COTTAGE COOKERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 549, 7 June 1862, Page 3

COTTAGE COOKERY.

(From the Mark Lane Express.) Tho recent changes in the industry of our female population have been far from favorable to the progress of sound economical cookery in the cottages of our hard-working laborers. Trained up in factories from childhood to married life, or confined at home on task work from early dawn to latest eve, very few women of the lower classes know how to make a diet for their husbands when they newly get married. Indeed, in the upper ranks of society, young ladic3 are not much better acquainted with the science airl practice of the culinary arc. When we examine the daily wants of our bodies as to food from a physiological point of view and perceive how imperatively simple and arbitrary they are in their demands, and when we further compare such with our every day practice and peculiar theories about diet, the conclusion forces itself ur on the mind that the schoolmaster must be from home, and that his return is just as much wanted in the one case noticed above as iv the other ; for, if there is anything more absurd than another, or more injurious to the welfare of society, it is the unpardonable anomaly of extremes that everywhere exemplifies itself in our dietary ! " Practice with Science," is a golden motto — one which has been adopted by the Royal Agricultural Society, with no little judgment ; and it certainly would be well for us, as_ a hardworking nation, were it faithfully carried out in every kitchen in the kingdom. Of the twj extremes of diet noticed above the aristocratic one, is by far tiie most objectionable. It is so in a twofold sense ; for, on fhe one hand, it is not so well adapted for suonhing the body with nourishment and preserving it in health, a3 the more humble fare of the poor man, when he has a sufficiency of it ; while, on the other hand, it sct^ an example of ignorance and extravagance to the middle and lower classes that is pregnant with an infinite amount of harm. In the barbarous and superstitious ages of pagan times, one c;in easily conceive how extravagance, and a vitiated taste were both tolerated and even cultivated ; hut it is more difficult in our day to justify what many Christian men and women eat an.l drink. Had a gourmand ninety -aud-ninc stomachs, tiie multifarious arrangement would naturally suggest a certain diversity of purpose which each had to servo from the others in the animal economy, and thu, account on rational" grounds why a dinner should consist of as many diifcreut courses-, but when all go into one, and that one not a very large stomach, Common Sense shuts her month, and leaves us to look at the heterogeneous abominable mess in a very different Jig lit.

Enter the cottage or apartments occupied by one of your laborers or small tenants, and commence a friendly conversation wiih the mistres3 on cookery, and how she contrives to bring up a large family of healthy smiling children on the 'small pittance which her husband weekly gives her, and you will be surprised to find, at tho present day, an amount of ignorance, pride, and superstition on the topic of food wholly inconceivable. When aware that the truth cannot be concealed, it is sometimes difficult to get a faithful expression of what they think, the \vhole affair being often hid under the excuse, "Indeed, Sir, we have got little to cook." But when you are familiar with the daily routine of dietary, and call upon the mistress to justify her conduct in comparison with a different system of economy pursued by her neighbors adjoining, or in a different county, or part of kingdom, then you discover that she knows much better how pigs and poultry should be fed, than her own babies! English, Scotch, and Irish pig^ and poultry arc everywhere fed on a similar diet, simply because they are pigs and poultry. But how different are babies from each other ? Every corner of the kingdom having its owu peculiar household philosophy as to what they require. And how different is the doctrine taught from the practice pursued ! If they had it, what would not many a mother give her children? And yet, when you point out to them the fact of their babies being healthier than those more abundantly fed, they appear conscious of the force of your argument ; at the same time they feel equally sensible when tbeir little one j s arc too scantily fed, as they too frequently are.

What we have had most to find fault with, in visitations of this kind, was the want of economy in tho distribution of the little stock of provisions equally over the different clays of the week — the absence of any scientific idea of the dietetic Value of one article of food from another, and consequently of the most economical plan of making things go to the greatest length. Tho week commences very frequently with a fea«t-rtay, but ends with n fast. Many poor people will have a " Sunday dinner in high life 1 ," if they should fare all the more soberly on Saturday. In not a few districts the practice has become an inveterate habit in which there is no little competition as to who shows oft' the more lordly in the village. The loss in many cases is not sogrc.t as one would from appearances be led to com-iu-le -, f.ir whereever emulation takes place, a more perfect handicraft in showing off is a.'quiie.l in cooking, and also economy ; while the small stock of provisions, properly cooked, will often keep better thus for being eaten cold, then if kept uncooked' and done daily na required. Nevertheless, however cautiously and thriftily as mother's hands may go about it, I^ss or more loss always attends the practice. Bui a sreafn- loss is more frequently sustained from an injudicious selection of things according to taste, and not according to dietetic values : in other words, mothers are not aware that a re! Mi for certain kiads of food ia soon acquired, and that prejudices against, others arc as easily cultivated. Much less are they sensible of training up their children in proper habits of this kind, although such are amolv corroborated by daily observation over the length and breadth of thp land.

Much of what is thus objectionable in the cottage has been acquired from (he example of the castle, as already stated. We repeat this, because it obviously requires to be examined in a different light from that in which it is generally seen ; for until the grea' mass of the people rise above the grovelling sensuality of the upper ranks of life, aud every mother in a cottage learns to feed her children in accordance with their physical wants and her own means, Micro is very little prospect of much improvement being effected in this most important branch of po^hl science.

At present there is in the upper walks of life a very strong feeling beginning iv many quarters to bo manifesto!, both in town and country, to follow a more scientific system of dietary, experience everywhere proving how much more conducive such is to health than that of which we complain. The determination to put down adulteration of every kind, for example, and also the sale of unwholesome animal and vegetable matter, is universal ; while the commercial world begins to experience greater difficulty in cajoling its customers into a wholesale system of extravagance, too wel.' known to require .1 lengthened description. All this may be practically accepted as signs of the times, in favor of progress in the upper and middle ranks of society, but amongst the labouring clashes a vast amount of credulous simplicity still prevails relative to " what is good for him" in the < shape of food — solid, liquid, animal, and vegetable — owing to the erroneous opinion they form of tho example shown them by those of their superiors who live fashionably. It may not be out of place here to apprise our readers, lest they should prematurely arrive at, the conclusion that we are advocating the contrary of good living, that man is obviously omnivorous ; and a more scientific system of' dietary at the present day, when our Indian and colonial empires — or, we may say in a word, our commercial interests — arc pouring into our markets all the edible products of the world, can never mean the simple dietary of our stalwart forefathers of the patriarchal times. But while foreign climes a^e thus filling our storehouses with their exhaustless treasures, let us not undervalue the products of our native soil, or wilfully shut our eyes to the most profitable plan of using the production of both, in a sanitary light as well as pecuniary, ior the greater tho diversity of the raw materials of food, home and foreign, the greater need we have of the light of science to guide us to their daily selection and , use. In point of fact, wo are advocating a much greater diversity of diet for the hard-working man than ho now enjoys. An example will perhaps best illustrate that kind of knowledge which we wish inculcated in the minds of our hardworking people— those who ought to know tha commercial value of their money as well as the dietetic value of their food.

The other week we bought two pounds of rump steak, anc pound from one butcher, and the other pound from a different butcher. Both butchers are considered of the first-class, and both steaks were cut from the carcasses of first rate animals ; yet, as to quality, neither was equal to boiling pieces cut from the fore-quartera of different animals ; while the price of the latter was little more than one-half that of the former. Although

perfectly aware at the time that the quality of the steaks was inferior, we had not the presence of mind to purchase steaks from different parts of tho same carcasses, or even to examine such so as to ascertain their comparative and relative values. But having recently gone into the improvements of our breeds of cattle, (oxen and sheep), and the quality of meat produced by them in comparison with that of old breeds, and From having spent much of our time cbiring'thp. past twenty years in the investigation of the food question, animal and vegetable, we can have no hesitation in saying that the above exception to tho commonly* received rule is a very general one ; that much money is thrown away on chops and steaks and roasting pieces ; and that hardworking people with limited incomes should learn to distinguish quality from its intrinsic merbs, and not from the part of tho carcase from which it is cut or the price they may be called upon to pay for it.

Again — similar differences exist relative to the intrinsic commercial and pecuniary values of pork, bacon, butter, cheese, eggs, fowls, game, fish, and all other kinds of animal food sold and bought in our markets. And when we reflect on the qualities ot these that are consumed by the masses, upon whose sho ilders the national yoke h borne, their families who are being reared to bear this yoke in the course of time ; and when we further consider the physiology of the human body, the amount of nourishment it daily requires to enable it to perform a given quantity of work, and to preserve it in health, and then compare such data with that we see actually purchased and consumed, we have said enough to show the reader the magnitude of the general interest at stake, find the importance of disseminating amongst our laboring population a sounder knowledge of the ele uentary principles of feeding themselves and their children.

What has just been said of the differences in the quality of auimil food is equally applicable to vegetable. One sack of flour or loaf of bread, for example, often affords the body a very different amount of nourishment from what another sack of flour or loaf of bread yields. The same is true of potatoes, cabbage, and everything bought of the greengrocer. Do. do. asto rice, sugar, and tea, anil every vegetable product of a foreign soil. But when we come to the commercial and pecuniary value?, the differences, although they may he as great, and even greater, do not correspond How often is the poor man's pocket thus arrayed in open hostility to his stomach ! And how universal is the practice of mothers training the stomachs of their children to perpetuate in all time coining this open warfare with their wages ! AU this is simple matter of fact which we see exemplified in the daily experience of our laboring people.

13 ut this i» not all. Animal and vegetable products, it must also be observe!, unlergo certain changes iv the process of cooking, and these are not always in favor of the poor man ; while besides the culinary question thus at issue, there is a chemical-economy in it also, that is equally deserving of attention, because upon it depends the practical sol ui ion of the former in no small degree, and because the chemistry of food is yet only beginning to shed its first rays of light, so candidly acknowledged in the writings of the most talented of our scientific men, such as Liebig, 'Pcrcira, Brinton, and others, as being rery imperfectly understood ; many discoveries requiring to be made before anything like a satisfactory theory can be taught as a branch of education for the guidance of practice. But although we may not be able to account for a badly cooked pototoe on strictly scientific data, the fact is no less notorious. Indeed, so great is the difference let ween good and bad cooking, that it hat even been estimated the body derives more nourishment from half the quantify of food well cooked than frrm the whole quantity badly cooked.

But although chemistry has made little progress in the^ culinary art, even in the upper walks of life, that is no reason why, at all our seminaries of learning, pupils, even the chillren of our working classes, should not keep pace with the the progress now being rapidly made in this branch of science, and why the prejudices and errors of the past should not be ' forthwith expelle-l from the minds of all classes. Progress in this, like that in all other arts, consists of a scries of discoveries which are for the most part made sit the bar of experience by the most intelligent and enterprising practitioners; but so long as the minds oi cook's and mothers of families are darkened by prejudice, the little progress made is not seen in the light of science, but in that of chance. _ What renders a knowledge of the first principles of cookery the more necessary, is the fact that the great majority of women among lhe working classes have now to teach themselves. Like all other arts, that of cooking can only be acquired by serving an apprenticeship. Young women now brought up in factories and other occupations that deny them the opportunity oi'sorving this apprenticeship before marriage, have to commence it on entering married life. At first, many ot them are very awkward, and having no person to instruct them by pointing out their faults, and showing them how to do, they are long before they attain to the current standard of mediocrity, while some of them never even get this length, low as the level is. A few of them take up the thing, no doubt, very quickly. They five generally those who are sensible of their ignorance, are not ashamed to acknowledge it, are more than thankful for any information, given them, and who embrace every opportunity »f obtaining practical instruction of those who can give it. Were young girls taught the rudiments of the art, it would not only enable them to discover their mistakes on entering upon married life more readily, but it would also induce them to pay more attention to the little cooking they themselves require during single life than they no\V do. It would thus exercise a general influence upon the standard of cottage cookery, by elevating it above its present low level. No small amount of the conversation of married women, when they meet, is about what they eat and drink, and how they bring up their children. It is humbling to overhear the ignorance they display on such occasions, mixed up, as it no doubt is, with much shrewdness and calculating economy as to how they spend their husbands' wages ;' hut to any branch of the culinary art, properly spe iking, very few of them ever address themselves, more especially in reference to the proper diet for their children, and the best mode of cooking the same. Hardworking husbands and mothers often suffer a good deal of privation ; but the cardinal loss arising from the low standard of culiuary art evidently falls upon the children. _ Much of the early mortality amongst them is obviously traceable to this source. According to the able paper on the subject, read by Dr. Moore, before the Social Science Congress, Dublin, many of tho maladies of children are derived from their parents ; but eren in such cases au imperfect dietary.may be said to he tho instrumental cause. It properly cooked, the food now consumed by the children of our working classess would go to a much further length iv the nourishment of their bodies.

Grannie's Recipe for Pickmng Grievanoes.— Take a quarter ot an ounce of grievance. (N.B. : Some say a grain is sufficient, as in this receipe everything depends on the cooking. I Have even been told that it has been successful without any of the solid ingredient at all, but I only give what I have tried.) 13ruise and pound it thoroughly, so that every particle of the fibre is laid bare. Season it with a good sprinkling' of yonr Own Merits- Let it stand some hours, adding from time to time alternately a pinch of the Unrequited Delinquencies of others, and their Undeserved Blessings. In the evening boil it in water from the Well of Pride, leaving it to .simmer all night. The next morning strain it from all rcmnnnts of your own Well-deserved Tricks, bottle it, and cork it tightly from the fresh air, which is fatal to it, securing the cork with parchment written over with the Generous Commendations of your acquaintances, and the Unjust Attacks of your bestfriends. This pickle is warranted to keep for years. If it should fail, it must be either from some defect of care in the straining, or because the vessel in which it was boiled had not been previously carefully rinsed from all remains of your own Undeserved Blessings. If it should lose any of its sharpness, you hare only to boil the whole carefully over again in water from the same well, and yon'will find the flavour recover all its firstacidity and* pungency. Let no cooks attempt this recipe to whom time is of any value, as all depends on the leisure bestowed on tha preparation.— The Family Treasury. The Suez Canal.— A communication from Alexandria of the 10th February says :— " The Viceroy is at Cairo at present. An agreement has been concluded between his Highness and the Suez Canal Company, by which he has agreed to furnish thirty thousand men for the works ot the canal, on condition that the company feed the men and give the Government forty francs a month for each man. The Pasha is to pny the men as soldiers, in which capacity, nominally, they are in fact being tiken. from the villages. It is said that ten thousand men have already been tliUB furnished."