A Course of Lectures on the Principles of Domestic Economy and Cookery. Juliet Corson

as he would feel the stimulus which he would receive from a glass of wine. He would feel refreshed at once; his sense of hunger, which is the indication that his system needs food, would be practically appeased within three minutes from the time he had taken his soup.

      Then there is another very important question; and that is the effect of soups and liquid foods on the appetite for stimulants. I am not a temperance advocate in the sense in which the word is usually understood. That is, I neither believe in nor advocate total abstinence; but I do believe in temperance—in the temperate use of everything; no matter whether it is drink, or food, or pleasure, in a life of work, so that I speak solely from the standpoint of an advocate of the moderate use of everything. The system requires a certain amount of liquid nourishment. We have to get that in the form of liquid, and many people take it by using water to excess—drinking quantities of water. On the other hand, there are some people who never drink more than a glass of water all day long. They must drink something—some kind of liquid—to make up the quantity of water that is absolutely required by the system in the course of twenty-four hours. Some persons take it in the form of tea and coffee; others drink beer and wine; but a certain amount of liquid the system must have. Now, you can easily see that you can supply a part of that liquid in the form of soups and stews. It is not possible for many people to drink much cold water: it does not seem to agree with them. The advocates of the latest craze, for hot water, will get their quantity of liquid, but they will get it in a form that by and by will make serious trouble for them; because, while under certain conditions the entire mucous membrane or lining of the digestive tract, warm water may be desirable, still the excessive use of it is very apt in time to produces a serious congestion. Now, the fact once admitted that we must have a certain amount of liquid supplied to the system every day, then the question comes of giving it in a form that will be the least injurious to the system. I think I have shown you one or two good reasons why soup supplies it well. On the score of economy there is no food which can be as cheaply prepared as soup—that is, no palatable, enjoyable, nutritious food. It is possible to make this soup, this thick soup which I am making now, in New York, and here also, I suppose, for less than ten cents a gallon, buying the materials at retail; and I am sure a gallon of this soup will go very far towards satisfying one’s hunger. I presume, from what I have seen of the market reports in the papers, that it can be made here quite as cheaply as it can in New York.

      Question. Does that make very strong soup—does it give a very good rich flavor of the meat, with one cupful of meat to a gallon of water?

      Miss Corson. That gives a perfectly nutritious soup. It gives as much nutriment from the meat as is needed by the system.

      Question. Wouldn’t a bone or two thrown in be a good thing?

      Miss Corson. You can put in bones if you want to. But I am giving you a recipe for a perfectly nutritious soup, made upon the most economical principles. The proportion of meat which I use here is all that is required by the system in connection with the other ingredients. We Americans have, as a rule, the idea that there is no nutritious food except meat. We think that we get all our nourishment from meat; and the other things—the vegetables and bread, and all those other articles of food that we eat, are what the dressmakers would call “trimmings.” We do not regard them as real nourishing food, when in reality there are some vegetables which are nearly as nutritious as meat. Take for instance, lentils; I do not know if you are familiar with them. They are a variety of vetch or field pea, little flat, dried peas, that grow very abundantly; in fact, if they are once planted in a field it is almost impossible to root them out. They have been for ages used in all older countries, in Egypt, in Asia, all through Europe, especially in Germany. Within the last ten years they have become known in this country. Lentils, with the addition of a very little fat in the form of fat meat, suet drippings or butter, are quite as nutritious as meat; that is, they sustain strength, and enable people to work just as well as meat. So, you see, that so far as actual nourishment is concerned, vegetables approach closely to meat. Next to lentils come peas and beans, dried peas and beans. I have not graded the different articles of food, but some day when we have more time I will give you a table of nutritive values of different articles of food so that you can form some comparison in your own mind. Remember this, that meat is not the only nutritious article of food in use, and we only need a certain quantity of it. For instance, for the purpose of health meat once a day will answer. It is very nice to have it two or even three times if we want it, or if we can afford it; but if we have it once a day we answer all the requirements of health, and in communities where it is not possible to have an abundant supply of fresh meat, a very small proportion of salt meat used in connection with the most nutritious vegetables keeps the health and strength of the really active laborers up to the working point.

MEAT STEWS.

       Table of Contents

      For a brown stew, use any kind of dark meat. To-day I am going to use some of the cooked round of beef; but you can use fresh beef; you can use raw beef, rare roast beef, or any of the dark meats; always use white meats for white stews. Presently we will make a white stew of veal; but for a brown stew use dark meats. Cut the meat in pieces about an inch and a half square, put it over the fire with enough fat of some kind to keep it from burning; use the fat of the meat, or drippings, or butter, and brown it as fast as possible. If you make a stew large enough for four or five people, use about three pounds of beef. As soon as the meat is brown, sprinkle a heaping tablespoonful of flour over it; then add enough boiling water to cover the meat, and three teaspoons of vinegar. The vinegar is used for the purpose of softening the fibres of the meat and making it tender. You will find that by adding vinegar to meat in cooking, you can always make it tender. When we come to treat of steak, I shall explain that. After the vinegar has been used, season the meat palatably with salt and pepper, cover it, and let it cook very gently for at least an hour, or until it is tender. To the stew add any vegetable you wish, or cook it perfectly plain, having only the meat and the gravy. To-day I am going to use carrots with it. For three pounds of beef use carrots enough to fill a pint bowl after they are cut in little slices, or in little quarters. Of course, if you add vegetables of any kind, carrots, turnips, or potatoes, you want to put them in long enough before the meat is done to insure their being perfectly cooked. For instance, carrots take from one to two hours to cook; I shall put the carrots in directly I make the gravy. Turnips, if they are fresh, will cook in about half an hour. Potatoes will cook in twenty minutes; small onions will cook in from half to three-quarters of an hour. The meat usually needs to cook about two hours. The meat being brown, I shall put in a tablespoonful of flour, stirring it, and then send it down to you so that you can see what it is like. The question naturally would arise about the color of this stew, throwing in raw flour, the white, uncooked flour. You can see for yourselves what the effect is.

      Question. Does cold meat cook as long as raw?

      Miss Corson. If you use cold meat, brown it just in the same way, just exactly as we browned this, first in drippings or butter and then putting in the flour; only if you use meat which already has been cooked, it will not take it so long to cook as it does this raw meat.

      For a white stew, use any kind of white meat—veal, pork, poultry, or lamb. To-day I shall use veal. To go back to the question which was debated this morning about washing meat: first, wipe the meat all over with a wet towel. It is important to have the towel clean. Wet the towel in cold water and wipe the meat, then cut it in little pieces about two inches square. The butcher will crack all the bones, and if you wish he will cut the meat for you. At least he will crack the bones so that the meat can be easily cut in pieces about two inches square. Put it over the fire; suppose you have three pounds of meat; put it in cold water enough to cover it. Let it slowly boil; when it boils, add about a tablespoonful of salt and a dozen grains of peppercorns, or a small red pepper, or if you have not either of those seasonings, about half a saltspoonful of ordinary pepper; and let the meat boil slowly until it is tender. That will be in from an hour to two hours, according to the tenderness of the meat in the beginning. When the meat is tender lay a clean towel in a colander, set over a bowl or an earthen jar, and pour the meat and broth directly into the colander.