Principles of cookery

they are called for in the test questions. Keep-, ing a note book will be found a great help in fix- ing experiences in mind and in preventing a repe- tition of mistakes. Most of our present system of cookery has been derived from the experiments of the genera- tions of housekeepers behind us, but there is no reason why the housekeeper or cook of to-day should cling to the traditions of the past if she can devise a better way. It is hoped that these lessons may induce each student to observe, to adapt, to experiment. New life is put into the simplest routine of daily work if we are constant- ly watching processes and studying short cuts to better results. Very sincerely yours, j?*^^ J^i Instructor PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY A NATURAL starting point in the art of cookery is the fire, since cookery without heat is an im- possibility. Human beings everywhere use fire to pre- pare their foods and by such applications of heat man first showed his superiority to the beasts. FIRE Among the ancients fire was regarded as a gift from the gods, to be protected in every way, and all civiliza- tion, forms of religion, civil ordinances, and family life have been traced to the care primitive man bestowed upon his fire. Among the early tribes, the chieftain was often the only one to have a fire in his home. The hearthstone thus became the center of the home life, the abode of the household gods, and even at the present time it is impossible for some persons to sep- arate the spirit of the home from the kitchen fire. In different sections of the country may still be seen all the types of fire and stove that have been Anciont J r Stoves developed through centuries, and every housekeeper should be familiar with the principles underlying the care of each. Among these are the camp fire where food is broiled over coals or buried in hot ashes, the charcoal brazier of the fruit vender, essentially the same as the portable stoves found in Pompeii, the open fireplace, the brick oven, the Franklin stove, (an in- 2 PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY. vention of Benjamin Franklin), cookstoves adapted to wood, to hard and soft coal, to kerosene, to gas, and the electrical appliances which as* yet are little more than toys for the rich. A century and more ago chimneys and fireplaces were often troublesome by smoking and Count Rumford and Benjamin Franklin each in different ways brought their inventive faculties to the solution of this serious problem of daily life. When the fireplace was the dependence of the home for warmth and cooking, the charred, half-burned brands of wood were carefully covered with ashes at night to start the fire the A Roman Stove a or Brazier. nexj- m0rning. If the wind had blown off the ashes and the coals were gone out, it was easier to borrow more coals from a neighbor than to use the flint to produce a spark. All this was changed when matches were invented. It was but a step for primitive man from baking in Ovens j-jQj. ashes or m a covered kettle set on the coals to a simple form of oven. Often one oven served a com- munity. Brick ovens were built at one side of the chimney. Sometimes the heat was turned through a flue to heat these ovens, sometimes a fire was built directly in the oven, and when it was burned down the oven was swept out and the food put in to be cooked First FlkE. 3