Twenty-Five Cent Dinners for Families of Six Part 1

Twenty-Five Cent Dinners for Families of Six.

by Juliet Corson.

PREFACE

During the time that this little book has been a candidate for public favor, it has attained a success far beyond the expectations of its most sanguine advocates; and in issuing this revised and enlarged edition the author returns her sincere thanks to both press and public, who have so substantially seconded her efforts for culinary reform.

In this edition an additional chapter has been devoted to the preparation of fruit for dessert, with special reference to the needs of American housewives. Most American ladies prepare fruit for table use either by canning it, or making it into rich and expensive preserves; while both of these methods are palatable, and available for winter use, the receipts given in the closing chapter will provide a welcome variety for serving fresh fruits at the table, and will tend to increase the healthy consumption of those abundant and excellent domestic productions, while they cannot fail to decrease the deplorable prevalence of that objectionable national compound, the pie.

Recent investigations concerning retail prices in different sections of the country confirm the author in the estimate of cost given in this work; in certain localities some of the articles quoted are more expensive, while others are cheaper; but the average is about equal.

PREFACE.

TO ECONOMICAL HOUSEWIVES:

The wide publicity which the press in different sections of the country has given to my offer to show workingpeople earning a dollar and a half, or less, per day, how to get a good dinner for fifteen cents, has brought me a great many letters from those who earn more, and can consequently afford a more extended diet.

In response to their requirements I have written this book, which I hope will be found servicable in that middle department of cookery it is designed to occupy, where we begin to look for more than the absolute necessaries of life; it is a practical guide to the economical, healthful, and palatable preparation of food, and will serve to show that it is possible to live well upon a very moderate income.

It is necessary to repeat in this book some of the directions given in the work on "FIFTEEN CENT DINNERS;" but I hope their reappearance will be pardoned on the ground of their usefulness, and also because the first book will fail to reach many for whom this one is intended.

The cheapest kinds of food are sometimes the most wholesome and strengthening; but in order to obtain all their best qualities we must know how to choose them for their freshness, goodness, and suitability to our needs. That done, we must know how to cook them, so as to make savory and nutritious meals instead of tasteless or sodden messes, the eating whereof sends the man to the liquor shop for consolation.

Good food, properly cooked, gives us good blood, sound bones, healthy brains, strong nerves, and firm flesh, to say nothing of good tempers and kind hearts. These are surely worth a little trouble to secure.

The first food of nearly all living creatures is milk, the only entire natural food; that is, the only food upon which health and strength can be sustained for any length of time, without using any other nourishment. For this reason it is the best food you can give the children if you must restrict their diet at all; and it is also a valuable addition to the food of grown persons. While this fact about milk is settled, it is generally acknowledged by people who study the subject that we thrive best on a variety. We get warmth and strength from fat meat, wheat, rye, barley, rice, milk, sugar, fruit, peas, beans, lentils, macaroni, and the roots of vegetables; we gain flesh from lean meat, unbolted flour, oatmeal, eggs, cheese, and green vegetables; and, if we want to think clearly, we must use fish, poultry, the different grains, and a good variety of fruit and vegetables.

The food most generally in use among the ma.s.ses is just that which meets their requirements. No hungry man will spend money for what he knows will not satisfy his appet.i.te, and a natural appet.i.te may always be trusted. For that reason the receipts given in this book treat of the articles in common use, with the exception of lentils and macaroni, which are foods that I earnestly beg all to try. In meals made up of bacon, potatoes and bread, of corned beef and cabbage, and of pork and beans, there exists an equal and sufficient amount of nourishment; but if other dishes are added to these, the variety will result in better general health and contentment. If we were to live day after day on rice, bread, potatoes, or any one other article of food, we would not long be strong enough for any kind of work. In matters of diet variety is not only the spice of life, it is the necessity.

In estimating cost, I have naturally supposed that the family consists of father, mother, and children of different ages, and not of six adults; for them the quant.i.ties given would, of course, be insufficient.

I allow a meat dinner every day; but in order to have this the meat itself must generally be used one day, with bread or vegetables, and the next day the breakfast must be the broth or juice of the meat, which, if prepared according to my directions, will afford equal nourishment.

I wish to call your attention to the following important fact. The hardy and thrifty working cla.s.ses of France, the country where the most rigid economy in regard to food is practised, never use tea or coffee for breakfast, and seldom use milk. Their food and drink is BROTH. Not the broth from fresh meat, for they do not often eat that; but that which is made from vegetables, and perhaps a bit of bacon or salt pork.

If you will reflect on the reasons I give in the next chapter for boiling food, instead of roasting or baking it, you will learn two important lessons in economy, namely: that boiling saves at least one fourth the volume of food, and that the broth which is produced, when properly managed, always gives the foundation for another meal. You should always bear in mind that the object of cooking is to soften and disintegrate food, so that it can be easily masticated; and to expand it, so as to present a large surface to the action of the digestive organs. In this connection you must open your eyes to certain physiological facts if you want your food to agree with you. I shall not tell you more, and perhaps not so much, as you ought to know, and to teach your children.

In calculating the cost of the receipts I give you, I have used the retail prices asked in Washington market, and in ordinary grocery stores, at this season of the year; the average is about the same as that of past years, and probably will not change much; so that I believe I have not placed too low an estimate upon them.

At the first glance it may seem impossible to buy healthy meat at the prices I give, but you must remember that I speak of the good second quality of meat, and that the marketing must be done with economy, and in low-priced localities. It _can_ be done, for I have done it myself.

Go to packing houses, and provision stores, for meats; to German green-groceries for vegetables, and fruit; and to "speciality" stores, for b.u.t.ter, sugar, tea, et cetera.

In conclusion I only have to say that I hope my little book will be useful to every one who consults it.

JULIET CORSON.

_New York Cooking School._

CHAPTER I.

MARKETING.

The most perfect meats are taken from well-fed, full-grown animals, that have not been over-worked, under-fed, or hard-driven; the flesh is firm, tender, and well-flavored, and abounds in nutritious elements. On the other hand, the flesh of hard-worked or ill-fed creatures is tough, hard, and tasteless.

All animal flesh is composed of alb.u.men, fibrin, and gelatin, in the proportion of about one fifth of its weight; the balance of its substance is made up of the juice, which consists of water, and those soluble salts and phosphates which are absolutely necessary for the maintenance of health. It is this juice which is extracted from beef in the process of making beef tea; and it is the lack of it in salted meats that makes them such an injurious diet when eaten for any length of time to the exclusion of other food.

The flesh of young animals is less nutritious, and less easily masticated than that of full grown animals, on account of its looser texture. Beef, which has firmer and larger fibres than mutton, is harder to digest on that account, but it contains an excess of strengthening elements that is not approached by any meat, save that of the leg of pork.

The tongues of various animals, the fibres of which are small and tender, are nutritious and digestible; the heart is nutritious because it is composed of solid flesh, but the density of its fibre interferes with its digestibility; the other internal organs are very nutritious, and very useful as food for vigorous persons on that account, and because they are cheap. The blood of animals abounds in nutritive elements; the possibility of its use as a general food has closely engaged the attention of European scientists; notably of the members of the University of Copenhagen, who recommend its use in the following forms, in which it is not only suitable for food, but also capable of preservation for an indefinite time. First, as sausages, puddings and cakes--being mixed with fat, meal, sugar, salt, and a few spices--to serve as a much cheaper subst.i.tute for meat, and intended especially for the use of the poor cla.s.ses; and second, as blood-chocolate, more especially suitable to be used in hospitals, as well as otherwise in medical practice, in which latter form it has been recommended by Professor Panum, at a meeting of physicians at Copenhagen, and is now being employed in some of the hospitals of that city.

Bones consist largely of animal matter, and earthy substances which are invaluable in building up the frame of the body. In order to obtain all their goodness, we must crush them well before putting them into soups or stews.

=Beef.=--The flesh of the best quality of beef is of a bright red color, intersected with closely laid veins of yellowish fat; the kidney fat, or suet, is abundant, and there is a thick layer upon the back. The second quality has rather whitish fat, laid moderately thick upon the back, and about the kidneys; the flesh is close-grained, having but few streaks of fat running through it, and is of a pale red color, and covered with a rough, yellowish skin. Poor beef is dark red, gristly, and tough to the touch, with a scanty layer of soft, oily fat. Buy meat as cheap as you can, but be sure it is fresh; slow and long cooking will make tough meat tender, but tainted meat is only fit to throw away. Never use it. You would, by doing so, invite disease to enter the home where smiling health should reign. The best way to detect taint in any kind of meat is to run a sharp, thin-bladed knife close to the bone, and then smell it to see if the odor is sweet. Wipe the knife after you use it. A small, sharp wooden skewer will answer, but it must be sc.r.a.ped every time it is used, or the meat-juice remaining on it will become tainted, and it will be unfit for future use. If, when you are doubtful about a piece of meat, the butcher refuses to let you apply this test carefully enough to avoid injuring the meat, you will be safe in thinking he is afraid of the result.

=Mutton.=--Prime mutton is bright red, with plenty of hard, white fat. The flesh of the second quality is dark red and close grained, with very few threads of fat running through it; the fat is rather soft, and is laid thin on the back and kidneys, closely adhering to them. The poorest healthy quality has very pale flesh, and thin white fat, and the meat parts easily from the bone. Diseased mutton has decidedly yellow fat, and very soft flesh, of loose texture. Tainted mutton smells bad; test it as you would beef.

=Lamb.=--A carca.s.s of lamb should weigh about twenty-five pounds before it is old enough to be wholesome and nourishing food; before it has reached that age it is watery and deficient in the elements of strength; at any age it is more suitable food for women and children than for healthy men. The finest kind has delicate rosy meat, and white, almost transparant fat. The flesh of the second quality is soft, and rather red compared with the pinkish-white meat of choice kinds; the fat is more scanty, and the general appearance coa.r.s.er. The poorest lamb has yellow fat, and lean, flabby red meat, which keeps but a short time. Test the freshness of lamb by touching the kidney-fat; if it is soft and moist the meat is on the verge of spoiling; a bad smell indicates that it is already tainted; it is utterly unfit for use.

=Veal.=--Prime veal is light flesh color, and has abundance of hard, white, semi-transparent fat. The flesh of the second quality is red in contrast to the pinkish-white color of the prime sort; and the fat is whiter, coa.r.s.er-grained, and less abundant. The poorest kind has decidedly red flesh, and very little kidney-fat. The neck is the first part that taints, and it can easily be tested; the loin is just spoiling when the kidney-fat begins to grow soft and clammy.

Read this sentence about BOB-VEAL carefully, and be sure to remember it.

It is the flesh of calves killed when two or three weeks old, or that of "deaconed calves," which are killed almost as soon as they are born, for the value of their skins. This practice cannot be too harshly condemned as a criminal waste of food; for a stock raiser, or farmer, who knows his business can feed his calves until they reach a healthy maturity, without seriously interfering with his supply of milk. The flesh of BOB-VEAL is a soft, flabby, sticky substance, of a ropy gelatinous nature; and, being the first flesh, unchanged by the health-giving action of air and food, it is devoid of the elements necessary to transform it into wholesome food. IT SHOULD NEVER BE EATEN.

=Pork.=--The best kind of pork is fresh and pinkish in color, and the fat is firm and white. The second quality has rather hard, red flesh, and yellowish fat. The poorest kind has dark, coa.r.s.e grained meat, soft fat, and discoloured kidneys. The flesh of stale pork is moist and clammy, and its smell betrays its condition. Measly pork has little kernels in the fat, and is unhealthy and dangerous food. After testing, as you would beef, so as to see if it is fresh, and making sure that it is not measly, we have still to dread the presence of TRICHINA, a dangerous parasite present in the flesh of some hogs. The surest preventive of danger from this cause is thorough cooking, which destroys any germs that may exist in the meat. Cook your pork until it is crisp and brown, by a good, steady fire, or in boiling water, at least twenty minutes to each pound. Pork eaten in cold weather, or moderately in summer, alternately with other meats, is a palatable and nutritious food. It has a hard fibre, and needs to be thoroughly chewed in order to be perfectly digested; for that reason it should be sparingly used by the young and the very old. The least fat is found in the leg, which contains an excess of flesh-forming elements, and resembles lean beef in composition; the most fat is in the face and belly. When cured as bacon it readily takes on the anti-septic action of salt and smoke, and becomes a valuable adjunct to vegetable food, as well as a pleasant relish; and in this shape it is one of the most important articles in general use.

=Poultry.=--Both poultry and game are less nutritious than meat, but they are more digestible, and consequently are better food than meat for persons of weak digestive organs and sedentary habits. They are both excellent for persons who think or write much. Fresh poultry may be known by its full bright eyes, pliable feet, and soft moist skin; the best is plump, fat, and nearly white, and the grain of the flesh is fine. The feet and neck of a young fowl are large in proportion to its size, and the tip of the breast-bone is soft, and easily bent between the fingers; a young c.o.c.k, has soft, loose spurs, and a long, full, bright red comb; old fowls have long, thin necks and feet, and the flesh on the legs and back has a purplish shade; chickens and fowls are always in season.

Turkeys are good when white and plump, have full b.r.e.a.s.t.s and smooth legs, generally black, with soft loose spurs; hen turkeys are smaller, fatter, and plumper, but of inferior flavor; full grown turkeys are the best for boiling, as they do not tear in dressing; old turkeys have long hairs, and the flesh is purplish where it shows under the skin on the legs and back. About March they deteriorate in quality.

Young ducks and geese are plump, with light, semi-transparent fat, soft breast-bone, tender flesh, leg joints which will break by the weight of the bird, fresh colored and brittle beaks, and windpipes that break when pressed between the thumb and forefinger. They are best in fall and winter.

Young pigeons have light red flesh upon the breast, and full, fresh colored legs; when the legs are thin, and the breast is very dark, the birds are old.

=Game Birds.=--Fine game birds are always heavy for their size; the flesh of the breast is firm and plump, and the skin clear; and if a few feathers be plucked from the inside of the leg and around the vent, the flesh of freshly killed birds will be fat and fresh colored; if it is dark, and discolored, the game has been hung a long time. The wings of good ducks, geese, pheasants, and woodc.o.c.k are tender to the touch; the tips of the long wing feathers of partridges are pointed in young birds, and round in old ones. Quail, snipe, and small birds should have full, tender b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

=Fish.=--Fish is richer in flesh-forming elements than game, poultry, lamb or veal, but it contains less fat and gelatin. It is easily digested, and makes strong muscular flesh, but does not greatly increase the quant.i.ty of fat in the body. The red blooded and oily kinds, such as salmon, sturgeon, eels and herring, are much more nutritious than the white blooded varieties, such as cod, haddock, and flounders. The salting of rich, oily fish like herring, mackerel, salmon, and sturgeon, does not deprive it of its nutritive elements to the extent that is noticeable with cod; salt cod fish is almost entirely devoid of nutriment, while the first named oily varieties are valuable adjuncts to a vegetable diet.

Although fish contains more water and less solid nutriment than meat, it is generally useful from its abundance and cheapness; and certain kinds which are called red-blooded, are nearly as nourishing as meat: oily fish satisfies hunger as completely as meat; herring, especially, makes the people who eat it largely strong and sinewy. Sea fish are more nourishing than fresh water varieties.

Sea fish, and those which live in both salt and fresh water, such as salmon, shad, and smelts, are the finest flavored; the muddy taste of some fresh water species can be overcome by soaking them in cold water and salt for two hours or more before cooking; all kinds are best just before sp.a.w.ning, the flesh becoming poor and watery after that period.

Fresh fish have firm flesh, rigid fins, bright, clear eyes, and ruddy gills. Oysters, clams, scallops, and mussels, should be eaten very fresh, as they soon lose their flavor after being removed from the sh.e.l.l.