LIVING IN AMERICA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13355, 8 December 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

LIVING IN AMERICA.

COOKERY.

No. 11. Bt MARY H. KROCT.

Thk west exaggerated ideas prevail as to the cost of living in the United States. It is true that the multi-millionaire often spends with an extravagance that recalls the excesses of decadent Rome. But in so doing, whatever may be his motive, he is putting his • millions into circulation, buying the wares and giving employment to thousands who thrive by his expenditure.

. But for people of ordinary means- it is possible, outside New York, to live almost anywhere in a great degree of comfort -, at a . very.; moderate cost. Labour is the one thing that swallows up the income ; tenpence an hour is paid for the roughest work—that of the man who comes to do "' odd jobs," of : the woman who comes in to scrub and clean. A housemaid of very ordinary- training receives from twelve to sixteen shillings a week, and a cook of almost any sort from one pound trt one pound eight shillings a week. Chinese servants, because of their skill and obedience, command much more,, but of these there are now few to be had because of the rigid exclusion laws. .

The , high wages are due to the fact that there is abundant work in mills and factories at even better wages than girls can earn as servants, with shorter hours and free Sundays.

With this one exception livingfood and clothing particularly rents are much cheaper in the United States than in England or the colonies.

While rents do not really concern cookery it may be stated, parenthetically, that in almost any of the middle Western States a good two-storey house, with all the conveniences described in a former article—furnace, hot and cold water, cellars and attics, lawn and garden—may be rented for one pound a week : a smaller house equally convenient as low as. three pounds a month. - Food and clothing are especially cheap ; the former because of the increasing cultivation of the land and the proportionate increase of production; the latter because of the widespread multiplication of mills and factories which now turn out incalculable quantities of boots, shoes, cotton, silk, and linen fabrics, and upon which, of course, there is nc duty.

The United States well merits the legend it has chosen for its national coat-of-arms: "Many in One." It applies not only to its peculiar federation and people, but to its j climate and products. There are climatic differences that vary as much as those between the north of Great Britain and Southern Italy, with every variety of soil. All this makes possible the raising of all manner of, cereals, vegetables, and all the fruits grown in temperate and subtropical latitudes; wheat and maize in the north and west; oranges, lemons, figs, and olives in California and Florida; sugar from the canefields of Louisiana, and the newly-acquired Porta Rican and Hawaiian territories, while the millions of acres of rich pasturage of the prairies and tho welltilled farms of the middle Western States yield enormous quantities of milk, cream, and butter. Cream is so cheap and so abundant _ that people of moderate means can use" it freely, and for this reason it enters largely into the -composition ' of many dishes; it is eaten v upon the morning - porridge, with ' fresh, "uncooked fruit berries nd ripe peaches, and vegetables, especially potatoes, are lavishly dressed with it. 'The- great increase in poultryraising has kept down the price of eggs, but by some strange calculation the cost of fowls has • trebied within ten years. This is partly due to the growing demands of the cities, the increase of. railway lines, and the moderate charge for ; shipment. It will be seen from all this that the American cook has carried into her kitchen a great variety of material from which to cater, and the excellence of American , cookeryfor it is good—is largely because of this. The visiting foreigner is usually struck by the abundant breakfast. It is to be accounted for on the ground that nine out.of every ten American men, and a good many of, the women nowadays, work long and hard, taking a very light luncheon at noon. It is held that they must be sent to the day's duty wellfortified with sufficient good, nourishing food, since this must practically • sustain them until night.

The breakfast, summer and winter begins with fresh fruit—oranges, grape fruit, or bananas in the winter months; strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, melons, peaches, and grapes in their successive seasons. Grape fruit, which is the Chinese puinelo, are cut in half, minced without being taken from the rind, and covered with sugar to draw out the juice ; the acid and the slight bitterness are considered very wholesome. Fruit is followed by porridge— one of many breakfast foodsoatmeal, cream of wheat, or Oermea, served with cream. Grilled fish, chops or steak, eggs in an omelette or with ham and bacon are served with baked or fried potatoes. The hot breads, so much used, and always at breakfast, comprise a great variety of muffins, roils, and baking-powder " biscuits"—the latter" very light; in fact, a species of very delicate scone. American hot breads, though they are seldom refused by,? the foreign -visitor have been considered unwholesome, but it is.now- the opinion of the best medical authorities that if light and sweet they are really much more easily digested than leathery toast or heavy, badly-baked cold breads. The same is true of tne many delicious hot griddle-cakes that are a feature of the true American breakfast, especially in the Southern States, where they attain their full perfection—the corn calces, rice cakes, waffles, and batter cakes. Waffles are really a Scandinavian invention, and. done to a turn nothing can be better 11, old-fashioned Virginia negro cook .brought them to the table steaming hot. light as a feather, buttered and sugared and drenched with thick cream. This will convey an idea of something horribly rich and indigestible, but so. perfectly were they compounded and baked by those skilful black ; hands that they were both palatable and wholesome. " Buckwheat cakes must not be forgotten. These— owing to the heat-producing qualities of buckwheat, which accounts for its use in Knssia and other cold countries—are eaten only in winter. They are raised with yeast, must be very light, and served with maple syrup. This was once the staple tcou of a New England breakfast, and still is, where innovations have not crept in— the wisdom of the cooking school and the adoption of European customs. Of course much less meat is used in summer than in winter, and grilled bacon very thin and delicate, is .substituted for the chop or steak. Americans are charged with great extravagance for the manner m which .joints are sacrificed to cuts for sirloin and tenderloin- steaks, but it is certain that the thick, grilled steak, as it comes smoking hot to the American table is m every way to be preferred to the heavy joint A great deal of the meat is put into cold stora?e, and is not used for several weeks. It then has all the tenderness and juiciness that so commends the frozen New Zealand "mutton which can be bought so cheaply in London. Maize, or Indian corn, is considered olio of the best of all native foods, and is cooked in many palatable ways. It is boiled on the cob while green, or, also while green, sliced from the cob and scraped to extract. the milk and starch, and stewed with butter, cream; or milk, salt and pepper. Fritters are made from it beaten up with egg, a;little flour, and baking powder, .or it is made. into a pud- » ,diair and baked.. U» b&.fta.t*n.aj! A<ru.»t»K)A !

or boiled in milk and slightly thickened and strained it is a favourite bisque. From the meal*are made half a dozen kinds of bread and the griddle-cakes that have been mentioned with muffins and porridge The latter requires slow cooking for at least an hour, the meal being sifted lightly into boiling salt water. It is then served with milk, or poured into a basin while still hot, sliced when cold, and h fried brown in very hot lard, served with powdered sugar or syrup. This is a favourite breakfast dish North and South. In the long, hot summers ice is used in large quantities, a custom that has spread through all tropical countries with the invention of ice machines. Comparatively little tea is used in winter, but iced tea in ■;■ summer, with the addition of sliced lemon,• is a favourite drink. Coffee unmixed with chicory is the universal breakfast drink, and iced coffee is also growing in favour. The melons for breakfast or for dessert are always iced, and salads, in the composition of which Americans now almost rival tho French, are always put into the refrigerator to cool for several hours before being brought to the table. Amongst vegetables, aside from potatoes, peas, beans, especially' the delicious Lima beans, tomatoes, egg plant, onions, lettuce, radishes, turnips, and cabbage, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, and salsify enable the cook to make frequent and welcome changes in her menu. Potatoes are baked in their jackets, and if the dish is to be an especially dainty one are taken from the oven, turned out of the .shells, mashed,'/ dressed with butter, cream, pepper and salt, put back into the shells, which have been opened carefully at the top, returned to tho oven, and browned. Mashed potatoes have the same dressing, and are beaten to a souffle, heaped in a dish, and set into the oven to brown : cut into dice they are creamed; or, boiled, allowed to get cold, are also cut into dice and fried quickly with the addition of a littleparsley. , | Tomatoes are also cooked in many ways;"' I stewed, strained through a. colander, and, with a pinch of soda, to correct the acid and prevent curdling, are stirred into boiling milk, making the best of all bisques— a soup that is especially appetising to in-' valids. They are also „stewed with the addition of breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, butter, and cream, or sliced and set on the ice, to be eaten with oil and vinegar as a salad. It should be said that while thev speedily soften ove\ the fire tomatoes, so American cooks hold, should be stewed in their own juice only for at least half an hour, and, cooked or raw, are never sent to the table without- first removing the* skins, which are thoroughly indigestible. ' Dried Lima beans, which are soaked over night, are almost as good as-when fresh, and it is a, matter of some wonder that so good a vegetable is not used in England and the colonies, especially in England, where there is so much complaint of the monotony of the diet. Green peas, it may be said, are never cooked with mint in America, because it is thought that: the stronger flavour of the mint spoils the more delicate flavour of the vegetable." As has been said, tea is comparatively little used, but most Americans are very exacting about their coffee. It must be of the best quality, unadulterated. It is made either by percolation in the French manner, or as is preferred in the Southern States a heaping tcaspoonfu! of ground coffee for each cup, cold water being used, clarified with white of egg stirred thoroughly into the coffee- mixture with a little water 'before tho pot is filled; it, is allowed to reach the boilmg-po.nt, then removed from the tire to settle for a few moments before it is served. .■-■■■ - *•