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THE
COOKING MANUAL
OF
PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR ECONOMICAL
EVERY-DAY COOKERY.
BY
JULIET CORSON.
SUPERINTENDENT OF THE NEW YORK COOKING SCHOOL.
"_How well can we live, if we are moderately poor?_"
NEW YORK:
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY,
751 BROADWAY.
1877.
COPYRIGHT
BY JULIET CORSON
1877.
PREFACE.
This book is intended for the use of those housekeepers and cooks who
wish to know how to make the most wholesome and palatable dishes at the
least possible cost. In cookery this fact should be remembered above all
others; A GOOD COOK NEVER WASTES. It is her pride to make the most of
everything in the shape of food entrusted to her care; and her pleasure
to serve it in the most appetizing form. In no other way can she prove
her excellence; for poor cooks are always wasteful and extravagant.
Housekeepers can safely make this book a guide for those of their cooks
who are willing to learn new and good methods of cooking familiar foods.
Lest it should be said that undue preference is given to foreign ways of
cooking, the author begs her readers to remember how much of the success
of any dish depends upon its taste; if it is well-flavored, and
palatably seasoned, the eaters of it do not closely criticise its
component parts. It is just there that benefit is derived from European
culinary skill; the judicious use of a few inexpensive sweet herbs, and
savory sauces, will raise a side dish, made from the cheapest cut of
meat, in gustatory excellence far above a badly cooked porterhouse
steak, or a large but poorly flavored roast. Because the art of
utilizing every part of food is eminently French, the NEW YORK COOKING
SCHOOL plan has been to adapt foreign thrift to home kitchen use. To
provide enough at each meal; to cook and serve it so as to invite
appetite; to make a handsome and agreeable dish out of the materials
which the average cook would give away at the door, or throw among the
garbage; all are accomplishments that our American wives and daughters
will be glad to learn from their European sisters.
The day has passed for regarding cooking as a menial and vulgar labor;
and those who give some thought to their daily food usually gain in
vigor and cheerfulness. It is a truism that food is concentrated force.
The manipulation of a motive power capable of invigorating both body and
mind, is an occupation worthy to employ intelligence and skill. In
countries where the people depend upon meagre supplies this art is
brought to perfection. The _pot-au-feu_ of France and Switzerland, the
_olla podrida_ of Spain, the _borsch_ of Poland, the _tschi_ of Russia,
the _macaroni_ of Italy, the _crowdie_ of Scotland, all are practical
examples of this fact. In no country in the world is there such an
abundance of food as in America; all the needful ingredients for making
these national dishes, or their equivalents, can be found in the markets
of our cities, and most of them are the products of this country. This
being true, there is no reason why American cookery should be so
comparatively limited--why the question of "what shall we have for
dinner to-day?" should be the despair of the inexperienced housekeeper.
If in no other land is there such profusion of food, certainly in none
is so much wasted from sheer ignorance, and spoiled by bad cooking. In
Europe provinces would live upon what towns waste here. The very herbs
of the field in the hands of a skilful cook can be transformed into
palatable and nutritious viands. The plainest and cheapest materials can
be prepared for the table in an appetizing and satisfactory form. Let
our readers test this fact by cooking according to the receipt any dish
named in the chapter upon "CHEAP DISHES WITHOUT MEAT," and the author
will stake her culinary reputation that the food so prepared will be
both palatable and nourishing.
Many persons regard the practice of serving several dishes at a meal as
troublesome and expensive. The first objection may hold good; but the
best results in any direction are never gained without trouble. The
second is wholly untenable; soup, fish, vegetables, and bread, are all
less costly than heavy joints of meat; if hunger can be partly satisfied
on them, and it is true that a thick slice of bread and a bowl of soup
will content the hungriest stomach, less meat will be required, and
consequently less expense incurred. This is an excellent reason why the
housewife should not spend the bulk of her market money on a large roast
of beef, or a leg of mutton, but should rather divide the amount among
the different dishes of soup, fish, a _ragout_, or stew of some cheap
cut of meat, and a few vegetables; and now and then indulge in a plain
pudding, or a little fruit for dessert. With judicious marketing and
proper cooking, the food of our well-to-do classes might be made far
better than two-thirds of that now served on the tables of the wealthy;
and the poor might learn that their scrag-end of mutton would furnish
them with at least three dishes. To forward in some measure this result,
the present collection of COOKING SCHOOL receipts is offered to the
public, with the assurance that every one given has been tested by the
author, and is complete in every detail, as economical as care and use
can make it, and plain enough for ordinary households. The quantities
mentioned in the various receipts are calculated to serve for a family
of eight persons, when two or more dishes constitute a dinner, with the
addition of soup; of course when only one dish is to form the meal, with
bread and vegetables, a larger quantity must be allowed.
Communications from all parts of the country state that the principles
of kitchen economy as taught in the NEW YORK COOKING SCHOOL and widely
disseminated by the press, have been put into practice in many families,
to the great improvement of health and temper; for an illy fed man can
neither be strong nor cheerful; the hours spent at table should be full
of harmony and content, or the meal will fail to meet the requirements
of the body. The question of the hour is "How well can we live, if we
are moderately poor?" The author of THE COOKING SCHOOL MANUAL is doing
her best to answer it satisfactorily. She has worked earnestly in a
comparatively new field of labor, and she prays that strong hands may
unite in the effort to show how excellent a thing it is to make the best
and most of the bountiful supply our country's teeming bosom bears at
every harvest tide.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL RULES FOR MARKETING.
PAGE
Meats--Poultry--Game--Fish--Vegetables--Fruit--Sweet Herbs 15