Yet how usual it is for people of all sorts and conditions
to take a glass of beer or wine when tired, and spoil their
appetite on that. I have again and again heard cooks—
for example, when hot and weary with preparing food for
others — say, “ Give me a class of beer — I am ready to
drop and when the beer was finished they have not
much cared to eat. It is conduct like this which leads to
drunkenness. Many poor women are accustomed to
drink beer when exhausted, and when they do not drink
beer, drink tea, and that is almost as bad, only it acts in
a different way. How many poor women there are —
sempstresses and others— who sit still to their work, who
take tea for their dinner ! Tea and coffee are both very
excellent indeed in their right places, and no one appre-
ciates them more than 1 do ; but they do not constitute
nourishing food, and people who try to live on them are
simply starving themselves by inches.
Beer and tea are both taken because they are convenient,
and it is troublesome to prepare good food. Yet I fear
that in many cases these poor women would not know how
to cook the food even if it were at hand. It would be true
charity if those who have an opportunity would teach the
very poor how to cook.
There are a great many clever managing women
Cookery for the Poor. 125
amongst the poor wlio cook very well, and who are
willing to prepare good food for their families. All
honour to these virtuous ones ! They have no place in
storied page, but they are doing their life’s work nobly, and
they will have their reward in seeing their children grow up
healthy, and in knowing that their husbands are steady
and respectable. Perhaps you say cookery is all very well,
but it is not everj-thing. A woman may be a good cook,
and yet keep a miserable home. That is true, and such
cases occur, but they are not common. The likelihood is,
that if a woman is clever and energetic enough to provide
wholesome, well-cooked food on very small means, she
can, and does, do a great deal more. I should quite ex-
pect that such a woman’s home would be clean and well-
kept, her children would be tidily if poorly dressed, and
her husband w'ould go about with his head in the air,
feeling conscious that there never was such a clever
manager as his “missus.”
These clever women are, unfortunately, rarely met with.
The majority of poor women know little about cookery,
and care less. Moreover, they will not be taught. You
can scarcely offend the ordinary working woman more
than by hinting that the red herring which she gives to
her baby is not exactly all that a baby requires. You may
speak to these women on religious subjects and they will
listen quietly, very likely regarding the sermon as a pre-
lude to the alms which is to follow ; but talk to them
about getting dinner ready, or keeping the house clean,
and you have the fat in the fire in no time.
Page 83
Presented as published in 1882. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Yet how usual it is for people of all sorts and conditions to take a glass of beer or wine when tired, and spoil their appetite on that. I have again and again heard cooks— for example, when hot and weary with preparing food for others — say, “ give me a glass of beer — I am ready to drop and when the beer was finished they have not much cared to eat. It is conduct like this which leads to drunkenness. Many poor women are accustomed to drink beer when exhausted, and when they do not drink beer, drink tea, and that is almost as bad, only it acts in a different way. How many poor women there are — sempstresses and others— who sit still to their work, who take tea for their dinner ! Tea and coffee are both very excellent indeed in their right places, and no one appreciates them more than 1 do ; but they do not constitute nourishing food, and people who try to live on them are simply starving themselves by inches.
Beer and tea are both taken because they are convenient, and it is troublesome to prepare good food. Yet I fear that in many cases these poor women would not know how to cook the food even if it were at hand. It would be true charity if those who have an opportunity would teach the very poor how to cook.
There are a great many clever managing women
Cookery for the Poor. 125
amongst the poor wlio cook very well, and who are willing to prepare good food for their families. All honour to these virtuous ones ! They have no place in storied page, but they are doing their life’s work nobly, and they will have their reward in seeing their children grow up healthy, and in knowing that their husbands are steady and respectable. Perhaps you say cookery is all very well, but it is not everything. A woman may be a good cook, and yet keep a miserable home. That is true, and such cases occur, but they are not common. The likelihood is, that if a woman is clever and energetic enough to provide wholesome, well-cooked food on very small means, she can, and does, do a great deal more. I should quite expect that such a woman’s home would be clean and well kept, her children would be tidily if poorly dressed, and her husband would go about with his head in the air, feeling conscious that there never was such a clever manager as his “missus.”
These clever women are, unfortunately, rarely met with. The majority of poor women know little about cookery, and care less. Moreover, they will not be taught. You can scarcely offend the ordinary working woman more than by hinting that the red herring which she gives to her baby is not exactly all that a baby requires. You may speak to these women on religious subjects and they will listen quietly, very likely regarding the sermon as a prelude to the alms which is to follow ; but talk to them about getting dinner ready, or keeping the house clean, and you have the fat in the fire in no time.