The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-07-29


she will not place before tho members
of 1t a great joint OF meat which will
be eaten of until each one is content.
Instead, she will serve a small Joint,
which she will supplement by so gem
erous an allowance Of good soup, bread
and vegetables that when attack is
made upon the piece de resistance II
will be mQre than enough to satisfy
their appctites, and sufficient will re-
main to assist at the furnishing Of the
morrow's breakfast. The cheaper and
inferior elements can be made to play
a very important part in a household
whose head gives her personal atten-
tion to the purchasing and preparation
of them.
LESSONS FROM FRANCE.
French women offer notable ex-
ample of the possession of this gift.
They do not suffer as American wo-
men do from the want of money for
necessary household supplies, because
they possess the faculty of making the
most of what they have. 1t is for this
reason that eating in French families
OF moderate means Is so far superior to
that of the majority of the richer
families in other countries, with the
exception, perhaps, of those of Italy.
While they serve at a meal fewer dish
es and In smaller quantities, the ex-
ecutiOn of each is perfect in itself.
and the variety of forms of preparation
makes up for the relative absence of
variety in the substance employed. The
women of French households know
how to prepare dishes out of the cheap
est and most commonplace ailments,
! so that each shall have a distinct char
acter and it's individual essence and
aroma. They are thoroughly trained in
! the knowledge that poverty does not
prevent the exercise of skill in the field
| in which they are preeminent. OF
money they have little, but they sub
sttute for 1t an abundance of intelll-
| gence.
The most striking advance in the
| economical preparation of and preven-
| tion of waste in food has come through
the use of gas and kerosene oil in cook
| ing. Instead of a mass of coal that
is kept constantly in ignition, even for
| the purpose of boiling a kettle OF
water, single jet of gas or oil that
is burning only so long as it is needed
answers the same end. The economy
of this system is beyond computation.
a chicken is roasted or broiled through
the expenditure of only enough heat to
accomplish the process. None is wasted
| to flow off into the chimney, as when
coal or wood is used. There is neither
| dirt nor grit to Contaminate the ar
| ticles that are being cooked. A kero-
sene stove with two apertures will sup
ply heat enough to prepare a meal for
| at least six people at a cost of not
! more than two cents, whereas the same
expenditure of energy through the use
of coal would cost ten times as much
if not more.
WE MUST COME TO IT.
The French are invariably cited as
| Offering examples to thrift and skill in
the selection and preparation of food;
but those qualities, the result of train
ing, have not been effectively applied
except during the past one hundred
years. 1t was not until the time OF the
Regency that real cookery was first
| introduced into France, and then its
action was confined to the upper class
es. Edible material at that time was
very limited. 1t was not until 1890
that potatoes began to be seriously
! grown in France as an article of diet.
The employment of garden produce on
a large scale is quite a modern feature
in French eating. The use of vege-
tables has increased so largely there
that their consumption now amounts to
| half the total of food employed. This
| has resulted in a change of details and
results of cookery so great as to DOM
mate the entire French alimentary sys-
tenn. There is no mystery in the way
| the French discover fresh forms of cul-
| mary treatment or how they continue
to add more dishes to their extensive
| catalogue. They have not kept their
discoveries to themselves. They have
published them to the world, and have
invited and enabled every body to fol-
low in their track
| What ii will be necessary for Ameri-
cans to do in the future in order Ia
practice economy in food is to adopt
the system of the French, who know
how to eat cheaply, nutritively and
agreeably The change must come
through the women who are supposed
| to supervise American kitchens In
France every maid employed in domes-
tic service is more or less accomplish:
ed in cookery. Here those that are not
cooks through choice disdain to take
even a passing lesson from what is
going on about them in the preparation
of food.