But on this subject we refer the reader to the special
chapter on Accounts ; here we may only warn young house-
keepers not to descend to wrangling over prices or items.
Make up your mind as to the fair price. Do not take an
article at an exorbitant one simply because you want it.
Some housekeepers in India nowadays cheerfully give tlie
equivalent of one and sixpence per pound for bad beef, and
by so doing are ruining the poor. Accept past deceit or
fraud as past; tell the offender quietly that you do not in-
tend to pay such a price again, and in cases of extravagance,
give the order that in future the ingredients are to be
brought to you before being put into use. If meat is bad,
or dear, resort for a week to doing your own marketing, but
do not sit for half-an-hour and squabble over it with your
khansdmnh. Make it a rule that all food which is to be used
that day shall be personally inspected by the mistress, other-
wise you may pay good prices for bad things. It must be
remembered that half the faults of native servants arise from
want of thought and method, and that mere fault-finding will
never mend matters. A mistress must know not only where
the fault lies, but how to mend it. So, in keeping accounts,
a mistress mii.'it take the lead, and, knowing the proper prices
of the different articles, and the amount which ought to be
consumed, set aside all objections with a high hand.
Having thus gone generall^^ into the duties of the mistress,
we may detail what in our opinion should be the daily routine.
The great object is to secure three things — smooth work-
ing, quick ordering, and subsequent peace and leisure to the
mistress. It is as well, therefore, with a view to the preser-
vation of temper, to eat your breakfast in peace before
venturing into the pantry and cookroom \ it is besides a
mistake to be constantly on the worry.
Inspection parade should begin, then, immediately after
breakfast, or as near ten o’clock as circumstances will allow.
The cook should be waiting — in clean raiment with a
9
Housekeeper and Cook
pile of plates, and his viands for the day spread out on a
table. With everything en evidence, it will not take live
minutes to decide on what is best, while a very constant
occurrence at Indian tables— the serving up of stale, sour,
and umvholesome food — will be avoided. It is peihaps not
pleasant to go into such details^ but a good mistress will
remember the breadwinner Avho requires blood-forming
nourishment, and the children whose constitutions aie being
built up day by day, sickly or healthy, according to the food
given them ; and bear in mind the fact that, in India espe-
cially, half the comfort of life depends on clean, Avholesome,
digestible food.
Page 8
Presented as published in 1898. 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
But on this subject we refer the reader to the special chapter on Accounts ; here we may only warn young housekeepers not to descend to wrangling over prices or items. Make up your mind as to the fair price. Do not take an article at an exorbitant one simply because you want it. Some housekeepers in India nowadays cheerfully give tlie equivalent of one and sixpence per pound for bad beef, and by so doing are ruining the poor. Accept past deceit or fraud as past; tell the offender quietly that you do not intend to pay such a price again, and in cases of extravagance, give the order that in future the ingredients are to be brought to you before being put into use. If meat is bad, or dear, resort for a week to doing your own marketing, but do not sit for half-an-hour and squabble over it with your khansama. Make it a rule that all food which is to be used that day shall be personally inspected by the mistress, otherwise you may pay good prices for bad things. It must be remembered that half the faults of native servants arise from want of thought and method, and that mere fault-finding will never mend matters. A mistress must know not only where the fault lies, but how to mend it. So, in keeping accounts, a mistress must take the lead, and, knowing the proper prices of the different articles, and the amount which ought to be consumed, set aside all objections with a high hand.
Having thus gone generally into the duties of the mistress, we may detail what in our opinion should be the daily routine.
The great object is to secure three things — smooth working, quick ordering, and subsequent peace and leisure to the mistress. It is as well, therefore, with a view to the preservation of temper, to eat your breakfast in peace before venturing into the pantry and cookroom \ it is besides a mistake to be constantly on the worry.
Inspection parade should begin, then, immediately after breakfast, or as near ten o’clock as circumstances will allow. The cook should be waiting — in clean raiment with a
Housekeeper and Cook
pile of plates, and his viands for the day spread out on a table. With everything en evidence, it will not take live minutes to decide on what is best, while a very constant occurrence at Indian tables— the serving up of stale, sour, and unwholesome food — will be avoided. It is perhaps not pleasant to go into such details^ but a good mistress will remember the breadwinner Avho requires blood-forming nourishment, and the children whose constitutions aie being built up day by day, sickly or healthy, according to the food given them ; and bear in mind the fact that, in India especially, half the comfort of life depends on clean, Avholesome, digestible food.