ONCE A WEEK
[October 22, IS 59.
sidered fatal. The element which repairs this
waste is called the nitrogenous substance of food;
the other is called the carboniferous. There ought
to be three times as much of the latter as of the
former to keep one in full health; but a person
may do without it for a short time without fatal
consequences, because the nitrogenous portion sup-
plies its place to a small extent.
The carboniferous element supports the respira- tion, keeps up the action of the frame by which the nitrogenous portion is carried where it is wanted, causing the circulation and the renewal of the blood, and the power of each part of the body to do its work. The two together make our food.
The first question, therefore, in choosing our food is, what articles of diet contain most of these two elements, with the least mixture of what is useless; and the next consideration is, how best to ensure the due proportion of three parts of one to one of the other. To understand and apply these two pieces of knowledge is the fundamental business of cookery.
Though this is the scientific basis of cookery, it by no means follows that every wife who goes to house-keeping, and every girl who takes a place as cook is expected to study the scientific part of the matter herself. Learned men have done it for her. They have told us what articles of food contain most of what we want, under the best conditions for use; and the treatment of the subject has now reached the practical point which suits the purposes of every-day life. Lists of good dinners have been made out, not only for hospitals, but for soldiers in barracks and in camp, from which we may learn what mode of eating is most healthful for active people.
The useful articles of diet are numerous, and the commonest we have. As to the quantity required, the prize-fighter, who requires most, has thirty-six ounces per day, besides the innutritions portion which everybody swallows at every meaL For women, twenty ounces may suffice, though a larger allowance is better. Healthy working- men ought to have from twenty-five to thirty ounces.
The greatest amount of nourishment of both kinds is contained in flour, meat, potatoes and peas; milk, cheese, rice, and other grains, and sugar; while tea, coffee, and cocoa are of great value in their way. . Such are the materials; but they may be so treated in the cooking as to waste what is most valuable, and preserve what is of the least consequence. It is possible to manage the making of a stew, so as to wash away the best qualities of the meat, and leave the vegetables hard, and drain away the thickening, causing a predominant taste of smoke and salt. When Miss Nightingale and her assistants undertook to cook in the Eastern Hospitals, they made a pint of thick arrowroot from one ounce of the powder, while in the general kitchen it took two ounces to make a pint of thin arrowroot. It was the proper boiling of the water that made the differ- ence here. Again, two ounces of rice were saved on every four puddings when the nurses made the puddings. Such incidents show that it is not enough to have the beet materials for nourish- ment; they must be husbanded in the prepara- tion. It seems probable that, by sensible con- duct all around, everybody might command enough of the best material for food; and it is certain that a very proportion of the wives of
Englishmen know how to do justice to the food they buy.
As a matter of fact, what do the working- classes of this country eat and drink? Different methods prevail in different districts, no doubt, and in different ranks of labourers; and, of course, one wife will differ from another in household manage- ment, according to her training and her ability; but still, a few specimens will throw some light on the reasons why so many persons die every year from being underfed.
In some rural districts the diet in the cottages is just that of the Irish before the famine; a diet which the Irish peasant still prefers, and which is sufficient, if he is not stinted in quantity. “What, potatoes!” some reader may contemp- tuously exclaim. Yes; but not potatoes alone. The secret of potato-diet is having milk with it, that the one article may make up for the deficiency in the other. In winter, when milk is not to be had, the practice is to melt salt lard in water, for sauce; or to have a red herring (one for a whole family) as a relish: and then the food does not suffice. This is one mode. Another is, living on bread and tea, with occasional lard, or butter, or cheese. The tea is hot for breakfast, but cold at dinner, which is eaten in the field. Cold tea at dinner-time, — without sugar, or without milk; and sometimes without either! Bread from the baker’s, most likely, with a trifle of something to take off the dryness. On Sundays and holidays there may be a morsel of bacon; but no fresh meat. This is another way. Elsewhere, the wife makes the bread; but not in goodly loaves, but in the form of ** bread-cakes — hot buttered cakes at breakfast; — the same cold at dinner; and hot buttered cakes for supper. This is for three days or so after the wages are paid; and for the rest of the week there is hunger — unless debt is per- mitted at the shop.
In none of these ways could the dinner come to less than a penny a head: and it must usually amount to a good deal more. Now, there are wives who can set a good dinner before their households for a penny a head; and for half as much again can provide a considerable variety in the course of the week. The penny dinner on record happened to be a beef dumpling, as some people call it, while others know it by the name of pot- pie. The family consisted of six; and the dish cost sixpence, affording enough for everybody. The sticking-piece of beef was the meat-part, — costing threepence. Onions, seasoning, and the flour and lard for the crust made up the rest. No pieces of beef are to be had so cheap now; but there are plenty of good materials to be had by those who know how to look for them ox-cheek, the sticking-piece of each sort of meat; a sheep’s head and pluck; and the bits and odds and ends seen in the butcher’s shop by housewives who go early enough to secure such things. The most valuable dash in a household that I know of,
where there is nothing to spare, is a stew, which