The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-01-05
ideas for 1dgurmen.
,


n1EEM
Sensibly chosen and properly cooked
food will go far toward contributing to
our general health as we'll as to our en-
joyment. There is no better evidence of
ignorance and niexperience of the world
than the disposition to condemn habits
and customs which differ from those OF
which we have been reared; and when
one person goes into ecstacies over
French methods of cooking and another
extols the German, and both unite In
declaring that there is nothing fit to eat
in England and plenty to eat but no
cooks in America, or hat America is
the only place where anything can be
obtained that is fit to eat, the broad as
sertion must be taken with many grains
of allowance. A little study of the sub
ject would show that the habit of diff
| ferent countries have grown out of their
conditions and necessities, and that it is
an evidence of the adaptability of human
nature that it can live and thrive, in
| time, on whatever is not actually poi
| sonous.
One of the great and marked distinc-
lions between American living and that
of almost any other country is the
| quantity and variety of food seen on
tables Of the working classes+-that is,
those who earn their living by hard la
Dor. The wealthy everywhere acquire
much the same methods. A dinner Of
courses in London, Paris or Berlin does
not differ materially from a course din
ner in Philadelphia, except that in Paris
alone the number of dishes will be
smaller, the quantity less, and tnere will
be a degree of refinement n delicacy
in the cooking rarely found In 5other
cities even when French cooks are en-
ployed. For in Paris marketing Is done
on a smaller scale, and many elements
of nicely in cooking are readily obtain
able tina are difficult to find elsewhere.
But the artisan, and especially the
laboring class abroad, know nothing of
the souffles, the entrees, the exquisite
gateaux, which make a genuine French
dinner so charming to look at, so pleas
ant to remember. Cabbage soup, onion
soup, bacon, the refuse of meat and fish,
bread and cheese, and fruit, when. at it's
cheapest, comprise the bill of fare for
the w-orkingman in Paris. And it is not
bad. Much more nutritious than much
of the crude stuff consumed by the poor
in many of our great cities, from which
nothing good can be extracted for want
of proper cooking
A great luxury in France and Ger
many is the bread, and many different
kinds of bread rolls. Most of these are
simple bread made in different forms;
but there are some that contain a little
shortening, as the little h~orseshoe>
shaped 'pistolet.'' for example. There is
also a delicious souffle' bread, which
has eggs as an important ingredient, and
is exceedingly light and delicate.
The griddle cake, except in the form
of a flour pancake used as a desert is
unknown abroad, breakfast on the con-
tinent being a very light meal, and sim
ply intended to 'break' the fast of the
preceding night. Some Americans, after
acquiring the habit of taking a roll and
coffee breakfast abroad, keep it up after
returning home; but these are usually
confined to the people who possess
wealth and leisure, and who can order
their lives without reference to work
or business; and the principal distraction
of whose morning is the later breakfast
or .dejuener,, which when 1t comes at
midday, takes the place of luncheon, and
to which friends can be invited. And
the formal evening dinner is often pre-
coded, as in England, by s o'clock tea,
or as in Germany by afternoon coffee.
But this means a business of eating,
for which the majority have neither the
time nor the source
Public opinion in this country runs
strongly in favor of beginning the day
with a good warm breakfast, ond only
interrupting the course Of business with
a light lunch. This is by far the best.
In fact, it is the only method open to
the business men of our large cities,
whose stores and offices are distant from
their homes, and who do not feel able
to digest a dinner in the midst of the
worries and work of the day. But it is
a bad system for children who should
eat meat only once In the day, and that
not on rising or retiring, but as near
midday as possible Therefore, when
ever it is practicable, in homes where
late dinners are required by the heads
of the family the children should have
a special dinner prepared for them at
a suitable time, to be followed by a light
tea or supper of bread and milk, or
bread and butter and fruit, aided by cold
boiled cereals such as hominy, wheatlet
or oatmeal served with cream.
It has been said that fake is tho curse
of the American method OF living. In
the largest cities 1t has been largely
gotten rid Of, and now cake is looked
upon as a particular adjunct in the coun-
try tea" which has been driven out
among the majority by the late dinner.
But by American we mean those
methods which still hold largely through
out the country which are distinctly
Auerjcan heca1Ise nf the o~l1fgrnwthso ~ tha