PRACTICAL
SANITARY AND ECONOMIC COOKING
ADAPTED TO
PERSONS OF MODERATE AND SMALL MEANS

THE LOMB PRIZE ESSAY.

Inscription: "The Five Food Principles, Illustrated
by Practical Recipes."

> PREFACE.

Perhaps there is no better way of presenting to the public the facts which led to the creation of this valuable work, than by inserting the announcement which resulted in the exceedingly lively and able competition for the prize, as well as the merited honor which was certain to fall upon the successful competitor. It read as follows:

> AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION.
THE LOMB PRIZE ESSAYS.
Two Prizes for 1888.

Mr. Henry Lomb, of Rochester, N.Y., now well known to the American public as the originator of the "Lomb Prize Essays," offers, through the American Public Health Association, two prizes for the current year, on the following subject:

PRACTICAL SANITARY AND ECONOMIC COOKING
ADAPTED TO PERSONS OF MODERATE
AND SMALL MEANS.

First Prize, $500, - - - Second Prize, $200.

JUDGES: Prof. Charles A. Lindsley, New Haven, Conn.; Prof. George H. Rohé, Baltimore, Md.; Prof. Victor C. Vaughan, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Mrs. Ellen H. Richards, Boston, Mass.; Miss Emma C.G. Polson, New Haven, Conn.

CONDITIONS: The arrangement of the essay will be left to the discretion of the author. They are, however,


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expected to cover, in the broadest and most specific manner, methods of cooking as well as carefully prepared receipts, for three classes,--(1) those of moderate means; (2) those of small means; (3) those who may be called poor. For each of these classes, receipts for three meals a day for several days in succession should be given, each meal to meet the requirements of the body, and to vary as much as possible from day to day. Formulas for at least twelve dinners, to be carried to the place of work, and mostly eaten cold, to be given. Healthfulness, practical arrangement, low cost, and palatableness should be combined considerations. The object of this work is for the information of the housewife, to whose requirements the average cook-book is ill adapted, as well as to bring to her attention healthful and economic methods and receipts.

All essays written for the above prizes must be in the hands of the Secretary, Dr. Irving A. Watson, Concord, N.H., on or before September 15, 1888. Each essay must bear a motto, and have accompanying it a securely sealed envelope containing the author's name and address, with the same motto upon the outside of the envelope.

After the prize essays have been determined upon, the envelopes bearing the mottoes corresponding to the prize essays will be opened, and the awards made to the persons whose names are found within them. The remaining envelopes, unless the corresponding essays are reclaimed by authors or their representatives within thirty days after publication of the awrads, will be destroyed, unopened, by the Secretary.

None of the judges will be allowed to compete for a prize.

The judges will announce the awards at the Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, 1888.

It is intended that the above essays shall be essentially American in their character and application, and


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this will be considered by the judges as an especial merit.

Competition is open to authors of any nationality, but all the papers must be in the English language.

IRVING A. WATSON,

Secretary.

CONCORD, N. H., February, 1888.

The above circular was extensively circulated and published throughout the United States and the Dominion of Canada, with the result of bringing to the Secretary, within the specified time, seventy essays upon the subject announced. The arrival of these essays covered a period of nearly five months, and they were forwarded to the Chairman of the Committee of Award nearly as fast as received, thus giving the committee ample time for their exceedingly laborious work of examination. The decision of the judges was announced at the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, and was as follows:

> REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE LOMB PRIZES.

Your committee, to whom were referred the essays upon "Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking Adapted for Persons of Moderate and Small Means," respectfully report that they have perused with thoughtful and considerate attention the three score and ten essays which were submitted to them.

A few of them were presented in beautiful specimens of type-writing, but the great majority of them were in manuscript, and some of them not in the most legible characters, a circumstance which, it will be appreciated, became an important matter, when considered in connection with the large number of competitors, and the fact that many of their papers were each of several hundred pages in length.

The result of the labors of the committee is, that by unanimous approval, the first prize of $500 is awarded to the author of the essay bearing this inscription,-"The Five Food Priciples, illustrated by Practical Recipes."

Your committee would further report that although there were among the remaining sixty-nine a number of essays of considerable merit, there was no single one so prominently superior to others as to commend the approval of the majority of your committee, nor was there any which did not contain some errors of statement, which your committee did not feel justified in endorsing with the approval of this Association by the bestowal of a prize, or else which did not fall to meet some of the conditions upon which the prize was offered, or which was not otherwise objectionable because of literary defects.

Your committee would therefore respectfully report that no essay was found among those submitted to them which they judged deserving of the second prize of $200.

The committee consider it a duty, in awarding the prize, to emphasize the fact that of all the essays submitted the one selected is not only predominantly the best, but that it is also intrinsically an admirable treatise on the subject.

It is simple and lucid in statement, methodical in arrangement, and well adapted to the practical wants of the classes to which it is addressed. Whoever may read it can have confidence in the soundness of its teachings, and cannot fail to be instructed in the art of cooking by its plain precepts, founded as they are upon the correct application of the scientific principles of chemistry and physiology to the proper preparation of food for man.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

C. A. LINDSLEY.

GEORGE H. ROHÉ.

V. C. VAUGHAN.

ELLEN H. RICHARDS.

EMMA C. G. POLSON.

The American public is to be congratulated upon this useful and valuable contribution to the needs of its great army of working people, made possible through the humanitarian benevolence of a private citizen. This was the fifth prize offered by the same citizen, through the same channel, for the noble purpose of ameliorating, in some degree, the hardships which befall mankind in the tireless struggle for existence.

That this essay may be placed in the hands of every family in the country, is his earnest desire as well as that of the Association; therefore a price barely covering the cost has been placed upon this volume. It is to be hoped, that Government departments, state and local boards of health, sanitary and benevolent associations, manufacturers, employers, etc., will purchase editions at cost, or otherwise aid in distributing this work among the people.

Although a copyright has been placed upon these essays for legitimate protection, permission to publish under certain conditions, can be obtained by addressing the secretary.

We commend this volume to the public, believing it to be an unequaled work upon "Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking, adapted to persons of moderate and small means."

Irving A. Watson

Secretary American Public Health Association.

> TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION,................................... 1

THE KITCHEN,............................................ 18

I. PROTEID-CONTAINING FOODS (Animal Sort), AND THEIR PREPARATION,...... 22

Methods of Cooking Meat,......................... 32

Soup Making,................................... 33, 39

Boiling Meat,.................................. 34, 40

Frying in Fat,................................. 34, 40

Baking Meat,................................... 35, 41

Broiling Meat,................................. 36, 42

Use of Thermometer,.............................. 43

Heat Saver,...................................... 44

To Make Heat Tender,............................. 45

Recipes for Cooking Meat,........................ 46

Beef,............................................ 46

Veal,............................................ 50

Mutton and Lamb,................................. 51

Pork,............................................ 52

Fish and Fish Soups,............................. 55

Fowl and Fowl Soups,............................. 57

Eggs and Egg Dishes,............................. 58

Cheese and Cheese Dishes,........................ 61

Care and Use of Milk,............................ 63

Sour Milk,....................................... 64

II. FATS AND OILS,..................................... 66

Uses of Fats,..................................... 71

Meat and Vegetables Sauces,....................... 72

III. THE CARBOHYDRATE--CONTAINING FOODS AND THEIR PREPARATION,.... 75

Grains,........................................... 79

Sugars,........................................... 80

Legumes,.......................................... 81

Potatoes and other Vegetables,.................... 82

Fruits,........................................... 83

The Cooking of Grains,............................ 85

Grains Cooked Whole,.............................. 85

Cooking of Grits,................................. 86

Corn Flour,....................................... 87

Graham Flour,..................................... 88

Fine Wheat Flour,................................. 89

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Macaroni and Noodles,............................. 89

Flour Raised with Fat,............................ 91

Flour Raised with Egg,............................ 93

Egg Pancakes, &c.............................. 92

Flour Raised with Carbonic Acid Gas,.............. 93

(a) Yeast Raised,

White Bread,...................................... 94

Rye and Corn Bread,............................... 97

Biscuits, Rolls, &c........................... 97

Yeast Pancakes,................................... 99

Buckwheat Flour,.................................. 100

(b) Raised with Soda,

Methods,.......................................... 101

Soda Biscuits,.................................... 102

Uses of Biscuits Dough, &c.................... 102

Soda Corn Breads,................................. 103

Soda Pancakes, without Eggs,...................... 103

Soda Pancakes, with Eggs,......................... 104

Uses for Bread,................................... 105

Simple Sweet Dishes,.............................. 107

Milk Puddings,.................................... 107

Fruit Puddings, with Biscuit Dough,............... 108

Fruit Puddings, with Bread,....................... 109

Custard Puddings,................................. 110

Bread and Custard Puddings,....................... 110

Suet Puddings,.................................... 112

Pudding Sauce,.................................... 112

Fritters,......................................... 113

Cooking of Vegetables,............................ 115

Soups, without Meat,.............................. 117

Vegetable Soups,.................................. 117

Flour and Bread Soups,............................ 121

Milk Soups or Porridges,.......................... 122

Fruit Soups,...................................... 124

Additions to Soups,............................... 126

Dumplings for Soups and Stews,.................... 127

Flavors and Seasoning,............................ 130

Drinks,........................................... 133

COOKERY FOR THE SICK,................................... 137

TWELVE BILLS OF FARE- Explanation,...................... 142

Class I. (with letter of advice to mother of the family), 143

Class II........................................... 163

Class III.......................................... 164

TWELVE COLD DINNERS,..................................... 176

> INTRODUCTION.

Few things are of more importance than that we should find ourselves physically and mentally equal to our day's work, but not many of us realize how largely this depends upon the food we eat.

Supposing there to be just money enough in a given family to buy the right kind and quantity of food. Now if this money is not wisely expended, or if after the food has been bought it is spoiled in the cooking, the results will be very serious for the members of that family; they will be under-nourished and they will suffer in clear-headedness, bodily strength, and in the case of children, in bodily development.

Surely the right condition of the body is too important to be left to chance; the best scientific knowledge, the best practical heads should be at its service, and this is the case, indeed, to a large extent in Europe, where the food of the soldiers and of the inmates of public institutions is furnished more or less according to certain rules that have been deduced partly from observation, and partly from scientific experiment.

The application of scientific principles on these lines is not of long standing, for the investigations that have clinched them are all of comparatively recent date. At


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the end of the last century a beginning was made in France and in Germany in connection with philanthropic efforts to improve the food of the poor, and it was at this time that Count Rumford introduced into the soup kitchens of Munich, the soup that has been named after him. From this time on interest in the subject of foods, both for men and domestic animals, steadily increased, although experimenters were constantly coming to wrong conclusions because the sciences of Organic Chemistry and Physiology, as far as they concerned the subject, were not far enough advanced.

It was only in the early forties that the first experimental agricultural stations were established, but so rapidly have they multiplied that they now number more than a hundred in Europe alone; and in these and in the laboratories of the great universities, analyses have been made of most of the foods used by men and animals, and also tests of the relative flesh and fat producing power of different foods and combinations of foods.

For years the results of these investigations have been applied with profit to the feeding of cattle, but it was a case of threatened wholesale starvation in England that first turned the attention of properly trained persons to a like study of the nourishment of human beings. During our civil war the condition of the cotton spinners in Lancashire and Cheshire, England, became so serious as to make governement help necessary to keep them from starving, and in 1862 and 1863 Dr. Edward Smith was commissioned to examine into the the dietetic needs of the distressed operatives.


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In his report for 1863 are found tables of the food consumed per week by 634 families, and in spite of the difficulties standing in the way of such an investigation, the foods consumed were classified into tables showing the amounts of the different food principles taken per week by each family.

One of the great practical results following from this investigation was the determination of the minimum amount of each nutritive principle which men, women and children need, to keep them in fair health. The amount of food with which an unemployed man can fight off starvation, and the diseases temporarily incident to it, was found to be represented in 35 ounces of good bread per day, and the necessary amount of wholesome water.

Since the publication of Dr. Smith's report similar inquiries have been instituted by the scientists of other countries, and many analyses have been made of the exact amount and kinds of food eaten by various classes of laborers under the most varied conditions. Professors Voit and Pettenkofer of Munich have even accounted for every particle of food that passed through the body of a man, both while he was at work and while he was idle. They have also noted how much of his own body was consumed when he ate nothing. Finally, a great number of averages have been taken and so-called "standard dietaries" constructed, by which is meant the average amount of each of the chief food principles that keep an average muscle-worker in good condition, when doing average work.

Every one will admit that it is of great importance


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for the farmer to know in what proportion he shall lay in hay and other food for the winter feeding of his stock; the animals must thrive, but there must be no waste by furnishing food in the wrong quantities or proportions.

For the housewife, the food question in its relation to her family can be stated in the very same words. It is important that she should economize, but her path will be full of pitfalls if she does not understand in what true economy consists. Most people with a real interest in this subject, have had at some period of their lives certain pet theories as to food. Perhaps they have been at one time convinced that most people ate too much, at another, that meat was the all strengthener, or they may have been afflicted with the vegetarian fad, and whatever their special views have been they have thought that they rested them upon facts. But surely they would never have pinned their faith to one-sided diets if they had rightly comprehended the main facts of nutrition. We believe that if these facts as at present interpreted, and the world's experience in applying them, can be put at the command of the housewife, she can use them to great profit.

We have employed the term "food principles"; what do we mean by it? Everyone knows what is meant by a food, as meat or bread, and everyone knows that the food offered us by our butchers and grocers comes from the animal and vegetable kingdoms. The oxygen we breathe and the water we drink nature furnishes for us directly, so to speak, though unfortunately for many of us, and especially


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for young children, the former is not thought of as a food. Oxygen aside, it has been found by those who have studied the matter, that all foods contain one or more of five classes of constituents, called "nutritive ingredients" or "food principles." These five principles are:

(1) Water.

(2) Proteids.

(3) Fats.

(4) Carbohydrates.

(5) Salts or mineral constituents.

> WATER.

It is important to note that our bodies when full-grown are two-thirds water, and that our food contains from 1 to 94% of it. Considering the scope of this essay, it must be left to take care of itself as a food.

> PROTEIDS.

A class of nearly allied bodies is included under this head. The whole class is sometimes called "Albumens."

The housewife is familiar with proteids in such foods as the lean of meat, in eggs and cheese. These contain the principle in various proportions; for example,

Vegetables are more deficient in proteids though the grains and legumes contain much of it.

In fresh vegetables we find only from 1/2 to 3%, excepting green peas and beans in which the proteids reach 5 to 6.5%.

> FATS.

Fats are obtained from both the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Those used by us in cookery come mostly from animals, and are known to the housewife as butter, lard and tallow. Vegetable food as a rule, is very poor in fats, containing from 0 to 3% only.

Some of the cereals, like corn and oats contain from 4 to 7% of fats.

> CARBOHYDRATES.

The bodies classed as "carbohydrates" are found mainly in vegetables. The housekeeper knows them as starches and sugars.

Under the starches proper are included such things as the starches of grains and seeds, Iceland moss, gums, and dextrin.

Milk is one of the few animal products that has more than a very small quantity of carbohydrates. It contains on the average about 4.8% of this principle;--slightly more than of either proteids or fats.

> SALTS.

The things that give hardness to our bones, like


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calcium phosphate, and the common salt with which we flavor our food, illustrate this class.

> FUNCTIONS OF FOOD PRINCIPLES.

To know in what proportion these food principles should be represented in our diet, we must inquire into the part played by each of them in the body. The first and the last principle may be dismissed briefly. The former, water, is the great medium which floats things through the body; the latter, salts, are combined in various ways with the solids and fluids of our foods, and we shall not easily suffer from lack of them.

The other three food principles (let us call them in the following pages the three great food principles), cannot be so summarily dealt with. We might say, briefly and dogmatically, that the proteids are "flesh foods," the fats are "heat foods," the carbohydrates "work foods." To be sure, experimenters are agreed on the main points, but the different schools are still at war on the final explanations and on many details, and it has become more and more evident that we cannot portion off the work of the body in this simple style. Though each of the three great food principles can be said to have a favorite part which it plays better than any other, yet we find that like an actor of varied talents, it has more than one role in its repertoire.

> FUNCTION OF PROTEIDS.

That this class is indispensable we have the best of proofs. It must be given us in one or another of its


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forms, for, even if we are not athletes, nearly one half of our body is made up of muscle which is one fifth proteid, and the nitrogen in this proteid can only be furnished by proteid again, since neither fats nor carbohydrates contain any of it; therefore in making up bills of fare, let us remember that growing and working proteid, yes, even idle proteid as Dr. Smith found, needs proteid, and that there is nothing in any of the other food principles that can entirely take its place.

Though we think of proteid mostly as a great body builder and restorer, it can also to some extent furnish fat when it stands in a certain relation to the fats and carbohydrates of our food, and we are assured by experimenters that it also furnishes heat and muscle energy under certain conditions.

In these last two activities, however, it is far excelled by fats and carbohydrates. We shall therefore think of it as the nitrogen-furnisher of our tissues, and also as the grand stimulant among foods, inciting the body, as it does, to burn up more of other kinds.

Scientists, at one time, held the opinion that our muscle energy comes chiefly from proteids. This view has been abandoned, but many a working man still believes that meat is the only kind of food that is of any account; he thinks of fats and starches as quite unimportant comparatively. Now it has been proved over and over again, that we can combine meat with fats and vegetable food in such a proportion that it shall play only its main róle, viz., that of building and restoring, while these latter furnish the heat and


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muscle energy needed. Proteid food is such a costly article that it will not do to put it at work which cheaper material can do even better.

> FUNCTION OF FATS.

The fats also have more than one office in the body. They can be stored as body fat, or they can be burned and give off heat, and they may also serve as a source of muscular energy, in an indirect manner at least.

> FUNCTION OF CARBOHYDRATES.

The Carbohydrate principle furnishes fat to our tissues, and is a source of heat and muscle energy, indeed the chief source of muscle energy in all ordinary diets.

> FLAVORINGS.

So far we have had chiefly in mind the real working constituents of food, if we may so speak. But many things cannot be studied or classified in the above way; they must be looked at from another point of view.

Thus, a pinch of pepper, a cup of coffee, a fine, juicy strawberry,--what of these? They may contain all five of the food principles, but who cares of the proteid action or carbohydrate effect of his cup of good coffee at breakfast, or what interest for us has the heating effect of the volatile oil to which the strawberry owes a part of its delicious taste?

Surely the economical housekeeper who would throw out of the list of necessaries all the things that tickle the palate, that rouse the sense of smell, that


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please the eye and stimulate our tired nerves, just because these things contain but little food, would make a grave mistake. She may know just what cuts of meat to buy, what vegetables are most healthful and economical, but if she does not understand how to "make the mouth water," her labor is largely lost. Especially if she has but little money, should she pay great attention to this subject, for it is the only way to induce the body to take up plain food with relish.

The list of these spices, flavors, harmless drinks and the like, is a long one. Unfortunately, we have no comprehensive word that will include everything of the sort, from a sprig of parsley to a cup of coffee; the Germans calls them "Genuss-mittel"--"pleasure-giving things."

> PROPORTIONS AND AMOUNTS OF FOOD PRINCIPLES.

We have brought our discussion of the three great food principles to the point where we can enquire in what proportions and amounts these should be represented in our diet.

The standard daily dietary that is most frequently cited, and which, perhaps, best represents the food consumption of the average European workman in towns, is that proposed by Prof. Voit. This dietary was made upon the basis of a large number of observed cases. It demands for a man of average size, engaged in average manual labor,

[Editorial note: The following note appears on the bottom of page fourteen in the original text.]

*28.84 grams. = 1 oz.

Now it is the opinion of all competent judges, that


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at least one third of this proteid should come from the animal kingdom, and this one third, if given in the form of fresh beef, would be represented by 230 grams of butcher's meat, calculated to consist of

When we take whole populations into account, we find that little, if any, more meat than this falls to each person per day. Thus the average consumption per day for three great cities is given as follows;

Of course these averages include children, but they also include great numbers of the well-to-do, who eat much more meat than their bodies need.

We will add a few more examples of dietaries, some of which are used by the writer in making out the bills of fare given in this essay.

We will give an instance of how much below these figures the amount consumed sometimes falls.

Prof. Boehm found that a poor North German family, consisting of a man, wife, and a child five years old, had in one week for their food:

Calculating the food principles contained in these amounts, we find that the three individuals daily consumed of:

It needs no comment to show how insufficient is this dietary in amount, and how incorrect in proportion.

We have selected Prof. Atwater's dietary for a man at moderate manual labor as the basis of our twelve bills of fare and have taken Voit's standard for women and children.

Our climate is more trying and our people work faster, and we shall do well to allow more fat and meat to our working-man than the foreign dietaries provide. If our man is to get daily one-third of his proteid in the form of animal food, this would be represented by 8 ozs. of butcher's meat (without bone), by from 5 to 5.8 ozs. cheese, or by 8 eggs.

We believe that it is better to go a little high rather than too low with proteid food. As a rule, people who eat enough proteids, and especially enough animal food, are vigorous and have what we call "stamina," and doctors incline to the belief that such people resist disease better because their blood and tissue are less watery than in the case of people who draw their proteids almost entirely from such vegetables as potatoes. But many workingmen in America would be surprised to learn how well health and strength can be maintained on what is, after all, not such a very large amount of meat, provided the rest of the dietary contains enough vegetable proteid and fat.

> PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS.

It now remains for us to see whether the economist can get practical help from the foregoing facts about the character of foods and the use that is made of them in the body.

We have seen that we cannot economize in the amount of our food beyond certain limits and yet remain healthy and strong; also that we must not greatly alter the relative proportions in which experience has shown that these foods are best combined. The true field of household economy has, then, certain prescribed limits.

Its scope lies, 1st. In furnishing a certain food principle in its cheap rather than its dear form; for example, the proteid of beef instead of that of chicken, fat of meat instead of butter. 2nd. Having bought foods wisely, in cooking them in such a manner as to bring out their full nutritive value; for


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instance, making a roast juicy and delicious instead of dry and tasteless. 3d. In learning how to use every scrap of food to advantage, as in soup making, and 4th, if we add to these the art of so flavoring and varying as to make simple materials relish, we have covered the whole field of the household economist, so far as the food question is concerned.

We hope she will find help in the following pages, for it will be part of our task in this essay to examine different articles of food as to their nutritive value, and to recommend such combinations and such methods of cooking as will make the utmost out of a certain sum of money. As to foods, we have in America a large range of choice; staple raw products cost less generally than they do in Europe and the laboring man here has somewhat more money to buy with. The anxious provider, who must feed many mouths on what seems an insufficient sum, may feel assured that he can, without doubt, learn to do better than he now does. In this line we must not disdain to learn lessons wherever we can.

There is an unfortunate prejudice among us against learning of foreign countries. The American workman says indignantly that he does not want to learn how to live on "starvation wages." But the facts, viewed coolly, are just these: the inhabitants of older countries have learned some lessons that we too must soon learn whether we will or no, and to profit by these lessons before we are really obliged to, will in no way lower wages, it will simply help us to get more comfort and pleasure out of our money.

Students of economy, political and domestic, find


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no better school than the experience of older countries, and constantly draw lessons from their greater thrift and economy in living. Mrs. Helen Campbell found, among the poor sewing women of New York, that none were skillful in cooking their scanty food excepting only the German and Swiss women. All observing travelers unanimously give this testimony,--"If our American workman knew how to make as much of his large wage as the foreigner does of his small one, he could live in luxury."

But you ask, what are the special lessons to be learned of the foreign housewife? We answer, chiefly self-denial and saving. Do not give up in despair because you have a small income and resign yourself to living meanly, in a hand to mouth fashion. Diligent study of the question and resolute abstention from luxuries will solve the problem, if it can be solved.

We indulge ourselves and our children too much in what tastes good, while all the time we know we have not money enough to buy necessaries. For instance, the consumption of sugar in America was in 1887, 56 lbs. per head, in Germany hardly more than one third that amount. This means a larger consumption of sweetmeats than we can afford and at the same time be well fed otherwise.

We seem, in general, to spend too much money in our country on food compared with what we use in other directions; one great trouble is that we do not know how to save every scrap of food and use it again in some form. For one thing, we have yet to learn the great art of soup making,--and it seems also, of soup eating.

The American housekeeper would say to me: "This is nothing new, for years we've been hearing about soups. We don't like soups!" I only ask, "have you tried them for a considerable length of time, so that you have become skilled in making them, and your family used to their taste?" One fact alone ought to insure for them a good trial; that at least three nations, the French, German and Italian, make daily use of them and have for generations. To take part of our food in this form is an absolute necessity if we are to do the best possible with a certain amount of money.

> PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES.

The practical difficulties in the way of improvement in household cookery are not small. As cook, we have the wife and mother, who has too little time for this very important branch of household work; she has had, perhaps, no good training in the art of cookery (for it is an art), and besides, her kitchen and kitchen utensils are not at all what they should be. Indeed, the qualifications for a given task could not well be further from the ideal.

In Europe families of small means have many helps unknown to us. In the first place, bread is never baked at home, the bakers' bread being both excellent and cheap. It would seem that among us, bakers' bread must shortly improve in quality and decrease in price; either the profits must be too large, or the business not well managed. For instance, in those parts of Germany where white bread is eaten as a staple, it costs a trifle over 3


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cents a pound, while flour of average quality costs about the same. In contrast with this, compare the prices of bread and flour in our own country where in no large city is bread quoted at less than 7 cents, while flour costs 3 cents. That is, bread costs in Germany about the same as flour and in America more than twice as much; and yet the German baker is notably a prosperous person!

The foreign housekeeper has still further help from the baker. If she makes a cake or pie, she sends it out to be baked, and pays from one to two cents (the fuel would have cost more); joints of meat and mixed dishes are also sent to be baked for the same price; and before any bakeshop in a German city, at noon on Sunday, can be seen a line of servant girls, each in turn receiving a steaming dish as it is taken from the oven. The soup kitchens (Volks Kûchen) of various grades are also a great help. The writer has repeatedly had brought from one of them an excellent meat broth (1 pt. for 2 cents), and good cooked vegetables are furnished for a price less than they could be cooked for at home, if one took any account of time and fire.

But such helps are not yet to any great extent available to the American woman; she must wrestle with her own problem at home and solve it as best she can.