The Home.

Lake County Press, Issue 906, 12 April 1900, Page 7

The Home.

Correct Tr.ste in Cooking. In the back districts of the United States it is astonishing to find how many of the families live habitually upon, among other unwholesome things, half-baked "soggy" bread, and call it good. Unfortunately, this peculiarity is not confined to the class which has been mentioned, but prevails more or le.-s throughout the country land ; and in this case, as in every other, it will be fouud that the poorer the cookery, as a rule, the lower, intellectually or morally, or both, the grade of the human 'beings who cat it. it is even asserted that not one family in live hundred habitually partakes of light, wellbaked, close-grained, wholesome bread. Yet any one of a Uo'/.cii or more excellent cook-books, to be had cheaply in any shop, will tell the seeker how good bread may be made. Good yeast is " aiso cheap and common. Any nousekeeper, by a very little trouble, may nave really good bread ; yet such is the prevailing apathy in regard to the matter that comparatively few families in large towns "nave home-made bread. The conclusion is inevitable thar women do not know the difference between good bread and poor, or else that they are ignorant or careless of the health And comfort which come into a family with the advent of good bread The duluess of the general taste in regard to butter is even more marked. When one "samples" the extraordinary product denominated butter in many respectable households, one is simply paralysed. Stand in any grocery shop for an hour, and see what quantities of a " screaming" yellow salve are taken thence under the appellation of cooking butter. And this "salve" does not go entirely into the homes of the poor and shiftless by any means. Good oleomargarine is said to be vastly superior to poor butter. One would, indeed, prefer any honest edible to that doubtful product. A prominent journal used to_ plead for the colouring af oleomargarine pink instead of yellow. It is desirable to know what one is using, but almost anything is better than the vile and odious compound known as cooking butter. Many families have no idea of the proper way of cooking meats, especially beef and 'mutton. Vegetables are almost always over-cooked. Yet one who has ever tasted them when boiled in water of exactly the right temperature, salted just right, and poured away at just the right moment, will never be satisfied to eat them again in the sloppy, flavourless condition in which they are usually served. Turnips are among the chief sufferers in this regard. Even good turnips are seldom treated rightly in the pot. To take up tulnips at just the right instant, to mash them lightly, season them toothsomely. and bring them to the table firm, sweet, and full of delicate flavour is an art seldom attained. A cook who had plied her trade In many wealthy families informed her new 'mistress that she always cooked green peas "at least two hours." Many a cook seems incapable of distinguishing between the dainty close-grained confection which her mistress makes for a " cup-cake" and her own bubbly, egg-smeared concoction. She simply does not know ami cannot be made to understand the difference between them. Very likely it will prove l impossible to teach her. but the mistress of a kitchen, so long as a cook is in her employ, should never inteimit her efforts to enlighten its " ruler." Really amazing results have followed years of persevering effort in thift regard. A prime obstacle in the way of the cook's advancement is usually her aversion to the tasting of her cookery before it is forever too late. A cup and spoon for tasting should be at hand invariably while cooking is going on. The spoon is readily cleansed under the snout, and even experienced cooks need to taste sometimes. The cook who is deficient, and who yet cannot be made to " taste," is hopeless. An even more important sense in which correctness of taste should be cultivated is in regard to what may be called the hygienic. A pureblooded, normally-organised man will instinctively select from among the dishes placed before him those which are best adapted to his constitution and condition. When tobacco or alcohol or disease has vitiated his tissues, he ceases to know how to regulate his diet by his taste. He constantly craves the food which is worst for him. and finds it hard to relish that which the doctors prescribe. The old-fashioned rule. "When you want a tiling, be sure that It is good for you." can only be true when a man's stomach is in a perfectly gound and normal state. In this view DJ* the subject, abstinence from highly. Seasoned food, strong condiments, and inything which may pervert or deaden ihe natural tastes of the system is to be carefully observed ; for tiiat man has an invaluable friend who has a correct and wholesome faculty of selection in eating. The diet is the life. Good John Ridd said of his sister Lizzie : " She knett that the gift of cooking was not vouchsafed by God to her. but sometimes she would do her best by intellect to win it, whereas it is no more to be won by intellect than is divine poetry. An amount of strong quiet, heart is needful, and the understanding must second ft. in the one as in the other." In spite of this shrewdest of heroes, nearly any one who honestly desires to understand good cooking may arrive at a considerable proficiency in the art. if she choose to apply herself to the business 'of learning. Only let her first be sure that she knows how her " things" ought to taste when they are " done." It is for mothers to form the taste of their children in this*regard more than perhaps in any other. There is no other art in which so practical an object-les-son is given in the home three times every day. It is a responsibility which few'mothers appreciate, must less rightly discharge It is said, and the remark is reasonable, that a child who has been kept on proper food for the firs; fifteen years of his life has every presumption in favour of a long and useful career. A boy thus bumght up is not likely to put up' with poor cooking in the family of which he becomes in time the head. A girl tints reared will never allow it in her kitchen.—" Harper's Bazar."