prepared after ordinary recipes, with milk and shortening, are likely
to contain more fat than meat dishes prepared in the usual ways.
When, therefore, such cheese dishes are served with other staple
foods the combination is likely to contain more fat than the usual
meal. If little fat is ordinarily used, this may be an advantage. If
a great deal of fat is ordinarily used, it may be desirable to lessen
the amount in the cheese dishes. This can readily be done by omitting
the shortening and using skim milk or water in the preparation of
such dishes, a change which also lessens their cost.
The fact that cheese, like meat, contains neither starch nor
cellulose suggests that, like meat, it should be combined with bread,
potatoes, and other starchy foods, with vegetables and with sweets.
The concentrated character of cheese and many cheese dishes suggests
the use of succulent fruits and vegetables with them. The high
percentage of fat in cheese suggests the use of correspondingly small
amounts of fat in the accompanying dishes, while the soft texture of
cheese dishes as compared with meat makes it reasonable to serve the
harder and crustier breads with them.
When cheese is not used as the chief nitrogenous food of a meal it
may be introduced into bills of fare in many incidental ways, and
thus add materially to that portion of the diet needed for building
and repairing body tissue.
Though cheese is so generally used in some way in most families,
yet the making of menus with cheese as a central dish is less well
understood than more usual food combinations, since there is less
experience to serve as a guide. More thought is therefore usually
required to arrange such cheese meals in order that they may be
palatable and at the same time reasonable in nutritive value.
In order that the diet may remain well balanced, cheese, if used in
quantity, should replace foods of similar composition rather than
supplement them. The builder who has a choice of materials must have
a knowledge of their relative properties if he wishes to use stone
instead of brick, or wood in place of iron. It is the same with the
housekeeper who wishes to use her available food supply intelligently
and whose choice of foods is influenced by their relative cost at a
given time or season. The woman who has a knowledge of the relative
food value of different articles of diet, and their real food
qualities as distinguished from their market value, who understands
good methods of cooking and serving foods, and who plans her meals
and other housework so that unnecessary labor and expense may be
avoided, is taking account of the things which make for economical
living as well as for good living.
Some persons seem to believe that cheese or fish or other food is
the ideal food for some particular circumstance and that there is
a special food or diet suited to each kind of work and to every
circumstance of our daily life, and that it would be a great
advantage if we could regulate our daily fare with the accuracy a
chemist uses in making an experiment. Work, recreation, the amount
of clothing we wear, and other details of our daily life are not
so regulated, and it is the belief of those who have studied the
subject that the best interests of persons living under normal
conditions are served if the ideal be rather the regulation of the
diet along general lines in accordance with good sense, the teachings
of experience, economy, and the available knowledge gained from
a scientific study of the subject, due care being taken that the
different staple foodstuffs are so combined that all the needs of
the body are provided, excessive waste is prevented, and that both
undernourishment and excess or overeating are avoided.
Dishes which are liked and the methods followed in preparing them
will vary in different countries and at different times, yet this
does not of necessity mean that the nutritive value of the diet
varies correspondingly. In the same way it is possible for us to
vary the selection of our foods and the character of our diet at
will, according to the demands of our taste and our purse, without
correspondingly changing its value for supplying the needs of the
body. This means that the housekeeper, in suitable ways, can use
cheese, meat, fish, eggs, and other foods of similar composition as
substitutes for one another, being governed by their relative market
value at different times and seasons, by the tastes of her family,
and similar considerations. If she uses the different foodstuffs with
reference to their nutritive value and is skillful in preparing foods
in appetizing ways and in serving them in attractive combinations,
the daily fare may be both adequate and pleasing, whether she selects
cheese or meat or fish or eggs or other foods to supply nitrogenous
material and fat. Here, as in all that pertains to housekeeping, true
economy is dependent upon a knowledge of materials and skill in using
them.
Transcriber’s Notes
pg 8 Removed repeated word the from: If cream is removed the the
cheese
pg 12 Changed brought about chiefly by the action of enzyms to:
enzymes
pg 15 Changed 90 per cent of the nitrogeous to: nitrogenous
pg 20 Changed the curd assumes a custardlike to: custard-like
pg 24 Added period after No in: Cheese Fondue No 1.
pg 24 Added period after: 1 tablespoonful of butter
pg 25 Changed Corn and Cheese Souffle. to: Soufflé.
pg 31 Added period after: Salt, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg