Evening star., 1895-06-01
ECONOMY IN DINING
Dr.. Atkinson Tells How q Dinner fol-
Twelve Costs SO.
The Prices of the Various Food Ma
terials and the Importance of
knowledge In Cooking.

| The economy dinner which was given
| recently in this city by DR.. Edward Atkin-
| son of Boston, the well-known writer on
| economics, was described at the time in
| The Star. The writer of the article giving
the details Of the dinner records his failure
| to purchase the food material said to have
| been used for the amount of money which
1t was asserted the Atkinson dinner cost
| After reading this article DIR. Atkinson
writes to The Star and makes the following
| interesting comments:
mo one could have been more surprised
than myself at the publicity which has been
given to certain dinner which prepared
| in Washington mainly for the purpose of
| jCstifying Secretary Morton in adding, at
my suggestion, experimental food labora-
| tories or stations to the agricultural eX-
pertinent stations To that end Mr.. Hamlin
permitted ME to make use of his dining
room.
I'm the dinner. of which many distin-
guished people partook it was not my
purpose to show the utmost economy in the
| supply of the food material, but to give
some examples of what could be done with
good material with the least attention on
the part of myself. 1 have developed the
science of cooking to some extent, but
the application of the art is very differ
ent thing. 1t requires somewhat constant
practice, more than l have been able to
give 1t myself. One readily forgetS time.
Hence, one of my undertakings. which
| unfortunately added at the heaviest cost,
was failure I put in asparagus out of
| season at a heavy expense. and 1t was not
completely cooked at the time the dinner
was served 1 did not give it time enough.
The rest of the dinner, of which you have
given fairly accurate statement, cost, as
you have stated, S2.SS, and was, on the
whole, very satisfactory.
At Boston Prices.
'fYet one Of your correspondents fails to
| find out the way to duplicate that dinner
at anything like the same price. I do not
recall the exact quantities or the prices
which were stated to me as having been
paid for the materials. I will therefore
submit to you a statement of what quantity
of food could be supplied at Boston prices
for S out Of which five-course dinner
could be put upon the table for many more
than twelve people, although the excess
might consist of part only of some of
the various foods supplied. / simply give
you the prices which one of my Office boys
has just verified by going to different parts !
of the city to find out at what cost he
could buy the quantities needed at the
retail prices.
Four pounds of shin of beef would
make four pints of strong beef soup.
In fact. the cut meat without the
bone which can be bought at 8 cents
pound. would make more than that
quantity-more than enough for
twelve people. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 50 IL
-Four pounds of haddock with half
pound of salt pork and some vegeta-
bles hereafter provided, would make
very good chowder; cost of had
Qock ........................... "a
The forequarter of lamb, with the bone
removed, stuffed and roasted, can be
bought at s cents per pound less.
Six pounds Is more than enough for
tnat course. ........................-... AS
Fowls which can be made as tender
as spring chickens. more So by
proper methods of cooking can be
bought at IA cents or less A fric-
assoc of chicken of six pounds put
upon the table with the forequarter
of lamb would divide that course. .S4
A pound and half of white beans
with half a pound of salt pork will
more than suffice for bean course
for twelve people. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. .16
Two pounds of corn and rye meal at 3
cents, with so little molasses as
hardly to count, will make Q large
loaf of New England brown bread. .O6 |
Three pounds of ham, at IA cents,
would be more than would be con-
sumed in such a dinner. 40 |
Ten pounds of vegetables in their sea-
son-potatoes, onions, beets etc |
would not average in excess OF |
Six pounds of flour, at 2Ja cents
pound, will make ten pounds of
bread, or a part can be converted |
into a pudding. g........................... Is |
Two pounds of sugar, at cents....... 10 |
One pound of stoneleSs raisins. .OS |
We have left for salt and Spices. .05 |
$500
That gives fifty pounds Of food material |
for e. This list NAV he yaria5 in rnonv