Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-11-07
Food and FeeiiIg.

e lustration or two of the manner IN whicl
, they NAV be supplied This brings us t,
the second division of the subject, viz
the practical treatment of certain ailments
in order to render them suitable for food
Dealing first with that Of the agricultu
raj laborer, our object isto economize hi
I small pittauce, to give him, if possible, {
| rather more nutritive, wholesome anl
agreeable dish-he can have but one
than his means have hitherto furnished
But here there is little scope for change
! already said to live chiefly on bread anC
cheese. with occasionally bacon, two in
dications only for improvement can be
followed, viz, augmentation of nitrogen
', ous matter to meet the wear and tear Of
the body in daily hard labor, and of fatty
matter to furnish heat and force. A fail
proportion of meat, enc of the best means
of fulfilling them, is not within his reach.
First, his daily bread ought to contain all
the constituents of the wheat instead OF
being made of flour from which most OF
the mineral clements have been removed.
But beans and peas are richer in nitro
gen than wheat, and equal it in starch,
mineral matters, and fat, the last being
in very small quantity, while maize has
three times their proportion of fat. Hence
all of these would be useful additions to
his dietary. being cheaper than wheat in
the market, although, the retail demand
being at present small, they may not be
so in the small shops. As an illustra-
ton of the value of legumes combined
with fat, it may be remembered how well
the ErbswuFst supported the work of the
German armies during the war of 1901,
an instructive lesson for us in England at
the present moment. 1t consists of Il
simple pea-soup mixed with a certain
proportion Of lard and dried SO as to be
portable, constituting in very small COM
pass Il perfect food, especially suitable
for supporting muscular expenditure and
exposure to cold. Better than any flesh,
certainly any which could be transported
with case, the cost was not more than
half that of ordinary meat. 1t was better
also, because the form of the food is one
i'll which it is readily accessible and easily
digestcd it was relished cold, or could
be converted in few minutes into good
soup with boiling water. But for our
! laborer probably the best of the legumes
Is the harlcot bean, red or white, the
dried mature bean of the plant whose
| pods we eat i'll the early green state as
French beans" For this purpose they
may be treated thus Soak, say, quart
| of the dried haricots in cold water for
about twelve hours, after which place
| them i'll a saucepan, with two quarts of
cold water and Il little salt, on the fire
when boiling remove to the corner and
simmer slowly until the beans are tender;
the time required being about two or
three hours. This quantity will fill
large dish and may be eaten with salt
and pepper. 1t will be greatly improved
at small cost by the addition of a bit of
butter, or of melted butter with parsely,
or if an onion or two have been sliced and
stewed with the haricots. A better dish
still may De made by putting all or part,
after boiling, into shallow frying pan,
and lightly frying for few minutes
with n little lard and some sliced onions.
with few slices of bacon added, n COM
paratively luxurious and highly nutritive
meal may be made. But there is still in
the saucepan, after boiling, n residue of
value, which the French peasants wife,
who turns everything to account, utilizes
a manner incomprehensible to the Eng
lish woman. The water in which the
dried haricots have stewed, and also that
i'll which green French beans have been
matter The Frenchwoman always pre-
serves this liquor carefully, cuts and fries
some onions, adds these and some thick
slices of bread, Il little salt and pepper
with potherb or two from the corner
of the garden, and thus serves hot an
agreeable and useful croutc au pot. 1t
ought to be added that the haricots so
largely used by the working classes
rfrta. i
either red" or ''white," but some
cheaper local varieties, known as haricots
dupays. These, / am assured on good
authority, could be supplied here at
about twopence pound, their quality
as food being not inferior to other kinds.
But haricots-lett them be the fine white
Soissons-are good enough to be welcome
at any table. a roast leg or shoulder of
mutton should be garnished by a pint
boiled as Just directed, lying in the gravy
OF the dish and some persons think that, |
with good supply of meat gravy, and |
little salt and pepper, ''the haricots are
by no means the worst part Of the mutton" "
Then with smooth puree OF mild onions,
which have been previously sliced, fried |
brown, and stewed, served freely as sauce, 1
our leg OF mutton and haricots become |
the G1got Ia bretonne well known to all |
lovers of wholesome and savory cookery. !
Next, white haricots stewed until soft. |
made to rather thick puree, delicately |
Favored by adding small portion of |
white puree of onions mot Drowned by |
frying as the preceding sauce), produce |
an admirable garnish for the centre of a
dish of small outlets, or an entree of fowl. !
etc. Again, the same haricot puree |
blended with a veal stock, well Favored |
with fresh vegetables, furnishes an ad- |
mlrable and nutritious white soup. The |
red harcots III like manner with a bean
stock made a superlative brown SOUP.
winch, with the addition OF portions of |
game, especially of hare, forms. for those
who do not despise economy in cuisine
where the result attained is excellent,
soup which III texture and in flavor would
by many persons not be distinguishable
from n common puree of game itself
Stewed haricots, also, furnish, when cold,
an admirable salad, improved by adding
slices OF tomato, etc, the oil supplying
the one element in which the bean is de-
hclent ; and ii perfectly nutritious food is
produced for those who can digest it
and they are numerous-in this form.
The same principle, it may be observed,
has, although empirically, produced the
well known dishes of beans and bacon,
ham and green peas, boiled pork and
all Of them old and popu-
lar but scientific combinations. Thus
also the French, serving petits pois as
separate dish, add butter freely and n
dash of sugar. the former making the
compound physiologically complete, the
latter agreeably heightening the natural
sweetness of the vegetable
Let me recall, ut the close of these few
hints about the haricot, the fact that
there is no product of the vegetable
50 nutritious; holding its own
Ill tins respect, as it well can, even against
the beef and mutton of the animal king
donm. The haricot ranks lust above
lentlls, which have been so much praised
of late, and rightly, the haricot being also
to most palates more agreeable By most
too haricots are more easily
dlgested than meat is; and, consuming
weight for weight, the eater feels lighter
and less oppressed, as IL rule, after the
leSumlnous dish while the comparative
cost IL very greatly IN favor of the latter.
do not OF course overlook i'll the dish of
simple haricuts the absence of sayory
odors proper To wcll-cookcd meat but
nothing Is easier than To combine one
part of meat with two parts of haricots,
adding vegetables and garden herbs 40 rs
10 produce stew which shall he more
nutritious, wholesome, and palatable than
stew of all meat with vegetables. and
Il" haricots. Moreover. the cost of the
hitter will br more than double that
If the former
have Just advcrtcd to the bread of the
ah"rcr, and recommended that it should ,
be made from entire white meal but il
should not he so coarsely ground as that i
commonly sold in London as 'whole |
neal. The coarsrnegs of whole meal"
S II condition designed to exert Il specific !
III the digestion for those who need it.
mt, useful as IT Is III It's place. is not {
i'Hirahlc Tor the average population re- u
erred Ia. II IA worth observing in re- |
al a