturer. Casein, on exposure to air in a moist state, rapidly changes into a ferment, which, acting upon the fatty matter of the butter, produces rancidity, rendering the butter more or less unwholesome. Poor, tainted, or rancid butter should not be used as...
44 minute read
Cheese is a product of milk prepared by separating the casein, with more or less of the cream, according to the manner in which it has been prepared, from the other ingredients of the milk. It is an article, which, although possessing a large proportion, of nutritive material, is very difficult of digestion, and the use of which is very questionable, not only for this reason, but because it is very liable to contain a poison called tyrotoxicon, capable of producing most violent and indeed fatal results, according to the remarkable researches of Prof. Vaughan of Michigan University. This poison is sometimes found in ice cream and custards, cream-puffs, etc., made from stale milk or cream. It is much better to use milk in its fresh, natural state than in any of its products. Made into either butter or cheese, we lose some of its essential elements, so that what...
5 minute read
Hot Milk. —Milk is more easily digested when used hot. This is not due to any marked chemical change in the milk, but to the stimulating effect of heat upon the palate and stomach. To prepare hot milk, heat it in a double boiler until a wrinkled skin appears upon the surface. In the double boiler it may be kept at the proper temperature for a long time without difficulty, and thus prepared, it forms one of the most healthful of foods. Milk, either cold or hot, should be taken a few sips only at a time, and not be drank in copious draughts when used in connection with other foods at mealtime. It will then coagulate in the stomach in small flakes much more easily digested than the large mass resulting when a large quantity is swallowed at a time. Devonshire or Clotted Cream. —This is prepared as follows:...
3 minute read
A little six-year-old boy went into the country visiting. About the first thing he got was a bowl of bread and milk. He tasted it, and then hesitated a moment, when his mother asked if he didn't like it; to which he replied, smacking his lips, "Yes, ma'am. I was only wishing that our milkman in town would keep a cow!" When Horace Greeley was candidate for the presidency, he at one time visited New Orleans, whose old creole residents gave him a dinner; and to make it as fine an affair as possible, each of the many guests was laid under contribution for some of the rarest wines in his cellar. When dinner was announced, and the first course was completed, the waiter appeared at Mr. Greeley's seat with a plate of shrimp. "You can take them away," he said to the waiter, and then added to the horrified...
6 minute read
The white of egg is composed mainly of albumen in a dissolved state, inclosed in layers of thin membrane. When beaten, the membranes are broken, and the liberated albumen, owing to its viscous or glutinous nature, entangles and retains a large amount of air, thus increasing to several times its original bulk. The yolk contains all the fatty matter, and this, with a modified form of albumen called vitellin, forms a kind of yellow emulsion. It is inclosed in a thin membrane, which separates it from the surrounding white. The yolk, being lighter than the white, floats to that portion of the egg which is uppermost, but is held in position by two membranous cords, one from each end of the egg. The average weight of an egg is about two ounces, of which ten per cent consists of shell, sixty of white, and thirty of yolk. How to Choose...
5 minute read
Eggs In Shell. —The usual method of preparing eggs for serving in this way is to put them into boiling water, and boil or simmer until they are considered sufficiently cooked. Albumen, of which the white of the egg is composed, is easiest digested when simply coagulated. The yolk, if cooked at all, is easiest digested when dry and mealy. Albumen coagulates at 160°, and when the boiling point is reached, it becomes hardened, tough, and leathery, and very difficult of digestion. If the egg were all albumen, it might be easily and properly cooked by dropping into boiling water, allowing it to remain for a few seconds, and removing it, since the shell of the egg would prevent its becoming sufficiently heated in so short a time as to become hardened; but the time necessary to cook properly the white of the egg would be insufficient for the heat...
2 minute read
Plain Omelet. —Beat the yolks of three eggs to a cream and beat the whites to a stiff froth. Add to the yolks three tablespoonfuls of milk or cream, one tablespoonful of finely grated bread crumbs, and season lightly with salt; lastly, fold, not stir, the whites lightly in. An omelet pan is the best utensil for cooking, but if that is not to be had, an earthen-ware pudding dish which will stand the heat is good; an iron spider will do, but a larger omelet would need to be prepared. A tin saucepan is apt to cook the omelet so rapidly as to burn it in spots. Whatever the utensil used, it should be hot, the fire clear and steady, and all in readiness by the time the eggs are beaten. Oil the dish well and gently pour in the omelet mixture; cover, and place the pan on the...
17 minute read
The candidates for ancient athletic games were dieted on boiled grain, with warm water, cheese, dried figs, but no meat. An unpleasant reminder.—(Scene, Thanksgiving dinner, everybody commenting on the immense size of the turkey.) An appalling silence fell upon the crowd when Tommy cried out, "Mamma, is that the old sore-headed turkey?" The eminent Prof. Wilder was reared a vegetarian, having passed his earlier years without even knowing that flesh food was ever eaten by human beings. When six years old, he saw on the table for the first time, a roasted chicken, at which he gazed for some moments in great bewilderment, when he seemed to make a discovery, and in his astonishment burst out with the remark, "I'll bet that's a dead hen!" A story is told of a minister who was spending the day in the country, and was invited to dine. There was chicken for dinner,...
51 minute read
Economy and Adaptability in Selection. —While the greatest care should be exercised in the selection of beef as regards its soundness and wholesomeness, it must likewise be selected with reference to economy and adaptability for cooking purposes, pieces from different portions of the animal being suitable for cooking only in certain ways. Ox beef is said to be best. That beef is most juicy and tender which has fine streaks of fat intermingled with the lean. Beef which is coarse-grained and hard to cut is apt to be tough. An economical piece of beef to purchase is the back of the rump. It is a long piece with only a small portion of bone, and weighs about ten pounds. The thickest portion may be cut into steaks, the thin, end with bone may be utilized for soups and stews, while the remainder will furnish a good roast. Only a small...
4 minute read
Broiled Beef. —Beef for broiling should be juicy and have a tender fiber. Steaks cut from three parts of the beef are in request for this purpose,—tenderloin, porterhouse, and round steak. The last-named is the more common and economical, yet it is inferior in juice and tenderness to the other two. Steak should be cut three fourths of an inch or more in thickness. If it is of the right quality, do not pound it; if very tough, beat with a steak-mallet or cut across it several times on both sides with a sharp knife. Wipe, and remove any bone and superfluous fat. Have the fire in readiness, the plates heating, then proceed as directed on page 398 . Cold-Meat Stew. —Cut pieces of cold roast beef into thick slices and put into a stewpan with six or eight potatoes, a good-sized bunch of celery cut into small pieces; and...
36 minute read
The strong flavor of mutton is said to be due to the oil from the wool, which penetrates the skin, or is the result, through heedlessness or ignorance of the butcher, in allowing the wool to come in contact with the flesh. There is a quite perceptible difference in the flavor of mutton from a sheep which had been for some time sheared of its woolly coat and that from one having a heavy fleece. The smallest proportion of both fat and bone to muscle is found in the leg; consequently this is the most valuable portion for food, and is likewise the most economical, being available for many savory dishes. On account of the disagreeable adhesive qualities of its fat when cold, mutton should always be served hot....
2 minute read
Boiled Leg of Mutton. —Wipe carefully, remove the fat, and put into boiling water. Skim, and cook as directed on page 395 , twelve minutes for each pound. Broiled Chops. —The best-flavored and most tender chops are those from the loins. Remove carefully all the pink skin above the fat, scraping it off if possible without cutting into the lean. Wipe with a wet cloth, and broil in the same manner as beefsteak over hot coals or in a hot skillet, turning frequently until done; five or eight minutes will suffice to cook. Sprinkle salt on each side, drain on paper, and serve hot. Pot-roast Lamb. —For this purpose a stone jar or pot is best, although iron or granite-ware will do; wipe the meat well and gash with a sharp knife. If crowded closely in the pot, all the better; cover with a lid pressed down firmly with a...
6 minute read
Poultry and game differ from other animal foods in the relative quantity of fat and the quality of their juices. The fat of birds is laid up underneath the skin and in various internal parts of the body, while but a small proportion is mingled with the fibers or the juices of the flesh. The flesh of the chicken, turkey, and guinea-fowl is more delicately flavored, more tender and easy to digest, than that of geese and ducks. Chickens broiled require three hours for digestion; when boiled or roasted, four hours are needed. The flesh of poultry is less stimulating than beef, and is thus considered better adapted for invalids. The flesh of wild fowl contains less fat than that of poultry; it is also tender and easy of digestion. Different birds and different parts of the same bird, vary considerably in color and taste. The breed, food, and method...
3 minute read
Birds Baked in Sweet Potatoes. —Small birds, of which the breast is the only suitable portion for eating, may be baked in the following manner: Cut a sweet potato lengthwise; make a cavity in each half. Place the breast of the bird therein; fit, and tie together carefully; bake until the potato is soft. Serve in the potato. Boiled Fowl. —After cleaning and dividing the fowl, put into boiling water, and proceed as directed on page 395 . Broiled Birds. —Pluck and wipe clean with a damp cloth. Split down the middle of the back, and carefully draw the bird. Proceed as directed below. Broiled Fowl. —A young bird well dressed and singed is best for this purpose. Split down the middle of the back, wipe clean with a damp cloth, twist the top of the wings from the second joint; spread out flat, and with a rolling pin break...
3 minute read
Fish is a less stimulating article of food than other meats. Edible fish are generally divided into two classes, those of white flesh and those more or less red. The red-fleshed fish, of which the salmon is a representative, have their fat distributed throughout the muscular tissues, while in white fish the fat is stored up in the liver; hence the latter class is much easier of digestion, and being less stimulating, is to be recommended as more wholesome. Different kinds of fish have different nutritive values. Their flavor and wholesomeness are greatly influenced by the nature of their food and the condition of the water in which they are caught; those obtained in deep water with strong currents are considered superior to those found in shallow water. Fish are sometimes poisonous, owing no doubt to the food they eat. Like all animal foods, fish are subject to parasites, some...
51 minute read
Baked Fish. —Select a perfectly fresh, properly dressed fish. Rinse thoroughly and wipe dry. Fold it together and place in a dripping pan with a cup of boiling water. Cook slowly and steadily until tender. A fish weighing three or four pounds will require at least two hours. If desired, the fish may be lightly dredged with flour, toward the last, as it begins to brown. Broiled Fish. —Thoroughly clean the fish, and if small, split down the back. Fish of larger size should be cut into inch slices. Use a double wire broiler well oiled with a bit of suet. Lay the fish, with its thickest part next the center of the broiler, skin uppermost, and broil over a bed of clear coals until the flesh-side is of an even brown. The time required will vary, according to the size of the fish, from five to twenty minutes; then...
7 minute read
Soups made from meat require first the preparation of a special material called stock , a liquid foundation upon which to begin the soup. Beef, veal, mutton, and poultry are all made into stock in the same manner, so that general rules for its preparation will be sufficient for all meat soups. The principal constituents of meat and bones, the material from which stock is compounded, are fiber, albuminous ele ments, gelatinous substances, and flavoring matters. The albuminous elements are found only in the flesh. The gelatinous substance found in bones, skin, and tendons, is almost devoid of nutriment. In selecting material for stock, therefore, it is well to remember that the larger the proportion of lean meat used, the more nutritious will be the soup. But little else than gelatine is obtained from the bones, and although serviceable in giving consistency, a soup made principally from bones is not...
3 minute read
Asparagus Soup. —This soup is prepared in every way like the one on page 276 , except that while stock made from veal is used instead of milk. Green pea soup, celery soup, green corn soup, and green bean soup may be prepared according to the recipes already given for these soups by substituting for milk the same quantity of the stock of veal or chicken. Barley, Rice, Sago, or Tapioca Soup. —Any kind of stock may be used in making these soups, though chicken and mutton stock are generally considered preferable. Prepare the grains, the sago, or the tapioca, by steaming or boiling till well cooked, and add to the stock, which should be at boiling temperature. Season and serve. Caramel for Coloring Soup Brown. —Melt a half pint of sugar and one tablespoonful of water in a saucepan over the fire; stir constantly until it is of a...
7 minute read
Animal food is one of the greatest means by which the pure sentiment of the race is depressed.— Alcott. An English medical author says, "It is no doubt true that the constant use of animal food disqualifies the mind for literary application. We can scarcely imagine a philosopher living on horse flesh like a Tartar, or on buffalo meat like an Indian; and it is a fact that these tribes appear incapable of civilization until they acquire the habit of using a less stimulating diet, and begin to cultivate the fruits of the earth for their own use. The difference, in the success of Christian missions, between such people and those whose chief sustenance is farinaceous food, is very striking and worthy of especial notice. In the East, and in Polynesia, literature and Christian doctrines are seized upon with avidity. But in vain were the most earnest labors of the...
1 minute read
These simple foods, the base of which is usually some one of the grains, play an important part in the dietary for the sick, if properly prepared; but the sloppy messes sometimes termed gruel, the chief merit of which appears to be that they "are prepared in ten minutes," are scarcely better than nothing at all. Like other dishes prepared from the grains, gruel needs a long, continuous cooking. When done, it should be the very essence of the grain, possessing all its nutritive qualities, but in such form as to be readily assimilated. For the making of gruels, as for the cooking of grains for any other purpose, the double boiler is the best utensil. Gruel Strainer. Extension Strainer. Gruel Strainer. Extension Strainer. If it is desirable to strain the gruel before serving, have a fine wire strainer of a size to stand conveniently within a large bowl or...
7 minute read
Arrowroot Gruel. —Rub a dessertspoonful of pure arrowroot to a thin paste in two tablespoonfuls of cold water, and stir it into a half pint of boiling water, or, if preferred, a cup and a third of boiling milk, and stir rapidly until thickened and clear. If desired, a little lemon peel for flavoring may be infused in the water or milk, before adding the arrowroot. Sweeten, if allowed, and serve. Barley Gruel. —Wash three heaping tablespoonfuls of pearl barley, drop it into a pint of boiling water, and parboil five minutes. Pour this water off and add a quart of fresh boiling water. Let it simmer gently for three hours. Strain, season, and serve. A small piece of lemon rind added to the gruel a half hour before it is done, gives it a very agreeable flavor. Equal quantities of milk and barley gruel make a very nourishing drink;...
24 minute read
Milk Diet. —An almost exclusive milk diet is sometimes a great advantage in cases of sickness. It is usually necessary to begin the use of the milk in moderate quantities, gradually withdrawing the more solid food and increasing the quantity of milk. In the course of a week, all other food should be withdrawn, and the quantity of milk increased to three or four quarts a day. Milk is easily digested, and hence may be taken at more frequent intervals than other food....
2 minute read
Albumenized Milk. —Shake together in a well-corked bottle or glass fruit can, a pint of fresh milk and the well-beaten whites of two eggs, until thoroughly mixed. Serve at once. Hot Milk. —Hot milk is an excellent food for many classes of invalids. The milk should be fresh, and should be heated in a double boiler until the top is wrinkled over the entire surface. Junket, or Milk Curd. —Heat a cup of fresh milk to 85°, add one teaspoonful of the essence of pepsin, and stir just enough to mix thoroughly. Let it stand until firmly curded, and serve. Koumiss. —Dissolve one fourth of a two-cent cake of compressed yeast, and two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, in three tablespoonfuls of lukewarm water. Pour this into a quart bottle and add sufficient fresh, sweet milk to nearly fill. Shake well, and place in a room of the temperature of 70°...
55 minute read
Beef tea and meat broths are by no means so useful as foods for the sick as is generally supposed. The late Dr. Austin Flint used to say of these foods, that "the valuation by most persons outside of the medical profession, and by many within it, of beef tea or its analogues, the various solutions, most of the extracts, and the expressed juice of meat, is a delusion and a snare which has led to the loss of many lives by starvation. "The quantity of nutritive material in these preparations is insignificant or nil, and it is vastly important that they should be reckoned as of little or no value, except as indirectly conducive to nutrition by acting as stimulants for the secretion of the digestive fluids, or as vehicles for the introduction of the nutritive substances. Furthermore, it is to be considered that water and pressure not only...
4 minute read
Beef Extract. —Take a pound of lean beef, cut it up into small dice, and put into a glass fruit jar. Screw on the cover tightly, put the jar into a vessel filled with cold water to a depth sufficient to come to the top of contents of the jar, and set over a slow fire. As soon as the water boils, set where it will keep just boiling, but no more; and cook for an hour or an hour and a quarter. Then strain, season, and serve. If preferred, a double boiler may be used for the preparation of the extract. Beef Juice. —Cut a thick slice of round steak, trim off every particle of fat, and broil it over a clear fire just long enough to heat it throughout. Next gash it in many places with a sharp knife, and with the aid of a beef-juice press or...
1 minute read
Broth Panada. —Use beef or chicken broth in place of water, and proceed the same as in Egg Panada, omitting the egg. Chicken Panada. —Take a cupful of the white meat of chicken, pounded to a paste in a mortar, and half a cup of whole-wheat crust or zwieback crumbs. Add sufficient chicken broth to make a thick gruel. Season with salt, boil up for a few minutes, and serve hot. Egg Panada. —Put two ounces of light, whole-wheat crusts into a pint of cold water in a granite-ware stewpan; simmer gently for three quarters of an hour, stirring occasionally. Season with a spoonful of sweet cream and a little salt, then stir in the well-beaten yolk of an egg, and serve. Milk Panada. —Heat a pint of milk to boiling, then allow it to cool. Add two ounces of nice, light, whole-wheat crusts, and simmer for half an hour,...
27 minute read
For invalids able to digest solid food, rice, cracked wheat, Graham grits, oatmeal, barley, farina and other grains may be prepared and cooked as previously directed in the chapter on Grains. The various cooked preparations of grains—granola, wheatena, avenola, wheat gluten and gluten meal—manufactured by the Sanitarium Food Co., Battle Creek, Mich., form excellent articles of diet for many invalids, when served with hot milk or cream, or prepared in the form of mush. Several recipes for their use have already been given in preceding chapters; the following are a few additional ones:—...
35 minute read
Gluten Mush. —Heat together a cup of thin cream and three cups of water; when boiling, sift in lightly with the fingers, stirring continuously meanwhile, enough wheat gluten to make a mush of the desired consistency. Boil up once and serve. A few blanched or roasted almonds may be stirred in just before serving, if desired. Tomato Gluten. —Heat a pint of stewed tomato, which has been rubbed through a fine colander to remove the seeds, to boiling, add salt to season, and three tablespoonfuls of gluten meal. Boil together for a moment until thickened, and serve hot. Tomato Gluten No. 2. —Prepare the same as the preceding, using five tablespoonfuls of the gluten meal, and seasoning with two tablespoonfuls of rather thick, sweet cream....
9 minute read
All meats for the sick should be prepared in the very simplest way, served with the plainest possible dressing, and without the use of condiments other than salt....
2 minute read
Broiled Steak. —Take a half pound of round steak and a slice of tenderloin; wipe well with a clean, wet cloth. Have a clear fire; place the meat in an open wire broiler or on a gridiron over the coals, and cook, turning as often as you can count ten, for four or five minutes, if the slices are about one inch thick; then with a lemon squeezer squeeze the juice from the round steak over the tenderloin, season with a little salt, and serve at once on a hot plate. Chicken. —For an invalid, the breast of a tender chicken broiled quickly over hot coals is best. For directions for broiling chicken see page 406 . Chicken Jelly. —Dress a small chicken. Disjoint, break or pound the bones, and cut the meat into half-inch pieces. Remove every particle of fat possible. Cover with cold water, heat very slowly, and...
2 minute read
Floated Egg. —Separate the white from the yolk, and drop the yolk, taking great care not to break it, into boiling, salted water. Cook until hard and mealy. In the meantime, beat the white of the egg until stiff and firm. When the yolk is cooked, remove it from the water with a skimmer. Let the water cease to boil, then dip the beaten white in spoonfuls on the top of the scalding water, allowing it to remain for a second or two until coagulated, but not hardened. Arrange the white in a hot egg saucer, and place the cooked yolk in the center, or serve on toast. This makes a very pretty, as well as appetising dish, if care is taken to keep the yolk intact. Gluten Meal Custard. —Beat together thoroughly, one pint of rich milk, one egg, and four tablespoonfuls of gluten meal. Add a little salt...
1 minute read
In many fevers and acute diseases, but little food is required, and that of a character which merely appeases hunger and quenches thirst, without stimulation and without affording much nourishment. Preparations from sago, tapioca, and other farinaceous substances are sometimes serviceable for this purpose. Oranges, grapes, and other perfectly ripened and juicy fruits are also most excellent. They are nature's own delicacies, and serve both for food and drink. They should not, however, be kept in the sick room, but preserved in some cool place, and served when needed, as fresh and in as dainty a manner as possible. Like all food provided for the sick, they should be arranged to please the eye as well as the palate. The capricious appetite of an invalid will often refuse luscious fruit from the hand of a nurse, which would have been gladly accepted had it been served on dainty china, with...
6 minute read
Acorn Coffee. —Select plump, round, sweet acorns. Shell, and brown in an oven; then grind in a coffee-mill, and use as ordinary coffee. Almond Milk —Blanch a quarter of a pound of shelled almonds by pouring over them a quart of boiling water, and when the skins soften, rubbing them off with a coarse towel. Pound the almonds in a mortar, a few at a time, adding four or five drops of milk occasionally, to prevent their oiling. About one tablespoonful of milk in all will be sufficient. When finely pounded, mix the almonds with a pint of milk, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, and a little piece of lemon rind. Place the whole over the fire to simmer for a little time. Strain, if preferred, and serve cold. Apple Beverage. —Pare and slice very thin a juicy tart apple into a china bowl. Cover with boiling water, put a saucer...
37 minute read
For invalids who are able to partake of solid foods, the Breakfast Rolls, Whole-wheat Puffs, Beaten Biscuit, Crisps, and other unfermented breads, directions for the preparation of which are given in the chapter on Bread, will be found excellent. The various crackers, wafers, and invalid foods manufactured by the Sanitarium Food Co., Battle Creek, Mich., are also to be recommended. Zwieback, prepared as directed on page 289 , will be found serviceable and wholesome to be used with broths and gruels. It may be prepared so as to look especially tempting by cutting off the crust of the bread, and cutting the slice into fancy shapes with a cookie-cutter before toasting. In cases where their use is allowable, many of the various toasts given under the head of Breakfast Dishes will be relished....
1 minute read
Diabetic Biscuit. —Make a stiff dough of Graham or entire-wheat flour and water. Knead thoroughly, and let it stand three hours; then place on a sieve under a faucet, turn a stream of water over the dough, and wash out the starch, kneading and working with the hands so that all portions of the dough will be equally washed. When the starch has been all washed out, as will be indicated by the water running off clear, the dough will be a rubber-like, glutinous mass. It may then be cut into long strips, and these divided into equal-sized pieces or cubes. Place the pieces on shallow baking pans in a rather hot oven, which, after a short time, should be allowed to cool to moderate heat, and bake for two hours, when they should be of a dark, rich brown color and light and crisp throughout. If tough, they need...
15 minute read
Invalids whose digestion will allow of other than the plainest foods will find most of the desserts made with fruits and those with fruits and grains given in the chapter on Desserts, excellent for their use. The following are a few additional recipes of a similar character:—...
1 minute read
Arrowroot Jelly. —Rub two heaping teaspoonfuls of arrowroot smooth in a very little cold water, and stir it into a cupful of boiling water, in which should be dissolved two teaspoonfuls of sugar. Stir until clear, allowing it to boil all the time; lastly, add a teaspoonful of lemon juice. Serve cold, with cream and sugar if allowed. Arrowroot Blancmange. —Rub two and a half tablespoonfuls of best arrowroot smooth in half a cup of cold milk, and stir slowly into two and one half cups of boiling new milk. When it begins to thicken, add three fourths of a cup of sugar, and cook, stirring constantly for several minutes. Turn into molds and cool. Serve with fruit juice or fruit sauces. Currant Jelly. —Soak an ounce of Cox's gelatine in half a pint of cold water for fifteen minutes, then pour over it a teacupful of boiling water; strain,...
1 minute read
Regimen is better than physic.— Voltaire. Many dishes have induced many diseases.— Seneca. Dr. Lyman Beecher tells the following story of his aunt, which well illustrates a popular notion that sick people should be fed with all sorts of dainties, no matter what the nature of the disease. When a boy eight or nine years of age, he was one day suffering in the throes of indigestion, as the result of having swallowed a large amount of indigestible mince pie. His kind-hearted aunt noticed the pale and distressed look on his face, and said to him, with genuine sympathy in her voice, "Lyman, you look sick. You may go into the pantry and help yourself to a nice piece of fruit cake just warm from the oven." Fix on that course of life which is the most excellent, and custom will render it the most delightful.— Pythagoras. A MERE indigestion...
2 minute read
O ne of the first requisites of food for the aged is that it shall be easy of digestion, since with advancing age and decreasing physical energy, digestion and assimilation may be taken with impunity at an earlier period of life, overtax the enfeebled organs and prove highly injurious. The fact that the vital machinery is worn and weakened with age has led to the popular notion that old people require a stimulating diet as a "support" for their declining forces. That this is an error is apparent from the fact that stimulation either by drink or food lessens instead of reinforces vital strength, thus defeating the very purpose desired. Flesh food in quantities is a peculiarly unsuitable diet for the aged, not alone because it is stimulating, but because it produces a tendency to plethora, a condition which is especially inimical to the health of old persons. Eminent authorities...
7 minute read
A very large share of the mortality among young children results from dietetic errors which proper knowledge and care on the part of those who have them in charge might commonly avoid. From infancy to the age of twelve or eighteen months, milk is the natural and proper food. Milk contains all the food elements except starch, which cannot be digested by very young children, owing to the insufficient formation of digestive elements of the salivary secretion during the first few months. If the child is deprived of the milk provided by nature, the best artificial food is cow's milk; it, however, requires very careful selection and intelligent preparation. The animal from which the milk comes, should be perfectly healthy and well cared for. The quality of her food should also receive attention, as there is little doubt that disease is often communicated to infants by milk from cows improperly...
6 minute read
"In the above table the first column represents quantities for the first week, the second for the end of the second month, the third for the end of the third month, etc. It need not be mentioned that the change in quantity should be even more gradual than represented in the table. "Attention should also be called to the fact that the time mentioned as the interval for feeding at different ages, does not apply to the whole twenty-four hours. Even during the first week, the child is expected to skip two feedings during the night, making the interval four hours instead of two. By the end of the second month, the interval between the feedings at night becomes six hours, and at the end of the ninth month, six and one half hours. "From personal observation we judge that in many cases children will do equally well if allowed...
8 minute read
Jean Jacques Rousseau holds that intemperate habits are mostly acquired in early boyhood, when blind deference to social precedents is apt to overcome our natural antipathies, and that those who have passed that period in safety, have generally escaped the danger of temptation. The same holds good of other dietetic abuses. If a child's natural aversion to vice has never been wilfully perverted, the time will come when his welfare may be intrusted to the safe-keeping of his protective instincts. You need not fear that he will swerve from the path of health when his simple habits, sanctioned by nature and inclination, have acquired the additional strength of long practice. When the age of blind deference is past, vice is generally too unattractive to be very dangerous.— Oswald. That a child inherits certain likes and dislikes in the matter of food cannot be questioned, and does not in the least...
24 minute read
"Care preserves what Industry gains. He who attends to his business diligently, but not carefully, throws away with one hand what he gathers with the other."— Colton. "What does cookery mean?" It means the knowledge of all fruits and herbs and balms and spices—it means carefulness, and inventiveness, and watchfulness, and willingness, and readiness of appliance. It means the economy of your great grandmothers and the science of modern chemists,—it means much tasting and no wasting.— Ruskin. Bad cooking is waste—waste of money and loss of comfort. Whom God has joined in matrimony, ill-cooked joints and ill-boiled potatoes have very often put asunder.— Smiles. Never sacrifice the more precious things—time, health, temper, strength—in attempting to save the less precious—money.— Sel. Learn by how little life may be sustained and how much nature requires. The gifts of Cerea and water are sufficient nourishment for all peoples.— Pharsalia. H uman nature is...
17 minute read
Do not bring disagreeable things to the table in your conversation any more than you would in your dishes.— Sel. Courtesy in the mistress of the house consists in feeding conversation; never in usurping it.— Mme. Swetchine Good humor and good health follow a good meal; and by a good meal we mean anything, however simple, well dressed in its way.— Smiles. Unquiet meals make ill digestion.— Shakespeare. Eat slowly and do not season your food with care.— Sel. To rise from the table able to eat a little more is a proverbially good rule for every one. There is nothing more idiotic than forcing down a few mouthfuls, because they happen to remain on one's plate after hunger is satisfied, and because they may be "wasted" if left. It is the most serious waste to overtax the stomach with even half an ounce more than it can take care...
5 minute read
A woman cannot work at dressmaking, tailoring, or any other sedentary employment, ten hours a day, year in and out, without enfeebling her constitution, impairing her eyesight, and bringing on a complication of complaints; but she can sweep, cook, wash, and do the duties of a well-ordered house, with modern arrangements, and grow healthier every year. The times in New England when all women did housework a part of every day, were the times when all women were healthy.— Harriet Beecher Stowe. The best ways are commonly the easiest ways and those that give most comfort to the household. Know how is a great labor-saving invention, on which there is no patent.— Sel. W hat to get for the family meals is frequently a most perplexing problem, especially when one remembers the many important points that should enter into the arrangement of the daily bill of fare. A well-arranged menu...
5 minute read
[1] Chiefly sugar and starch. [2] Mannite...
31 minute read
In the following pages will be found a breakfast and dinner bill of fare for every day in the year, beginning with January 1. We would particularly recommend a trial of their use by the young and inexperienced matron just entering upon housekeeping, whose desire should be to begin right—provide simple and healthful as well as palatable food for her family. To many such we trust that our "year's breakfasts and dinners" may come like the grateful suggestions of a helpful friend. An explanation of the bills of fare has been given in the preceding pages, and need not be repeated here....
45 minute read
The expense of the menus given will vary somewhat with the locality and the existing market prices. The following analysis of several similar bills of fare used in widely different localities will serve to show something of the average cost. The first of these were taken at random from the daily menus, during the month of January, of a Michigan family of seventeen persons, grown persons and hearty, growing children, none younger than six years. In the estimates made of the cost of material, wherever fractions occurred, the next higher whole number was taken. No butter was used, a small pitcher of cream for each individual supplying its place. The milk used for cooking was not counted, since in this case most of the cream had been removed, and its cost reckoned at the entire cost of the milk itself, or twenty cents a quart, allowing four quarts of milk...
32 minute read
The following bills of fare were used by an Iowa family of six persons. The prices given were those current in that locality in the month of March. The material for the bills of fare given on the next page was reckoned at prices current in a city in northern West Virginia, in the autumn, and was for a family of six persons. The following four days' bills of fare,—the first two served by a Michigan lady to her family of four persons, the second used by an Illinois family of eight,—although made up of much less variety, serve to show how one may live substantially even at a very small cost....
58 minute read
The food on which the man who would be healthy should live must be selected so as to ensure variety without excess.— Dr. Richardson. Hearty foods are those in which there is an abundance of potential energy.— Prof. Atwater. AN OLD-FASHIONED RECIPE FOR A LITTLE HOME COMFORT.—Take of thought for self one part, two parts of thought for family; equal parts of common sense and broad intelligence, a large modicum of the sense of fitness of things, a heaping measure of living above what your neighbors think of you, twice the quantity of keeping within your income, a sprinkling of what tends to refinement and aesthetic beauty, stirred thick with the true brand of Christian principle, and set it to rise.— Sel....
1 minute read
A Special dinner for a holiday celebration has so long been a time-honored custom in most families, that the majority of housewives consider it indispensable. While we admire the beautiful custom of gathering one's friends and neighbors around the hospitable board, and by no means object to a special dinner on holiday occasions, yet we are no wise in sympathy with the indiscriminate feastings so universally indulged in at such dinners, whereby stomachs are overloaded with a decidedly unhealthful quality of food, to be followed by dull brains and aching heads for days to come. And this is not the extent of the evil. Holiday feasting undoubtedly has much to do with the excessive use of intoxicants noticeable at such times. Tempted to overeat by the rich and highly seasoned viands which make up the bill of fare, the heaviness resulting from a stomach thus overburdened creates a thirst not...
1 minute read
A picnic, to serve its true end, ought to be a season of healthful recreation; but seemingly, in the general acceptation of the term, a picnic means an occasion for a big dinner composed of sweets and dainties, wines, ices, and other delectable delicacies, which tempt to surfeiting and excess. The preparation necessary for such a dinner usually requires a great amount of extra and wearisome labor, while the eating is very apt to leave results which quite overshadow any benefit derived from the recreative features of the occasion. It is generally supposed that a picnic is something greatly conducive to health; but where everything is thus made subservient to appetite, it is one of the most unhygienic things imaginable. The lunch basket should contain ample provision for fresh-air-sharpened appetites, but let the food be as simple as possible, and of not too great variety. Good whole-wheat or Graham bread...
51 minute read
Picnic Biscuit. —Prepare a dough as for Raised Biscuit, page 145 , and when thoroughly kneaded the last time, divide, and roll both portions to about one fourth of an inch in thickness. Spread one portion with stoned dates, or figs that have been chopped or cut fine with scissors, cover with the second portion, and cut into fancy shapes. Let the biscuits rise until very light, and bake. Wash the tops with milk to glace before baking. Fig Wafers. —Rub together equal quantities of Graham meal, and figs that have been chopped very fine. Make into a dough with cold sweet cream. Roll thin, cut in shape, and bake. If provision can be made for the reheating of foods, a soup, or grain, macaroni with tomato sauce, or with egg or cream sauce, or some similar article which can be cooked at home, transported in sealed fruit cans, and...
3 minute read
Mothers whose children are obliged to go long distances to school, are often greatly perplexed to know what to put up for the noonday lunch which shall be both appetizing and wholesome. The conventional school lunch of white bread and butter, sandwiches, pickles, mince or other rich pie, with a variety of cake and cookies, is scarcely better than none at all; since on the one hand there is a deficiency of food material which can be used for the upbuilding of brains, muscles, and nerves; while on the other hand it contains an abundance of material calculated to induce dyspepsia, headache, dullness of intellect, and other morbid conditions. Left in an ante-room, during the school session, until, in cold weather, it becomes nearly frozen, and then partaken of hurriedly, that there may be more time for play, is it to be wondered at that the after-dinner session drags so...
1 minute read
One of the most needed reforms in domestic life is a change to more simple meals on the Sabbath. In many households the Sabbath is the only day in the week when all the members of the family can dine together, and with an aim to making it the most enjoyable day of all, the good housewife provides the most elaborate dinner of the week, for the preparation of which she must either spend an unusual amount of time and labor the day previous or must encroach upon the sacred rest day to perform the work. Real enjoyment ought not to be dependent upon feasting and gustatory pleasures. Plain living and high thinking should be the rule at all times, and especially upon the Sabbath day. Nothing could be more conducive to indigestion and dyspepsia than this general custom of feasting on the Sabbath. The extra dishes and especial luxuries...
1 minute read
Both the rolled wheat and rice may be prepared the day previous, as may also the prune sauce for the toast, the buns, bread, and nearly all the other foods. The potatoes can be boiled and sliced, the corn for the soup rubbed through the colander and placed in the ice chest, the green peas boiled but not seasoned, and the macaroni cooked and added to the tomato but not seasoned. The berries may be hulled, the nuts cracked, and the canned fruit opened. If the table is laid over night and covered with a spread to keep off dust, a very short time will suffice for getting the Sabbath breakfast. Heat the rolled wheat in the inner dish of a double boiler. Meanwhile moisten the toast; and heat the prune sauce. To prepare the dinner, all that is necessary is to add to the material for soup the requisite...
4 minute read
It is said that Worcester sauce was first introduced as a medicine, the original formula having been evolved by a noted physician to disguise the assafetida which it contains, for the benefit of a noble patient whose high living had impaired his digestion. A good dinner sharpens wit, while it softens the heart.— Daran. Small cheer and great welcome make a merry feast.— Shakespeare. Absorption; 38 Acetic acid; 119 Acetic fermentation; Acorn coffee; 433 A fourteenth century recipe; 219 After mealtime; 471 Aladdin cooker; 66 Albumen; 26 , 53 78 365 384 Albumenized milk; 425 Alcoholic fermentation; 119 Almond cornstarch pudding; 321 cream; 321 paste, to prepare; 298 sauce; 352 Almonds; 212 blanched; 212 , 215 Alum, how to detect in flour; 115 Ancient recipe for cooking barley; 95 Animal food; 391 Anti-fermentatives; 192 Appetite, education of; 449 Apple, the; 169 and bread custard; 321 beverage; 433 cake; 344 charlotte;...