Some housewives display admirable skill in preparing tempting dishes at very little cost. This has not as yet been a frequent accom- plishment among American women. There is, however, no reason why it should not be. They have excelled in needlework and many other kinds of domestic art. Why should not the American kitchen be as famous for the skill and delicacy displayed in it as the French, which is the best, taking its variety and economy into consideration? The English kitchen is good, but is too solid for our climate and has very little variety. But in their deep dish fruit pies they are cer- tainly ahead of our American pies, which are masses of paste with just a little fruit from which all the juice has escaped. The German kitchen is even more solid than the English, and is too greasy for Americans. The Italians excel in some dishes, but their roast meats are oily and flavorless. Cookery books are too often like guide- books, which take you by a round-about way to where you did not want to go. The best teacher in the kitchen is experience, and ex- perience is learned by experiment. If one begins right, " practice makes perfect " in the kitchen as everywhere else. COOKERY I|ECIPES. SOUPS. HERE is no more fruitful source of family discontent than poor cooking, and progress has not marked the department of the cook as it has other branches of home life. Cookery-books are numerous ; they multi- ply continually, yet practical recipes are scarce, and true and tried ones are a commodity much in demand. Whatever may have been said on the subject to the contrary, it is a fact that women desire to cook well, and they are ever on the look- out for reliable information on the subject. Housekeepers cannot rely upon servants, and the inevitable result is, and has been, that they are compelled to inform themselves regarding the duties of a cook. The accompanying recipes are intended for the women of the land who appreciate the importance of a practical knowledge of cookery and desire to master it. Why we Commence Dinner with Soup. — A clear soup disappears almost immediately after entering the stomach, and in no way inter- feres with the gastric juice, which is stored in its appropriate cells ready for action. The habit of commencing dinner with soup has, without doubt, the origin in the fact that aliment in this fluid form, in fact ready digested, soon enters the blood and rapidly refreshes the hungry man, who, after a considerable fast and much activity, sits down with a sense of exhaustion to commence his principal meal. In two or three minutes after he has taken a plate of good warm soup the feeling of exhaustion disappears, and irritability gives way to the gradually rising sense of good fellowship with the circle. Some (403) 404 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. persons have the custom of allaying exhaustion with a glass of sherry before food — a gastronomic no less than a physiological blunder, in- juring the stomach and destroying the palate. The soup introduces at once into the system a small instalment of ready-digested food, and saves the short period of time which must be spent by the stomach in deriving some nutriment from solid aliment, as well as indirectly strengthening the organ of digestion itself for its forth- coming duties.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Some housewives display admirable skill in preparing tempting dishes at very little cost. This has not as yet been a frequent accomplishment among American women. There is, however, no reason why it should not be. They have excelled in needlework and many other kinds of domestic art. Why should not the American kitchen be as famous for the skill and delicacy displayed in it as the French, which is the best, taking its variety and economy into consideration? The English kitchen is good, but is too solid for our climate and has very little variety. But in their deep dish fruit pies they are certainly ahead of our American pies, which are masses of paste with just a little fruit from which all the juice has escaped. The German kitchen is even more solid than the English, and is too greasy for Americans. The Italians excel in some dishes, but their roast meats are oily and flavorless. Cookery books are too often like guidebooks, which take you by a round-about way to where you did not want to go. The best teacher in the kitchen is experience, and experience is learned by experiment. If one begins right, " practice makes perfect " in the kitchen as everywhere else. SOUPS. HERE is no more fruitful source of family discontent than poor cooking, and progress has not marked the department of the cook as it has other branches of home life. Cookery-books are numerous ; they multiply continually, yet practical recipes are scarce, and true and tried ones are a commodity much in demand. Whatever may have been said on the subject to the contrary, it is a fact that women desire to cook well, and they are ever on the lookout for reliable information on the subject. Housekeepers cannot rely upon servants, and the inevitable result is, and has been, that they are compelled to inform themselves regarding the duties of a cook. The accompanying recipes are intended for the women of the land who appreciate the importance of a practical knowledge of cookery and desire to master it. Why we Commence Dinner with Soup. — A clear soup disappears almost immediately after entering the stomach, and in no way interferes with the gastric juice, which is stored in its appropriate cells ready for action. The habit of commencing dinner with soup has, without doubt, the origin in the fact that aliment in this fluid form, in fact ready digested, soon enters the blood and rapidly refreshes the hungry man, who, after a considerable fast and much activity, sits down with a sense of exhaustion to commence his principal meal. In two or three minutes after he has taken a plate of good warm soup the feeling of exhaustion disappears, and irritability gives way to the gradually rising sense of good fellowship with the circle. Some (403) 404 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. persons have the custom of allaying exhaustion with a glass of sherry before food — a gastronomic no less than a physiological blunder, injuring the stomach and destroying the palate. The soup introduces at once into the system a small instalment of ready-digested food, and saves the short period of time which must be spent by the stomach in deriving some nutriment from solid aliment, as well as indirectly strengthening the organ of digestion itself for its forthcoming duties.

The hearthstone; or, Life at home