New-York tribune., 1880-02-29
A SIMMER EXPERIMENT IN COOKERY.
From Cdsseifs Magdsine.


We were what laudladics know as " trouble
some party" Ihore were not many OF u.s. put were
all independent people Who ha9 formed our own
what enfecbcd health, accustomed 10 indulge In
oysters and sweetbreads. in jelies and soups. An
her Of us had constitutional Inability To eat NUT
ION One was accustomed to early dinner, and an
other TO late. And now here we were settled down
for a whole month in little village three miles
from any railway if9n rom TI Soot, fo bread and With
one butcher who supplied the rectory and the Great
Uouse and sometimes killed an extra beast gem
orally q sheep. which the village consumed ut It's
IL was here, and at this dreadful juncture that
became enlightened as 10 the meaning Of that phrase
" "bntcbers meat" which we had heard so constantly
on the lips Of the peaSantry, and which had hitherto
struck us as mere iautology. We found that there
is a meat which is not butchersI mere Is the
domestic pig. which is either slaughtered IN ones
own sty, or bought in the form of bacon at " the
shop This was the village piece Ne resstaHcc
The frat day that the butcher entirely failed MS. our
londlndy timidly suggested " baconp At the very
sound of the word the delicate member ot onr party
went to bed with n bad sick headache and stayed
there for the remainder Of tho day. -
"Can any fish be got Y we asked Wildly
NO. said our landady. hestatlDQly-s
q man from the county town Drought over basket
of red hcrrings but he was not 70 bc bcdependedupJn
There was TUNED fish at the shop, but the village
"peope did not fancy IT," and the stock was stale,
seeing that tho shopkeepers own iamily "ouid not
I've heard that IL is possible to live very nicely
without any meat at ALL" suggested our mutton
We heard Of people dong so, and declarin they
live the longer for it, said our late diner ., .
1--WE might try II for one or TWO days Said all Ot
1--WE can't do better while we can get nothing
else.p said our lato diner
And so we set our wits 10 work. Our mutton
hater knew how to make one or two dishes to begin
with, and WAS evidently no tyro on the subJeet.
since she instantly wrote home ioI sunury O0oks
and papers, which she had stored there, ana which
abe fhOught might Oe useful To lis.
ith fparu and trembling sat down 10 our HIST
dinner Onr newly-appOlntcd caterer was little
fu,sy and anxious, but not without signs OF secret
IubllafioD which she was only afraid OF showing
zoo soon We had already had experience Of such
dinners as our landlady could provide-vcry tough
steaks. very grensy mutton chops but now a soup
tureeD and plates were before us.
% Rice SOUP said our muttOn-hatcr, calmly. re-
moving the lid, and while we were partaking of it
with considerable enjoyment, she told us how it was
made.
The ingredients were six ounces OF rice, one quart
Of milk and two ounces OF butter. The rice, with
quart OF water, haG been put In an earthen vessel,
and set i'm the oven until the water was absorbed,
then II had been transferred 70 the pan with the
milk and over the fire, while the butter was stlned
in then seasoned with salt ana Whitc pepper ana
boiled for ten minutes. We oil pronounced 1t very
The next disl-so to speak, the Joint" Of tho
occasiOn-was potato PIE. M ihls "o @ mc'o @ tDiu Nh5
made with two pounds OF potatoes, TWO ounces OF
Gnciv-cnt onions one ounce of butter and half an
ounce of tapoca. The potatoes had bccn cut. pared
and mt at the bottom OF pie-dlSh, thcn Sprnkled
With nenncr and salt, tie onions, the tapOca the
butter and half pint of water addedi the whole
being covered with bread crumbs and baked in a
moderately hot oven. This was pronounced great
success Our delicate friend partOok OF IT, and even
the late diner wrote down the recipe that he might
instruct his housekeopcr in its mysteries.
Onr meal concluded with fresh gathered straw
brrries And after resting for a while we went out
for onr accustomed walk the hills. and as our
early diner said, were not ashamed to look
sheep III the face"
When the mysterious packet OF books arrived, tho
hour for selecting our dinner became also season
for all sorts of discussions and discOverles We
found that most great men, both of ancient aud
modern times had given thought to the subject on
which We had stumbled in such an impr1mptu.
homelv fashion, and that among those who had not
ONLY favoraby inclined to its theory but had more
or less practiscd i'm theirOWn lives may be counted
PytuarOras Plato. DIOgoncs, Plutarch, st. ChrysO5
tonH Seneca John Wesley, Benjamin franklin,
Johu Howard Emanuel SwedenbOrg, Wordsworth,
Ianarlirc and Francis W. Newman. We found
fiiot .uch Iaturalis.s as LinuRus Cuyer Ray, Mon
| botdo and Bell have recorded the opinion that the
! teeth the Stomach ana indeed the whole or the
structure OF man indicate his adaptation 10 trult
| ana farnaceous diet. We were not by any means
CO. WINGED but at least, We were made aware that
| yge had set up our experimental tent ana ulpod on
| no waste ground, but on an ancient battle nelu.
We had our difficulties. However, we soon knew
| the dishes on which we could fall back when we
were i'm no mood for experiment. We never ven
! tured on two untried dishes at the same meal. We
! had some soups besides rico soup, on which we
! Knew we could rely. One kidney bean broth.
| We took half a pint of dry kidney beans and a
| mart or water and stewcd these for about six
Ionrs N, tha oven strained the broth without mash-