The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-05-19
ECONOMICAL COOKING.
Mr.. ATKINSON PROMISES TO SAVE
HALF THE COST OF FOOD.

\
Work of Fifty Cents in the Outlay for
| Provisions.
a New York philanthropist has sub
scribed 5000 to be used in establishing q
| kitchen on the east side where women may
learn the art of economy in cooking. Mr.
Edward Atkinson, the New England econo-
mist delivered two lectures in the hall at
Columbia college On the art, and he Illus
trated them with owes and dinner pals
which he has invented, and which he be-
lieves will revolutionize the art and will
solve social questions that are now troub-
| ling the people. The philanthropist was
one of the Mr.. Atkinson's audience, and
he subscribed the. money the day after the
| first lecture, it being understood that the
kitchen was to be stocked with the Atkin-
son ovens.
| Mr.. Atkinson calls his oven the Aladdin,
and it is to solve social problems by reduc-
ing the cost of living. The average amount
spent for food by people in the United
States is fifty cents a day each. Mr.. At
kinson says that at present prices for food
products it is impossible for person to eat
more than twenty-five cents worth of food
day, and that every cent that is spent
over that amount is deliberately wasted
He says that the working man who now
spends So or s. so week for his food can
have just as much to eat for one dollar,
and can have 8lore nutritious food at the
same time, if he practices economy in buy
ing and cooking, while the wealthy man
who spends fabulous amounts for his food
can cut his expenses down nearly one-half,
and can have in substance what he has now.
THE ALADDIN OVEN.
"Nine-tenths of the people in the United
States" says Mr.. Atkinson, "spend one
half their income annually for food, and
exactly one-half of that amount is wasted"
Mr. Atkinson is practical man and is
not given to dreaming. He has studied
economy in food the past six years. He
has practiced what he now breaches, and
has cut his own food expenditure down
one-half. At the same time he eats just as
much food as he used to- and says he is
more healthy than he used to be, because
his food is properly cooked.
He invented his Aladdin oven for the
benefit of humanity and for no desire for
gain. He did not patent it at first. He
tried to give his idea away to capitalists
who would agree to build the ovens and to
sell them at just a tritle over the actual
cost of making. He found no one who was
willing to do il,
No capitalist could understand how a
man would give away valuable thing.
They argued that because he wanted to
give it away it could not be of value.
Finally he had it patented, and then he
succeeded in getting firm in Brookline
to take hold of it and build it on shares.
All the professor share of the profits from
the manufacture and sale he has agreed to
devote to building kitchens and to other
charitable objects, the ultimate result Of
which is to teach economy.
A CHEAP DINNER
Mr.. Atkinson says that all meat cooked
a sufficient length of time in a regular
temperature will become tender, aud there
in lies the secret of food economy Beef,
he says, from the neck Of COW, sold by
butchers at three cents q pound, is as
nutritive as that taken from what is con-
sidered the choicest parts. A roast taken
from the toughest part Of the rQmp is as
nutritive and has as fine a flavor as the
choicest prime rib roast. But meat from
the neck and the tough part of the rump
cannot be eaten because it is impossible to
masticate it if it is cooked in the ordinary
oven it becomes tender and as good to eat
as the choice cuts.
At his two lectures Mr.. Atkinson had
four-course dinner sufficient to feed ten
from the neck, with tomato sauce, pota-
toes and pudding and coffee. 1t was eaten
with relish by the audience. The meat
ip1u ha
fine. After it had been eaten the professor
said that the whole meal had cost S1.3O, or
Is cents each for ten persons.
In the other ovens there was rump roast
beef and prime roast. They tasted alike,
and the rump was as tender as the prime
rib. There was steak two inches thick
cooked rare. Half dozen other kinds of
meat and some chickens, which Mr. Atkin-
son said he had purchased for eight cents
pound with guarantee that they were not
less than six years old. The meat was Us
tender as that of young fowl.
There were stews and onions and peas
and hams and tongues and three or four
kinds of buildings. The onions and pud-
GingS had been cooked in the same oven,
but neither tasted of the other. They had
simply been cooked in covered dishes. The
1our course dinner, ali cooked at one time
in one oven, was also cooked i ncovered
dishes. In all there was 200 pounds of
food in the five ovens. 1t was all eaten on
the spot
EASE IN COOKING.
with the Aladdin oven," said Mr.. At
kinson, in conversation with reporter
AL that is necessary is to prepare the
food and put it ia the oven. If the meal is
to be served in two hours the lamp may be
turned high. and things will be done in
that time. If it is not TO be served for five
hours the lamp may be turned lower.
1.-The cook is the regulator of her own
heat. She can put dinner on at breakfast
time and leave it all day to cook. At din
ner time, when she opens her oven, the
dinner will be ready to serve, no care hav-
ing been wasted on it In watching it.
YT-I