Name: Wholesome cookery
Author: Marie de Joncourt

Impress economy on your cook, but let it be dis- tinctly understood that economy means knowing how to use things properly, and does not mean parsimony. Using stale eggs, commonly called “pudding eggs,” and salt butter for cooking is extravagant stinginess, and is not economy. The result will probably be a failure, while a different dish, with properly chosen but cheaper materials, would have been a success. It is not economical to give beefsteaks in the kitchen and use rumpsteaks in the parlour. A pound and a quarter of beefsteak will not go as far as a pound of rumpsteak; besides which, the beefsteak, usually tough, wiU have to be stewed, and that necessitates stock and vegetables. I do not advise “ locking up ” if you want to be really economical — I mean in the sense of measuring out spoonfuls of tea and lumps of sugar. Of course it is not advisable to leave out large quantities, such as a chest of tea or a bag of sugar. Let X PREFACE. there always he plenty in your cook’s charge, and make her responsible for it. It is wise to let your cook know your estimate of what a week’s feeding ought to cost. From twelve to fourteen shillings per head a week is ample, and you ought to be able to live exceedingly well on that. This is the calculation for a London household, where you have even to buy parsley. If the weekly books are higher than they should be, it is quite as often the fault of the mistress as of the cook. Carelessness in ordering is as great a fault as carelessness in con- suming. I often hear a mistress say, “ My cook has so little idea !” Where is she to get her ideas ? She may be twenty-five years old and have lived in four situations; her only ideas are what she has gathered in those previous situations. You, on the other hand, have lunched and dined out frequently, have probably travelled and dined at good restaurants'; your husband belongs to a club, and can give you the benefit of his experience ; therefore it is you who ought to bring the ideas. The comfort and, I may say, health of your house depend on your knowledge, and the management of the detail of a house really takes very little time. An hour every morning is all that is required. PEEFACE. XI In ordering a dinnei* — I mean a dinner of several courses — use judgment. Your cook has only one pair of hands ; so do not order several dishes that all require attendance at the same time. Do not, for instance,^ order three dishes running that require frying. In writing out your hills of fare, write them out in English, except, of course, in those cases where the dish is a purely foreign one. For instance, a “risotto,” a “ mayonnaise,” and other dishes of that sort cannot he translated into English, there being no equivalent for them. To translate “ saddle of mutton,” “ mint sauce,” or “plum-pudding” into French, or what is intended to he French, is a barbarism. I must apologize if I have occasionally betrayed the secret of some favourite dish revealed by a friend. I have learned I’ecipes or had suggestions for recipes from many sources, sometimes in a friend’s house, sometimes in small inns, especially in France and Italy, where the man or woman who waits at table is usually the cook of the establishment. MARIE DE JONCOURT. A^ril, 1882. PEEFACE TO FOUETH EDITION.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Impress economy on your cook, but let it be distinctly understood that economy means knowing how to use things properly, and does not mean parsimony. Using stale eggs, commonly called “pudding eggs,” and salt butter for cooking is extravagant stinginess, and is not economy. The result will probably be a failure, while a different dish, with properly chosen but cheaper materials, would have been a success. It is not economical to give beefsteaks in the kitchen and use rumpsteaks in the parlour. A pound and a quarter of beefsteak will not go as far as a pound of rumpsteak; besides which, the beefsteak, usually tough, wiU have to be stewed, and that necessitates stock and vegetables. I do not advise “ locking up ” if you want to be really economical — I mean in the sense of measuring out spoonfuls of tea and lumps of sugar. Of course it is not advisable to leave out large quantities, such as a chest of tea or a bag of sugar. Let there always he plenty in your cook’s charge, and make her responsible for it. It is wise to let your cook know your estimate of what a week’s feeding ought to cost. From twelve to fourteen shillings per head a week is ample, and you ought to be able to live exceedingly well on that. This is the calculation for a London household, where you have even to buy parsley. If the weekly books are higher than they should be, it is quite as often the fault of the mistress as of the cook. Carelessness in ordering is as great a fault as carelessness in consuming. I often hear a mistress say, “ My cook has so little idea !” Where is she to get her ideas ? She may be twenty-five years old and have lived in four situations; her only ideas are what she has gathered in those previous situations. You, on the other hand, have lunched and dined out frequently, have probably travelled and dined at good restaurants'; your husband belongs to a club, and can give you the benefit of his experience ; therefore it is you who ought to bring the ideas. The comfort and, I may say, health of your house depend on your knowledge, and the management of the detail of a house really takes very little time. An hour every morning is all that is required. In ordering a dinnei* — I mean a dinner of several courses — use judgment. Your cook has only one pair of hands ; so do not order several dishes that all require attendance at the same time. Do not, for instance, order three dishes running that require frying. In writing out your hills of fare, write them out in English, except, of course, in those cases where the dish is a purely foreign one. For instance, a “risotto,” a “ mayonnaise,” and other dishes of that sort cannot he translated into English, there being no equivalent for them. To translate “ saddle of mutton,” “ mint sauce,” or “plum-pudding” into French, or what is intended to he French, is a barbarism. I must apologize if I have occasionally betrayed the secret of some favourite dish revealed by a friend. I have learned I’ecipes or had suggestions for recipes from many sources, sometimes in a friend’s house, sometimes in small inns, especially in France and Italy, where the man or woman who waits at table is usually the cook of the establishment. MARIE DE JONCOURT. A^ril, 1882. PEEFACE TO FOUETH EDITION.