Principles of cookery

One young woman writes: "My father demands griddle cakes every morning the year round." Naturally, with such tastes, it is difficult to introduce many new dishes, or to secure a very varied menu. In the old days of the brick oven, most of the necessary cooking for a family was done on one day of the week, for the proper heating of that oven could not be accomplished hurriedly. Now with the gas stove, conditions are very different, and two or three hours each day should be ample time for the actual cookery for an average family. But to accomplish everything in these limits wise planning is required. Whatever requires long cooking for breakfast must be started the previous day, and preparation for the dinner or luncheon is begun while breakfast is being made ready, and so on. Many business women keep house in this way, and their families are as well fed as those where more time is frittered away on petty nothings. It is only by application of business methods in our kitchens, that the routine in many households can be simplified and untangled. The preparation of food for an average household is not a difficult matter when the manager has learned her trade and each individual member is not unreasonable in his or her requirements. The housekeeper must think out her plan of action for days in advance and thus save unnecessary duplication of processes. When one pair of hands must do all the cooking, it is a foolish waste of time and strength to cook fresh food for the purpose of making composite dishes. Let those come occasionally as an easy way of finishing up some bits too good to throw away, which have already appeared in other forms. For example, it [illustration: Making Timbale Cases.] takes no more effort or fuel to boil twelve potatoes than is required to cook six. These may appear one day as plain boiled, if we have a roast with a good gravy. The next day we are to serve the meat cold or perhaps fried fish with no sauce, so the second portion of potatoes is cut in cubes or slices and reheated in butter, flavored with onion, and sprinkled with chopped parsley just before serving, giving us Lyonnaise potatoes. Or we might prefer Delmonico potatoes and put them in layers in a pudding dish with a sprinkle of cheese between, pour a thin white sauce over, cover with buttered crumbs, and heat through in the oven. Or the potatoes may be mashed and for a second appearance take the form of a huge cone, or apples, or pears for individual service. Sometimes in our zeal to use up left-overs, we expend much*time and strength and more additional material than the value of the original article warrants. But if one owns a timbale iron, those fragile shells resulting from frying a batter on it are attractive receptacles for a little creamed chicken or a sweetbread. Croquettes have their place occasionally, and often save the purchase of more meat and thus justify the time they require. A garnish of crisp triangles of toast around a dish of creamed meat disposes of both the scraps of meat and bits of bread — or cases may be made of bread and browned in the oven and filled with meat.