Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1876-12-08
TbeDermont 9benit.
BRATTLEBoRO:
FRIDAY EVENING, DEC. s, 1876.


BeeIsteake nnu h-teAs
Everybody, except cannibals and the
Ashantee consumers OF steaks from the liv-
ing kline. prefers well-preparcd food to the
other kind. There is no fIrmer's boy who
eats greasy lump Of shoe leather fried in
pan and called a beefsteak, who would
not prefer a well-broiled porier-hOuse from
the hand OF good cook. Here, then, dear
madame, is a point of departure. Well
cooked food is not only more toolhsome,
but 1t is more nutritious. Your grand
mother would have scorned fried steak.
Pork fried in lis own juice is another thing
Yet the American beefsteak, the national
dish for breakfast, is generally fried. 1t is
oflen of pale, measly complexion. Its
dry and hard surface is vainly irrigated
with lukewarm grease, in which Jumps Of
son butter float-pardon, madame, the I'M
savory details which imperious truth i'm
poses. Is that proper food for a human be-
ing? Yet the average American human
being is subjected to 1t in the great multi
tude Of honest homes. Can you do 10th
ing about III
Then pies. Even that dismayed French
man could not deny that we have as many
pies as religions, and he would be bold
Frenchman also If he asserted that we are
az fond OF our religions as OF our pics.
Pies, indeed, there must be. They are as
ancient as Thanksgiving, aud tho pie on
the table OF that great day was as constitu-
ent part OF it as the minister in tho pull
pit. Nay, what is the festival itself but
humble and pious Offering Of thanks for
the copious harvest of pie-in It's original
material? Indeed, tho more metaphysical
inquirer might justly ask, as ha surveys
the autumn fields gorgeous with The mas
sive pumpkin, What is IL there for except
to make pie7 1t is as mamma fallen upon
the Garth. 1t is a celestial hint of pie. 1t
is a heavenly command of pie. There is
time in the life of the contemplative Amer
lean when he perceives in himself nascent
doubts OF pie. He may even go so far as
TO protest that heavy white dough, "short-
ened" with Heaven and the lard pot know
what, Is not wholesome food. But what
said the learned aud eloquent Rufus
Choate, when his mouth fairly watered at
the luxury OF the forecastle and galley of
half. starved coasting smack "on Mon
day, gentlemen, the wholesome and tooth
some dur; on Tuesday the nutritious and
delicious dundyfunk y and in tho climax
his rapt eye behed in vision the very
TRANSPORTED material of pie, although he
called it by kindred name, when he ex-
claimed, land on Wednesday, gentlemen,
with his own hand, with his own paternal
hand, the captain dealt out to them squash
not the cold and shriveed vegetable OF our
northern cline, but the gorgeous, the lux
uriant, the exuberant squash of the trop-
ics."
Think, madame, that you deal with this
esculent-squash or pumpkin, it is all the
same; concede that the German will sur
render his sauerkraut, the Scotchman his
oatmeal "parritch," the Irishinan his pota-
to, the Italian his macaroni, the French.
man his frog, as soon as the American his
pie waive all the arguments against pie
as pie; yet are you not morally bound TO
consider the nature of crust, and can you
as friend Of truth, assert that the white,
soggy slab of duff that underlies your
pie is either wholesome or toothsome? The
question that comes home to you il, can't
you brown il? Can't you make 1t dry and
crisp without too much reference to the
lard pot? When it is apple with which
you are concerned, the responsibility is
greater, for, so TO speak, yonr apple-pie
wears full suit it has a coat and trows-
ers, an upper and lower garment and,
dear madame, since ait is not always May"
why should the innocent fruit be always
clad in white? Brown it, madame, brown
it'll
These are simple hints, but they involve
health, comfort, and progress. Let us re-
gard what has been said as first lesson
studies, if YOU please, for beginners. De-
vote your energy 20 securing juicy, brol
cd steak, dry and mealy potatoes, brown
and not buttery pastry, and light, thor
oughly baked bread-"only these and moth
ing more"-and not your children only,
madame, but all wearied souls who have
been long watching for the dawn, will rise
up and call you blessed Easy Chair,
HdTpe1''s for December.