PREFACE. THE following "menus," and the recipes contained in this book, have, with a few exceptions, been carried out in a small household, with one cook, and without the assistance of a kitchenmaid. They may seem. elaborate at first to those young housekeepers who are ignorant of cooking, and who think that fresh rolls, ices, and a variety of made dishes, must always be had from a confectioner. My advice is this: "Do not serve at your table dishes that cannot be made at home." The so-called plain cooking which exists in many English houses is extravagant cooking. A "plain cook" does not know how to use up her small scraps of meat, fish, or vegetables; she has little knowledge of soups or sauces, and has no notion that in throwing away a spoonful of gravy she is wasting the foundation of a good dish. A plain cook—I mean one who can roast and bake well-ought, with a few directions, to be able to make almost any dish described in this book. She must have patience and perseverance. So must her mistress. She must attend to the smallest details; she must take as much pride in serving up a plain dish of rissoles as the most elaborate made dish. If a dish be too salt, or too hot with pepper, it is a disgrace to the cook to send it to table, as she could, by a little contrivance, have remedied the defect and saved annoyance to her mistress. I am not giving directions for preparing meat, fish, roasting, etc., in this book; every mistress will provide her cook with a Mrs. Beeton" or an Eliza Acton," one of which no kitchen should be without. Where quantities are given in these recipes, those quantities must be carefully followed, as the success of a dish depends on the accuracy with which the directions are followed. The time for cooking certain dishes has intentionally not been given. A cook must understand her stove, and gradually calculate for herself the times required. The following dishes have been made on a close range in the winter, and on a Leoni's gas-stove in the summer, and the time for cooking each dish has varied according to which stove was used. In stewing meats the cook must remember that they must simmer, and never boil. If they boil, the meat will be hard. The same with sauces or custards in which there are yolks of eggs; if they boil they will curdle. Again, with frying, the directions must be followed absolutely; if they are not, the things fried will be brown, greasy, and indigestible. As the dishes come out from table, the cook must remove the remains of each dish, no matter how small, on to clean plates; the remains of gravy into jars. The next morning the mistress should find everything in order in her larder; she will at once see what remains, and give directions how each article can be used.. The scraps of meat and bones will be simmered down for stock or gravy, and on no account must the stock of yesterday be added to what is made to-day. Use some of to-day's to lengthen out what was left yesterday, if necessary; but if you add always yesterday's stock to all that you are making fresh, you will have sour stock and gravy at the end of the week, and must not be astonished if your family have indigestion and are told by the doctor, "Never touch soups and sauces." With great respect for the very variable views of the medical profession on the subject of wholesome food, I would suggest that "never touch sour soups and sour sauces would express as much as their experience really justifies on this subject. The scraps of each day must, then, be used up each day, and not all collected together to make a sour con coction at the end of the week. The scraps of meat those not required for stock-will, used together, make rissoles, savoury moulds, salads, curries, or "gratins." The scraps of vegetables will make a soup, a salad, a "chartreuse," a "macédoine," "gratin," or curry. The fish will make patties, curries, rissoles, "gratins," or a mayonnaise salad. If you wish to have wholesome cookery, make a rule never to have bottled sauces in the house. Your sauces must be made with fresh meat and vegetables. I make one exception in favour of mushroom ketchup (as it is not always possible to get mushrooms), though I think it is better to do without it, unless you make your own mushroom ketchup and bottle it in very small bottles, so as to use the contents of each bottle as soon as it is opened. Do not allow perquisites. Remember that roastbeef dripping and the skimmings from the "pot au feu" are the best fats for frying; other drippings are also good (when properly prepared), and do not let your cook persuade you to the contrary. If you have not enough dripping, you must, of course, supplement it with the best olive oil, butter, or lard; but remember that lard is the least nice medium for frying in. In a household of five persons all told, and using on an average twenty-five shillingsworth of meat a week, of which one joint is a sirloin, there ought to be always |