Our national culinary tastes at present are perhaps too
simple. The tables of the wealthy are, of course, supplied
with delicacies ; but among the middle classes and poor
there is a tendency to fancy the plainest of food the most
wholesome and economical. A leg of mutton roasted on
Sunday, and perhaps only half done, appears on the table
cold the greater part of the week, and is finished up on
Friday or Saturday in a watery and repellant hash; whereas
the same amount of meat, well cooked, with plenty of
vegetables, or made into pies or pasties, would make many
SALADS AND SEASONINGS 245
savoury, appetising, and wholesome dishes, acceptable alike
to the elders and children of the household ; and the bone
crushed and boiled, with the addition of sundry vegetables,
peas, lentils, or a tin of tomatoes, would make a splendid
soup. Certainly we have much to learn in the way of
economical, wholesome, and savoury cookery; and it is
sincerely to be hoped that the various schools of cookery,
which seem to be slowly arousing an interest among
mistresses, will succeed also in inducing servants to study
cooking as an art far more worthy of study for them than
the piano, French, or embroidery, — an art which, when they
get married, will enable them to draw their husbands and
sons from the public-house and club, for however cynical
the saying may appear, it is yet true that ' a man's heart lies
in the region of the stomach.'
I have not attempted in this little book to lay down any
hygienic rules as to diet, for I am convinced that in the
present day too much attention is paid to what is called the
digestibility of food. A healthy stomach ought to be able
to eat with relish, of any well-cooked meat in moderation,
and the extreme care now taken to give children everything
wholesome and nutritious, is tending to produce a nation of
valetudinarians in the near future. Sir Henry Thompson
has well said : ' The wholesomeness of a food consists solely
in its adaptability to the individual, and this relation is
governed mainly by the influences of his age, activity,
surroundings, and temperament or personal peculiarities.'
I have known people to experience indigestion and nausea
after eating boiled mutton, who could eat roast pork with
impunity.
Whilst carefully avoiding the gluttony and extravagance
246 OUR VIANDS
of the ancients, we need not fall into the opposite extreme,
and deem meagreness and bad cooking, household virtues.
We need not live to eat, but since we must eat to live, we
may as well see that our necessary food is good and
appetising.
RECIPES, OLD AND NEW
• ' 33s resting tfjat fofjicfj our jForefatfjcrs botleo,
$no boiling fofyat tfjfg rosteo muclj i
til Cooftc cannot licke ^is obinc fingers.'
RECIPES, OLD AND NEW
Our viands
1893Page 123
Presented as published in 1893. 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
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Our national culinary tastes at present are perhaps too
simple. The tables of the wealthy are, of course, supplied
with delicacies ; but among the middle classes and poor
there is a tendency to fancy the plainest of food the most
wholesome and economical. A leg of mutton roasted on
Sunday, and perhaps only half done, appears on the table
cold the greater part of the week, and is finished up on
Friday or Saturday in a watery and repellant hash; whereas
the same amount of meat, well cooked, with plenty of
vegetables, or made into pies or pasties, would make many
SALADS AND SEASONINGS 245
savoury, appetising, and wholesome dishes, acceptable alike
to the elders and children of the household ; and the bone
crushed and boiled, with the addition of sundry vegetables,
peas, lentils, or a tin of tomatoes, would make a splendid
soup. Certainly we have much to learn in the way of
economical, wholesome, and savoury cookery; and it is
sincerely to be hoped that the various schools of cookery,
which seem to be slowly arousing an interest among
mistresses, will succeed also in inducing servants to study
cooking as an art far more worthy of study for them than
the piano, French, or embroidery, — an art which, when they
get married, will enable them to draw their husbands and
sons from the public-house and club, for however cynical
the saying may appear, it is yet true that ' a man's heart lies
in the region of the stomach.'
I have not attempted in this little book to lay down any
hygienic rules as to diet, for I am convinced that in the
present day too much attention is paid to what is called the
digestibility of food. A healthy stomach ought to be able
to eat with relish, of any well-cooked meat in moderation,
and the extreme care now taken to give children everything
wholesome and nutritious, is tending to produce a nation of
valetudinarians in the near future. Sir Henry Thompson
has well said : ' The wholesomeness of a food consists solely
in its adaptability to the individual, and this relation is
governed mainly by the influences of his age, activity,
surroundings, and temperament or personal peculiarities.'
I have known people to experience indigestion and nausea
after eating boiled mutton, who could eat roast pork with
impunity.
Whilst carefully avoiding the gluttony and extravagance
246 OUR VIANDS
of the ancients, we need not fall into the opposite extreme,
and deem meagreness and bad cooking, household virtues.
We need not live to eat, but since we must eat to live, we
may as well see that our necessary food is good and
appetising.
RECIPES, OLD AND NEW
• ' 33s resting tfjat fofjicfj our jForefatfjcrs botleo,
$no boiling fofyat tfjfg rosteo muclj i
til Cooftc cannot licke ^is obinc fingers.'
RECIPES, OLD AND NEW