A PLAIN COOKERY BOOK FOR THE WORKING CLASSES.

Product Details

My object in writing this little book is to show you how you may prepare
and cook your daily food, so as to obtain from it the greatest amount of
nourishment at the least possible expense; and thus, by skill and
economy, add, at the same time, to your comfort and to your
comparatively slender means. The Recipes which it contains will afford
sufficient variety, from the simple every-day fare to more tasty dishes
for the birthday, Christmas-day, or other festive occasions.

In order to carry out my instructions properly, a few utensils will be
necessary. Industry, good health, and constant employment, have, in many
instances, I trust, enabled those whom I now address to lay by a little
sum of money. A portion of this will be well spent in the purchase of
the following articles:--A cooking-stove, with an oven at the side, or
placed under the grate, which should be so planned as to admit of the
fire being open or closed at will; by this contrivance much heat and
fuel are economized; there should also be a boiler at the back of the
grate. By this means you would have hot water always ready at hand, the
advantage of which is considerable. Such poor men's cooking-stoves
exist, on a large scale, in all modern-built lodging-houses. Also, a
three-gallon iron pot with a lid to it, a one-gallon saucepan, a
two-quart ditto, a frying-pan, a gridiron, and a strong tin baking-dish.

examples
No. 1. BOILED BEEF.

This is an economical dinner, especially where there are many mouths to
feed. Buy a few pounds of either salt brisket, thick or thin flank, or
buttock of beef; these pieces are always to be had at a low rate. Let us
suppose you have bought a piece of salt beef for a Sunday's dinner,
weighing about five pounds, at 6-1/2_d._ per pound, that would come to
2_s._ 8-1/2_d._; two pounds of common flour, 4_d._, to be made into suet
pudding or dumplings, and say 8-1/2_d._ for cabbages, parsnips, and
potatoes; altogether 3_s._ 9_d._ This would produce a substantial dinner
for ten persons in family, and would, moreover, as children do not
require much meat when they have pudding, admit of there being enough
left to help out the next day's dinner, with potatoes.


No. 2. HOW TO BOIL BEEF.

Put the beef into your three or four gallon pot, three parts filled with
cold water, and set it on the fire to boil; remove all the scum that
rises to the surface, and then let it boil gently on the hob; when the
meat has boiled an hour and is about half done, add the parsnips in a
net, and at the end of another half hour put in the cabbages, also in a
net. A piece of beef weighing five or six pounds will require about two
hours' gentle boiling to cook it thoroughly. The dumplings may, of
course, be boiled with the beef, etc. I may here observe that the
dumplings and vegetables, with a small quantity of the meat, would be
all-sufficient for the children's meal.

Customer Reviews ::

Perfect for the 1900s - S. Dominick - Southeast USA
I had very high hopes for this, thinking 30 minute meals, quick tips for the kitchen. Instead it was more like go fetch water from the well, start a nice big log pile out back! Big time warp! I may be going a little overboard, but I'm not that far away. If you are looking for a view to the paaaast, this is the book for you. I zapped it!