L ' —.'/I ] 3 I *r Mff i'‘<liriiiilMriligii'iiiiri 1 1 li~T ■ (\ it Med K10673 ■ V T. T. ^ s ■■US- \ [ } i I ?■ E> t‘ - 3'' ' * THE COMPLETE INDIAN HOUSEKEEPER ® COOK THE COMPLETE INDIAN HOUSEKEEPER ^ COOK GIVING THE DUTIES OF MISTRESS AND SERVANTS THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF THE HOUSE AND PRACTICAL RECIPES FOR COOKING IN ALL ITS BRANCHES BY F. A. STEEL e? G. GARDINER New Edition LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1898 WELLCOn‘f. INSTITUTE USHAHY Coll. wolMOmec Call No. tn All rights reserved. TO THE ENGLISH GIRLS TO WHOM FATE MAY ASSIGN THE TASK OF BEING HOUSE-MOTHERS IN OUR EASTERN EMPIRE THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS DEDICATED BY GRACE GARDINER AND FLORA ANNIE STEEL 1 1 PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION The great, and to some extent unnecessary, rise in the price of living during the last few years in India calls for a revision of economics in this book. I have therefore substituted for my experience of ten years back that of the winter of ’91-QS, during which I kept a large house in one of the most ex- pensive stations of Upper India. Housekeepers may there- fore rely upon the data given being realities of to-day. At the same time, I feel it a duty to record my sincere regret that it is becoming nearly as difficult to determine the fair price of a thing in India as it is in London, where a similar and sometimes actually the same article is offered at half-a- dozen different shops at half-a-dozen different prices. The old system of regulating price by consent is dying out, with many another custom Avhich protects the poor. It seems to me, therefore, that housekeeping in India to-day has a political and social as well as a domestic side, and that those who, to save themselves trouble, or to avoid the loss of a luxury, consent to give a price which has no real relation to the intrinsic value or cost of the article, are sinning against a society the great mass of which is poor beyond belief. The theory that a thing is worth what you can get for it has ruined commercial morality in England, and is at the bottom of all the difficulties between labour and capital. It is fast ruining India, which ere long will need that sign of civilisation — a poor rate. Perhaps so benevolent a consummation is desirable. The writer, however, prefers charity at home ; the cliarity which will not, from laziness or negligence, either make it harder for others to live, or allow those others to degrade themselves by taking an unfair advantage of their neighbours. F. A. S. December 1898. VII PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION This book, it is hoped, will meet the very generally felt want for a practical guide to young housekeepers in India. A laige proportion of English ladies in this country come to it newly married, to begin a new life, and take up new responsibilities under absolutely new eonditions. Few, indeed, have had any practical experience of house- keeping of any sort or kind ; whilst those who have find them- selves almost as much at sea as their more ignorant sisters. How can it be otherwise, when the familiar landmarks are no longer visible, and, amid the crowd of idle, unintelligible servants, there seems not one to carry on the usual routine of household work, which in England follows as a matter of course ?

AI-modernized reading of the original text

L ' —.'/I ] I *r Mff i'‘<liriiiilMriligii'iiiiri 1 1 li~T ■ (\ it Med K10673 ■ V T. T. ^ s ■■US- \ [ } ?■ E> t‘ - 3'' ' * THE COMPLETE INDIAN HOUSEKEEPER ® COOK THE COMPLETE INDIAN HOUSEKEEPER ^ COOK GIVING THE DUTIES OF MISTRESS AND SERVANTS THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF THE HOUSE AND PRACTICAL RECIPES FOR COOKING IN ALL ITS BRANCHES BY F. A. STEEL e? G. GARDINER New Edition LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN WELLCOn‘f. INSTITUTE USHAHY Coll. wolMOmec Call No. tn All rights reserved. TO THE ENGLISH GIRLS TO WHOM FATE MAY ASSIGN THE TASK OF BEING HOUSE-MOTHERS IN OUR EASTERN EMPIRE THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS DEDICATED BY GRACE GARDINER AND FLORA ANNIE STEEL PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION The great, and to some extent unnecessary, rise in the price of living during the last few years in India calls for a revision of economics in this book. I have therefore substituted for my experience of ten years back that of the winter of ’91-QS, during which I kept a large house in one of the most expensive stations of Upper India. Housekeepers may therefore rely upon the data given being realities of to-day. At the same time, I feel it a duty to record my sincere regret that it is becoming nearly as difficult to determine the fair price of a thing in India as it is in London, where a similar and sometimes actually the same article is offered at half-adozen different shops at half-a-dozen different prices. The old system of regulating price by consent is dying out, with many another custom which protects the poor. It seems to me, therefore, that housekeeping in India to-day has a political and social as well as a domestic side, and that those who, to save themselves trouble, or to avoid the loss of a luxury, consent to give a price which has no real relation to the intrinsic value or cost of the article, are sinning against a society the great mass of which is poor beyond belief. The theory that a thing is worth what you can get for it has ruined commercial morality in England, and is at the bottom of all the difficulties between labour and capital. It is fast ruining India, which ere long will need that sign of civilisation — a poor rate. Perhaps so benevolent a consummation is desirable. The writer, however, prefers charity at home ; the charity which will not, from laziness or negligence, either make it harder for others to live, or allow those others to degrade themselves by taking an unfair advantage of their neighbours. F. A. S. December 1898. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION This book, it is hoped, will meet the very generally felt want for a practical guide to young housekeepers in India. A laige proportion of English ladies in this country come to it newly married, to begin a new life, and take up new responsibilities under absolutely new conditions. Few, indeed, have had any practical experience of housekeeping of any sort or kind ; whilst those who have find themselves almost as much at sea as their more ignorant sisters. How can it be otherwise, when the familiar landmarks are no longer visible, and, amid the crowd of idle, unintelligible servants, there seems not one to carry on the usual routine of household work, which in England follows as a matter of course ?

The complete Indian housekeeper & cook