HOUSEWIFERY ECONOMICS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 22 August 1925, Page 17

HOUSEWIFERY ECONOMICS.

TIIH FRiHN OH, W OMAN'S WAY. 'I hero are all sorts of little economies that can be practised by the careful housewife with gratifying ieiviilt.s in regard to the housekeeping (bills. One reason why the French are iso notoriously and iso undeniably more thrifty than their British allies can be found in the'* kitchen any morning, bright and early, when the cooking -exploits are under weigh. It is that •the Frenchwoman would much rathei leave a room undmsted and unswept, il -necessary, than spoil her man’s dinner, •or waste a scrap of anything edible -owing to lack of time. Slio would raise hands of horror if she could see some of us peeling potatoes in a hurry! For when the Frenchwoman prepares • vegetables or fruit it ie a -holy rite. Not a scrap of anything that can be used—if only for flavourling—is rejected. Then she always weighs and measures, with exquisite accuracy, not only to avoid waste, but equally to avoid any potential cookery catastrophe as the result of disproportionate quantities of individual ingredients. And it is a real tragedy if she burns or '.scorches food. It is a -tragedy, however, which very seldom occurs; for she watches cooking temperatures like >a hen with her chickens! All left-ovens of every kind are utilised. She makes wonderful little boulettes of beef, for instance, with the remains of the joint which goes .into the precious Sunday dinner (“bouillon.” True, the beef’s goodness is in the soup! But there is •enough of the beef in substance, il not in nutriment, to lend its name •to the “boulettes do boeuf,” and to ..make a most appetising concoction i" which vegetables from the back garden —all sorts of lovely green thingsseldom seen outside France--play's a •piquant part. A scrupulously careful watch is hept over the contents of the larder and the .storeroom. Food is never allowed 'to .go bad or to deteriorate. “Scraps,” •however small, are never overlooked'or forgotten. There are always rissoles; and those scraps of ham go into the omelette with a. trifle of “fines herbe.s” ; •and the two or three stewed prunes give a wonderful flavour to the rabbit cn casserole. The French housewife can be cmbarrassingly hospitable; but she never makes the mistake, when serving at. table, of putting more on the plates than can be eaten. Instead, she leaves iio doubt in her visitor’s mind that «ho would be •enchanted if her guest ■would take a second helping. Site loves to have many faces round her hoard ; but she hates waste. . . ,