A good manager must calculate beforehand what the requirements of her table will be for the week, in the dining-room, and in the servants' hall ; on what days there are to be guests, or extra guests if there are already friends staying in the house, and she must prepare orders for the butcher, and for the supplies of fish and poultry. In the country the rotation of dishes should be arranged with reference to the supply of beef. The joint on one or two days, or if not the joint, the substantial dish, will be beef. The meat must have hung a certain time ; therefore having ascer- tained on what days beef is killed, it can be settled on what later day there is to be roast beef, rump steak, &c., and it is known on what dd^y fresh stock-beef is to be had. VEGETABLES, CREAM, EGGS. 17 In the country forethought and ingenuity are re- quired to keep the larder suppHed with materials ; to eke out butcher's meat, perhaps procurable only once a week, by salt meat, poultry, &c.; to bespeak just such a supply in summer as can be consumed whilst in good order; to secure in winter a due number of joints which by hanging in the larder are known to be tender. Butchers as a rule will not hang meat ; it loses in weight, and they have to bear the risk of a change in the temperature, as well as the certainty of the loss in weight. Again, it requires ingenuity to make common vegetables take the place of the rarer kinds when the garden or gardener is in fault; to produce a second dish of fish from the remains of yesterday when the supply is deficient ; to provide other sweet dishes than those made with eggs, when the time of the year and the temper of the hens render the demands of the break- fast table those only to be met. And it requires firmness and forethought to get good butter, cream, and milk, that is, the due quantity of each, without extravagance or pinching, from the home dairy or the milkman, and to restrain within bounds the ardour of the cook. It is true that in towns where all manner of comes- tibles are obtainable, the forethought of the housewife is less severely taxed. The question of expense is here the important point. On that question, too, some obser- vations will be found. Plain English fare, that is, large joints simply dressed by roasting or boiling, and served with no other sauce than their own good gravy, pos- sess high merit ; but English beef and mutton are not C 1 8 LARGE JOINTS. what they used to be. If the ox is to take his Norman name at eighteen months and the sheep at twelve, it will be absolutely necessary to impart flavour and to create gravy by the assistance of French recipes. It must, too, be borne in mind that plain English cookery is only suited to the best joints, and that an adherence to large joints implies a steadfast love of cold meat not always found amongst either masters or servants. It has been ascertained by experiments made in public institutions that a smaller quantity of food is consumed and a larger measure of health is secured when the food is varied in kind and cooked in various ways. And in point of economy, to provide for the food of a family by an ample supply of large plain joints tells heavily upon the butcher's bills, which may be judiciously reduced by the art of cooking less sub- stantial dishes. CLEAXLLYESS IN KITCHEN AND LARDER. 19 CHAPTER IV.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

A good manager must calculate beforehand what the requirements of her table will be for the week, in the dining-room, and in the servants' hall ; on what days there are to be guests, or extra guests if there are already friends staying in the house, and she must prepare orders for the butcher, and for the supplies of fish and poultry. In the country the rotation of dishes should be arranged with reference to the supply of beef. The joint on one or two days, or if not the joint, the substantial dish, will be beef. The meat must have hung a certain time ; therefore having ascertained on what days beef is killed, it can be settled on what later day there is to be roast beef, rump steak, &c., and it is known on what day fresh stock-beef is to be had. VEGETABLES, CREAM, EGGS. 17 In the country forethought and ingenuity are required to keep the larder supplied with materials ; to eke out butcher's meat, perhaps procurable only once a week, by salt meat, poultry, &c.; to bespeak just such a supply in summer as can be consumed whilst in good order; to secure in winter a due number of joints which by hanging in the larder are known to be tender. Butchers as a rule will not hang meat ; it loses in weight, and they have to bear the risk of a change in the temperature, as well as the certainty of the loss in weight. Again, it requires ingenuity to make common vegetables take the place of the rarer kinds when the garden or gardener is in fault; to produce a second dish of fish from the remains of yesterday when the supply is deficient ; to provide other sweet dishes than those made with eggs, when the time of the year and the temper of the hens render the demands of the breakfast table those only to be met. And it requires firmness and forethought to get good butter, cream, and milk, that is, the due quantity of each, without extravagance or pinching, from the home dairy or the milkman, and to restrain within bounds the ardour of the cook. It is true that in towns where all manner of comestibles are obtainable, the forethought of the housewife is less severely taxed. The question of expense is here the important point. On that question, too, some observations will be found. Plain English fare, that is, large joints simply dressed by roasting or boiling, and served with no other sauce than their own good gravy, possess high merit ; but English beef and mutton are not 1 8 LARGE JOINTS. what they used to be. If the ox is to take his Norman name at eighteen months and the sheep at twelve, it will be absolutely necessary to impart flavour and to create gravy by the assistance of French recipes. It must, too, be borne in mind that plain English cookery is only suited to the best joints, and that an adherence to large joints implies a steadfast love of cold meat not always found amongst either masters or servants. It has been ascertained by experiments made in public institutions that a smaller quantity of food is consumed and a larger measure of health is secured when the food is varied in kind and cooked in various ways. And in point of economy, to provide for the food of a family by an ample supply of large plain joints tells heavily upon the butcher's bills, which may be judiciously reduced by the art of cooking less substantial dishes. CLEANLINESS IN KITCHEN AND LARDER. 19 CHAPTER IV.

Cookery and housekeeping